Indholdsfortegnelse for June 2017 i World Soccer

The 2017 Champions League Final in Cardiff will feature two continental heavyweights in Real Madrid and Juventus. Both are worthy finalists, but there is a degree of sadness on my part that the exciting young Monaco side that featured in these pages a few months ago did not make it – and is now likely to be broken up, with the best players sold to the highest bidder. As Jonathan Wilson notes in a new column (page 16), the Champions League is now the preserve of a select few, taking it in turns to share the title around. A number of the Monaco players who beat Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund in this season’s tournament before succumbing to Juventus feature in this year’s World Soccer 500 (page 32). Their respective…

OSCAR PEREZ With just 48 seconds of the game remaining, Pachuca’s 44- year-old goalkeeper, who stands just 5ft 7½in, raced up field and headed home the equaliser from a corner as his side drew 2-2 with Cruz Azul to extend their unbeaten home run to 34 games in all competitions. CHAPECOENSE The Brazilian club lifted their first title – the Santa Catarina state championship for the second straight year – since most of their team were killed in a plane crash last November. Top clubs from Brazil and Argentina offered to loan players to Chapecoense, who signed 25 new players this season and promoted nine from the youth team. JAVIER MASCHERANO Nine years after his last league goal at club level, when at Liverpool, the Argentinian scored his first goal…

How good a coach is Zidane? Real Madrid’s performance in their Champions League semi-final firstleg win over Atletico was probably their best under Zinedine Zidane. It wasn’t just that they won 3-0; it was that, after a slightly chaotic opening in which Atletico were far more open than usual, they controlled the game, rarely looking like conceding – which, given they had kept only one clean sheet in their previous 16 games, was somewhat unexpected. That was Zidane’s 81st game in charge of Real. They had scored in all of them and lost only six times. And yet, on the brink of a Champions League Final and level on points at the top of La Liga with a game in hand, Zidane’s future was reportedly in doubt. In any other…

HOW IT WORKS Every month, journalists from each member of the European Sports Media group select their first Xl based on the best individual performances from Europe’s top competitions. For details of how each ESM member voted, visit worldsoccer.com/esm11 SEASON RANKINGS Cumulative votes through the season APRIL 2017 GOALKEEPERS Thibaut COURTOIS (Chelsea) 23 Gianluigi BUFFON (Juventus) 18 Jan OBLAK (Atletico Madrid) 13 Gianluigi DONNARUMMA (Milan) 9 David DE GEA (Manchester United) 7 Kasper SCHMEICHEL (Leicester City) 6 Samir HANDANOVIC (Internazionale) 3 Manuel NEUER (Bayern Munich) 3 Iker CASILLAS (Porto) 2 EDERSON (Benfica) 2 Keylor NAVAS (Real Madrid) 2 Marc-Andre TER STEGEN (Barcelona) 2 Diego ALVES (Valencia) 1 Willy CABALLERO (Manchester City) 1 Timo HORN (Cologne) 1 Brad JONES (Feyenoord) 1 Bernd LENO (Bayer Leverkusen) 1 Simon MIGNOLET (Liverpool) 1 Rui PATRICIO…

“He let down Serbia, he let down Belgium and Sunderland too. I don’t understand why such a big organisation as the KNVB [the Dutch federation] have brought him back” The reappointment of Dick Advocaat as Holland coach sparks a hostile response from former Dutch playmaker Wim Van Hanegem (right) IN EUROPE Former England and Arsenal captain TONY ADAMS, who had been working at the club since November, was named coach of Granada until the end of the Spanish season. HARRY REDKNAPP replaced Gianfranco Zola as boss of English second-tier side Birmingham City. Juventus agreed a deal to sign Uruguayan playmaker RODRIGO BENTANCUR from Boca Juniors for an initial €9.5million. Valencia signed SIMONE ZAZA for €16m after exercising an option to make the Juve striker’s loan permanent. Paul Baccaglini may have…

In a non-tournament year like this, the Champions League Final often supplies the winner of the end-of -season individual player awards. If Madrid triumph in Cardff, reigning World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo can realistically expect to retain his title. Meanwhile, if Juve were to win their third European Cup, their talismanic keeper Gianluigi Buffon can expect a crack at the individual prizes. Injuries restricted Ronaldo’s influence in last season’s Final, where he was anonymous for much of the game before stepping up to dispatch the decisive spotkick in the penalty shoot-out. Similarly at the European Championship Final in Paris, his influence on the game was restricted to the opening 25 minutes after he suffered a knee injury in a clash with France’s Dimitri Payet. This season, Madrid boss…

A nother year, another World Soccer 500. As with previous years, it is not intended to be a list of the “best” 500 players in the world. It’s impossible to compare players from different leagues and continents; any list is inevitably subjective. We have endeavoured to compile a list of the world’s most talked-about players – the most newsworthy who, by definition, are the most important. As with last year, we began by drawing up a list of the key players by league – starting with 60 each for the leading leagues in Europe (England, Germany, Spain), 50 for France and Italy, between 15 and 25 for middle-ranking leagues, and ending with between five and 10 for smaller leagues. We tried to include players who fell into five different categories:…

