FOOTBALL’s polarisation over the past decade has prompted league administrators and business people to discuss solutions that can prevent their clubs from being marginalised. The game has become corporatized, meaning money talks louder than ever before in football. Size really does matter, both for a club and a league. The top five leagues in Europe […]
CLUB BRUGGE are at the head of the Belgian league this season, a year after they were named as champions after the competition was abandoned due to the pandemic. Although Belgium operates a two-stage league, Brugge must be favourites to retain their title as they have a 14-point lead over second-placed Antwerp and they are […]
IN the past few years, some big clubs have suffered relegation from the Bundesliga: Hamburg, Köln, VFB Stuttgart and Fortuna Düsseldorf to name but four. The list could see Schalke 04 from Gelsenkirchen added this season if the current form of the royal blues continues over the coming weeks. It has been a grim 12 […]
THE MILAN derby was a personal triumph for fit-again veteran Zlatan Ibrahimović – two goals and victory over one of his former clubs, but it was also affirmation of the Milanese renaissance that appears to be gathering momentum at the San Siro. AC Milan ended Inter’s unbeaten run, their first league defeat in those crazy zig-zag […]
WHAT chance has any club got when you have Bayern Munich on your doorstep? TSV 1860 Munich, the Bavarian capital’s oldest club, has an unenviable task in trying to get air time when the behemoth that is FC Bayern pervades every side street, kiosk and newspaper. As a city, Munich has much to offer as […]
WHAT chance has any club got when you have Bayern Munich on your doorstep? TSV 1860 Munich, the Bavarian capital’s oldest club, has an unenviable task in trying to get air time when the behemoth that is FC Bayern pervades every side street, kiosk and newspaper. As a city, Munich has much to offer as […]
THE UEFA Champions League resumes very shortly and the last 16 this season is a very predictable mix of teams from the big five leagues – four from England and Spain apiece, three from Germany and Italy and two from France. The league leaders of each are included in the 16. It’s actually an ominous […]
FOR the first time in 28 years, a new name has been engraved upon Poland’s football championship trophy. Piast Gliwice, a team from Upper Silesia, have won their first ever title, outshining reigning champions Legia Warsaw, who had won the Ekstraklasa in five of the last six seasons. Piast finished four points ahead of Legia, […]
THERE seems to be a World Cup or European Championship for virtually everything these days. The CONIFA World Football Cup drew to a close recently and captured the imagination of a certain type of football fan. It brought international football to non-league clubs in and around London. We have European competitions for every stage of […]
