WHEN Benfica hosted Glasgow Rangers in Lisbon on matchday three of the Europa League, it sounded like a game carved out of a distant, glorious past, twice-winners of the old European Cup against one of Britain’s greatest footballing names. If they had met in the 1960s or 1970s, it would have been one of the […]
We remember the litter-strewn pitches of Argentina 1978 as well as the military presence, the controversy and, from a footballing perspective, the left foot and cavalier approach of Mario Kempes, the player of the tournament and leading scorer. Kempes was the only player in Cesar Luis Menotti’s squad for the World Cup that did not […]
WELL, here we go again: doors closed, masks on, baths of sanitiser, panic buying and a boost for the owners of online communication tools. But what of football below “elite” level? Just when they thought it was safe to go back in the water, the #19 shark has risen to the surface and is snapping […]
THE SUBJECT of a European Super League has been mooted on a number of occasions down the decades. After world war two, football became something of an emollient, a universal language that could unite nations and put aside old differences. To some extent, the creation of pan-European bodies, industrially, culturally or socially, was a way […]
I’VE SAT next to two members of the 1966 World Cup winning team, and both are no longer with us. I’ve been in the same bar as two others and I saw one of the England legends snip a ribbon to open a social club. To be in the company of players who achieved something […]
JOSEP Maria Bartomeu left some scorched earth behind at Barcelona, a strategic move by the former president that does him little credit. Indeed, as the celebrations among Barca fans circled the globe, Bartomeu’s departing salvo, confirming Barca had agreed to join a European Super League, was a little like a sulking child taking his ball […]
LIMA is not renowned as a global footballing hub, although the country’s major clubs are mostly located in the Peruvian capital. The local population is football mad and they’re passionate about their teams – and bull-fighting – even though they struggle to be competitive forces in South American club competition. Peru’s clubs have struggled to […]
IF THERE is one thing remarkable about Diego Maradona, it is the achievement of living to his 60th birthday. There was a time when you thought he was destined for an ugly and premature end, either caught up in some underworld violence or falling to a bout of self abuse. Although the recent World Cup, where […]
FROM the evidence of the first month or so of the non-league season, fans are clamouring for live football, regardless of the quality of the product on offer. Non-league football is seeing an increase in demand, even though clubs are operating with restricted ground capacities. This has meant some clubs have missed out on the […]