GOALKEEPER DEFENDER MIDFIELDER WINGER STRIKER De-Ed New Entry Reckoned to be the best attacking midfielder in the Bundesliga at present by German magazine Kicker, RB’s Swedish star is, as sports psychologists would deem it, “in the zone” at the moment. Indeed, he has been in game-changing mode all season, with his goals, assists and clever decoy runs providing much of the impetus for the Leipzig outfit’s remarkable push for a Champions League berth. Like most of his team-mates, he had never set foot in the German top flight before this season. But who needs experience when you can play with the pace and guile of the left-sided midfielder. No other player in the Bundesliga has set up as many goals as the Swede this term and it’s no coincidence that…

New entry Learning your trade with a club that is one of the game’s great producers of top-class wingers is a double-edged sword. On one hand, where better to hone your skills than the school that nurtured such talents as Paulo Futre, Luis Figo, Ricardo Quaresma and Cristiano Ronaldo? On the other, it’s a daunting task to live up to a legacy of such footballing royalty. The evidence to date suggests the name Gelson Martins may not look out of place in that list in future years. When Jorge Jesus walked out on Benfica and crossed the Lisbon divide to take over Sporting in the summer of 2015, many questioned if it was a good fit given his reputation for mistrusting homegrown talent and Sporting’s emphasis on utilising its academy…

New Entry Unlike most kids growing up in the American state of Pennsylvania, the adolescent Christian Pulisic did not aspire to be an American Football quarterback and follow in the footsteps of such regional greats as Johnny Unitas, Joe Namath, Joe Montana and Dan Marino. What energised the young Christian was scoring and creating goals on the soccer field – and on the evidence of his first season-anda- half in the professional ranks at Dortmund, the teenager, who can play as a winger or an attacking midfielder, is a natural. The faith shown in the youngster by the club’s coach Thomas Tuchel is not hard to understand. Often used in wide areas, Pulisic covers all the high-performance bases. He is exceptionally quick, has ball control to die for, dribbles with…

Si-Th Officially, Anderlecht are skippered by the Algerian playmaker Sofiane Hanni. However, in practice, the man in the driving seat at Parc Astrid is a central midfielder Youri Tielemans, who is an enthralling fusion of authority and top-drawer footballing class. In his element in a box-to-box role, the Belgian international – who won his first senior cap earlier this term against Holland – has few, if any, weaknesses. Not only does he play with drive, physicality and athleticism, he also passes the ball intelligently. As an added bonus, he packs a rocket of a shot in either foot – as he proved it with two long-range thunderbolts in two minutes in a 4-1 victory against Oostende in February, first with the right boot, then the left. Anderlecht are the only…

For all the country’s economic and political woes, the 2017 version of the Brazilian championship holds undoubted promise. And while there is the constant – the sheer size of the country and the number of huge clubs guarantees a certain lack of predictability – there are also some pleasing variables. F With salaries in Brazil far higher than those in the rest of South America, there has been an influx of fine players from elsewhere on the continent. In the past, language was a barrier to effective contact – while Brazil speaks Portuguese, the rest of the continent uses Spanish – but Brazilian clubs are now less isolationist and more open to the opportunities around them. As a result, talents such as Peruvian centreforward Paolo Guerrero (Flamengo), playmaker compatriot Cristian…

Dominance of the CONCACAF Champions League by Liga MX clubs is so overwhelming that it’s barely newsworthy any longer, with this year being the fifth time in the past six tournaments that two Mexican sides have contested the Final. No other nation have been home to the region’s titlewinners since 2005. D The general storylines of the 2016-17 edition were very similar to those of recent competitions, with an easy ride for the Mexican and US teams in the early phases, and the semi-finals contested by two Liga MX and two MLS clubs, before the sides from south of the border progressed without too much trouble. Liga MX is certainly the richest league in Latin America, with its clubs investing millions of dollars each year to hire the best of…

11min Alessandro Del Piero sets up David Trezeguet, who scores from the edge of the six-yard box. 1-0 20min Raul wastes a golden opportunity to equalise when he shoots straight at Gianluigi Buffon from eight yards after beating the offside trap. 35min Del Piero beats Fernando Hierro to put Trezeguet through on goal, but he snatches his shot and Iker Casillas saves, with Michel Salgado mopping up the danger. 42min Del Piero controls the ball superbly in the penalty area, beats two defenders and shoots low into the corner of the net. 2-0 66min Real sub Ronaldo is brought down in the area by Paolo Montero, but Buffon saves Luis Figo’s tame penalty. 72min Gianluca Zambrotta’s long pass finds Pavel Nedved, who outpaces two defenders and beats Casillas. 3-0 81min…

