"Organized crime gangs have fixed or tried to fix hundreds of soccer matches around the world in recent years, including World Cup and European Championship qualifiers and two Champions League games,
Europol announced Monday. The European Union's police agency said an
18-month review found 380 suspicious matches in Europe and another 300 questionable games outside the continent, mainly in Africa, Asia and South and Central America. It also found evidence that a Singapore-based crime syndicate was involved in some of the match-fixing."
* [more inside]
posted by ericb
on Feb 4, 2013 -
48 comments
"We're just trying to lead normal lives, doing what we want to do. Why shouldn't we?"
The members [of Afghanistan women's national team], who range in age from 16 to 24, are up against widespread resentment from their relatives* and neighbors, and threats from men who disapprove of women playing sports. They managed to participate in an inclusive
tournament in Berlin and they registered their first official win as they defeated Pakistan national women's team 4-0 and reached the semi-finals of the 2nd SAFF women's championship in 2012 improving on their past performance (
rough 2010 SAFF footage). They're able to practice just three times a week for 90 minutes, occasionally at the
stadium (
2) or in its gym, but more often at a helicopter landing pad on a base for NATO troops, where practices are interrupted by takeoffs and landings.
Players have some outside support from
hummel, the sponsor of the
women's and the
men's team, and have had football clinics in
Stuttgart and
with Olympic U.S. player Lorrie Fair in Kabul.
[more inside]
posted by ersatz
on Jan 19, 2013 -
8 comments
Here's the deal: If you don't play for, or you are not an employee of, the team in question, "we" is not the pronoun you're looking for.
"They" is the word you want.
Why
"We" is the most overused term in sports.
posted by The Gooch
on Oct 20, 2011 -
154 comments
Copa América is streamed live on YouTube. Copa América is the oldest international football competition, having been held first in 1916. This is a contest between the 10 South American nations and two invitational teams, this time Costa Rica and Mexico, who both sent young squads (Japan was slated to take part but
withdrew due to the earthquake). The tournament started yesterday with Bolivia unexpectedly managing to
hold Argentina to a draw. Colombia are currently beating a 10-man Costa Rica 1-0. Brazil start their campaign tomorrow, against Venezuela. One of the world's premier football writers, Jonathan Wilson, wrote previews of the three groups,
A,
B and
C. The Independent has more light-hearted
team previews.
posted by Kattullus
on Jul 2, 2011 -
13 comments
The Football Pantheon is a new website by football journalist Miguel Delaney. The aim of the website is to "present objective lists of the greatest clubs, players, countries, managers and so much more." The first entry is a very impressive list of
The 50 Greatest European Club Sides, which breaks down the various legendary teams, from the late 19th Century until today, and ranks them according to their achievements.
posted by Kattullus
on Jun 13, 2011 -
17 comments
Since the attack on the Togolese national team in Angola (
previously), soccer in Togo has descended into a freefall. In a strange turn of events, a fake national team recently represented the country in a tournament in Bahrain. The soccer loving people of Togo were outraged when
the truth about the situation came out.
posted by reenum
on Oct 8, 2010 -
4 comments
Pelé and Maradona: the glorious, ludicrous feud between soccer's two biggest stars. In the summer of 2000, FIFA, which does not understand computers, decided to celebrate the arrival of the millennium by hosting an online poll. Its object: to determine the best soccer player of the past 100 years, with the victor to be fêted at a gaudy banquet in Rome. The organizers of the vote assumed it would be won by Pelé, soccer's silky ambassador, who'd been cheerfully ensconced in his Greatest of All Time sinecure for 40 years.
posted by Fizz
on Aug 10, 2010 -
31 comments
They were one of history’s greatest teams. But by the late 2000s, Pro Vercelli were entrenched in the lower leagues, their glorious past forgotten. Until one day, a man bought a video game. Read the uplifting saga of a small-town Italian club, an unknown American manager, triumph, betrayal, passion, and several extremely good recipes, from start to finish [more inside]
posted by Joe Beese
on Jul 3, 2010 -
26 comments
At the beginning of the '09 season a young rookie coach named Pep Guardiola
was appointed manager of FC Barcelona, one of the top teams in European football. One year later, the team plays 19th December in Abu Dhabi against Estudiantes for the Club World Cup, the cusp of association football season. Guardiola had taken a talented but stagnating team to the top, a prometean figure that brought
the philosophy he had inherited playing for historical player Johann Cruyff almost 20 years before.
[more inside]
posted by valdesm
on Dec 17, 2009 -
18 comments
Sports Illustrated explains seven or eight professional soccer/football teams, including highly regarded Manchester United and
FC Porto, are interested in "a phenomenon, probably the best player to come out of Brazil" : Jean Carlos Chera, nine years old and 4' 6". A
video (
additional source) [wmv format, 8MB] demonstrates Jean's abilities.
posted by quam
on Jan 27, 2005 -
46 comments
Virtual Replay - Shockwave recreation of the major incidents in all the Euro 2004 matches. Select from multiple cameras, players' viewpoints or even the point of view of the ball.
note - doesn't seem to work in Firefox.
posted by chill
on Jun 16, 2004 -
13 comments
"And The 100 Best Ever Football Players Are..." The great Pele, himself one of
Time's 100 List, has just presented his very own list, not entirely as diplomatic and Kofi Annan-like as FIFA would perhaps have wished, as it includes, imo, some quirky and interesting choices. It was announced
today, so there's time to bitch about unacceptable omissions and incomprehensible inclusions before the print mob get their dirty little hands on it and tell us all what to think.
posted by MiguelCardoso
on Mar 4, 2004 -
45 comments
Old Firm dialectics It's going down the thinnest wire tomorrow in the Scottish Premier League (football/soccer/fitba that is) as Celtic and Rangers, with one game left to play in perhaps the most absurd league in Europe, stand equal on points and goal difference after 37 games thus far.
posted by skellum
on May 24, 2003 -
7 comments
Perhaps This Public Image/Persona Thing Has Gone Just A Little Too Far: Luís Campos Lopes, the manager of the Portuguese football team
Vitoria de Setúbal has just been
sacked for "projecting a negative image of the club". [
Link in Portuguese, but please read on.] The reason? Just watch the photo-sequence in the main link. Luís Lopes had trouble putting on his Setúbal vest during a crucial game with Benfica! I.e. the powerful sports media in Portugal and Brazil have had a riot with the photographs and the poor widdle proprietors were embarrassed. So? He may not be a brilliant manager - but isn't this blatant
lookism? Isn't "image" becoming much too big for its boots, as it were, in professional sports? [
Here is the only English language reference I could find. Please scroll down to "Luís Campos".]
posted by MiguelCardoso
on Mar 31, 2003 -
26 comments