“I wanted them to continue their work. They were making a contribution to restoring integrity at FIFA” FIFA’s decision not to reappoint ethics chiefs Hans-Joachim Eckert and Cornel Borbely leaves German federation chief Reinhard Grindel downcast One of world sport’s most powerful individuals, Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah, quit football’s top table after being drawn into the FIFAGate corruption scandal. Sheikh Ahmad, a former head of oil cartel OPEC, is president of both the Association of National Olympic Committees and the Olympic Council of Asia. He is also head of cashdispensing Olympic Solidarity and, in 2015, added to his power portfolio on being appointed a member of the FIFA Council. The Kuwaiti, an influential supporter of IOC president Thomas Bach, withdrew his pursuit of FIFA Council re-election on the…

“The academies in Belgium are of a high quality and this club is part of the sporting heritage of Belgium”Monaco’s CEO, Vadim Vasilyev, explains the reasoning behind his club’s takeover of Belgian second-tier side Cercle Bruges 1 MIGUEL GONZALEZ OKC Energy v Sacramento Republic An amazing “flip” throw-in from Michael Harris is headed on and Gonzalez scores with a bicycle kick in the United Soccer League. 2 SAM CLUCAS Hull City v Watford Following a corner, he controls the ball and then strikes a dipping volley beyond the goalkeeper from 27 yards. 3 GONZALO HIGUAIN Juventus v Monaco A flowing move from one end of the pitch to the other is sharply finished after a backheel assist by Dani Alves. 4 ARTEM BESEDIN Dynamo Kiev v Odessa A fine chest…

1 MASTER AT THE BERNABEU US Masters golf champion Sergio Garcia was greeted by rapturous applause when he attended the clasico at the Bernabeu stadium, just a week after he triumphed in a sudden-death play-off at Augusta with England’s Justin Rose. Garcia performed an honorary kick-off prior to the La Liga showdown, in which Barcelona beat Real Madrid thanks to Lionel Messi’s injury-time strike. 2 DERBY DAY RATS A Danish Superliga derby between Brondby and Copenhagen was marred by disturbing scenes as fans threw dead rats from the stands onto the pitch. With the home team Brondby trailing 1-0 in the 85th minute, supporters threw a couple of rodents at Copenhagen’s Ludwig Augustinsson as he was setting the ball up to take a corner. The left-back tried to kick the…

Blatter’s book is his chance to reveal all Sepp Blatter has written a book. Hopefully this will not resemble the clutter of one-off bits and pieces which were shuffled together as he trod legal water while under “suspension pending investigation.” That investigation, by the FIFA ethics chamber, resulted in a sixyear ban from all football activities and his premature ejection from the presidential throne. Blatter’s fingerprints were wiped from the access system to his own office in September 2015, so he has had plenty of time to marshal his thoughts and memories, and set them down. Blatter was carried away by the corruption of power, and ascending to the presidency in 1998 was absolute power The autobiography might be a vacuous tome of airbrushed selfjustification; it might be a cathartic…

A Championship full of paradoxes As the English season moved to its climax, there was a profusion of paradoxes. Not least at the bottom of the Championship. Managed by that supreme escapologist, on pitch or in court, Harry Redknapp, Birmingham City struggled clear of relegation at the expense of Blackburn Rovers. Both clubs, like alas so many others, have been afflicted by erratic foreign ownership. One of these days I shall be able to make out what the criteria of the Football League are to establish owners as fit and proper persons. Not that the Premier League’s record in such matters is wholly unblemished. City and Harry escaped relegation in large measure because in their penultimate game, Huddersfield Town for no apparent reason put out a team with 10 changes.…

“I became a man and a better player at Juve. It’s a great club. Facing them in the Final will be special, because I still have Juventus in my heart” Real Madrid Zinedine Zidane on his side’s Champions League Final opponents HOW THEY LINE UP Allegri lines up his side mostly in a 4-2-3-1 but is not afraid to start with a back three or make multiple changes of formation during a game, switching to 4-3-3. The Italian defenders Bonucci, Barzagli and Chiellini form the core of the backline, either as a back three or a four with Dani Alves and Alex Sandro as full-backs, who push on into midfield in a back three. Allegri has not been afraid to deploy players out of their comfort zone – with Mandzukic…

New Entry In an era in which players change clubs with alarming regularity, passing like ships in the night, the story of Iago Aspas is salutary. The Galician-born striker is in his second spell at his hometown club, Celta Vigo – chastened by poor experiences at Liverpool and Sevilla – and playing the best football of his career. This has been the most prolific campaign of his career and the stats speak for themselves, with 24 goals in 45 games for mid-table Vigo by mid-May: 17 in La Liga, five in the Europa League and two in the Spanish Cup. Aspas has been at the heart of a Celta side that press high with intensity, running opponents down and tiring them into submission. Then there is the small matter of…

GOALKEEPER DEFENDER MIDFIELDER WINGER STRIKER Br-Co The Juventus defender surprised many this April when he turned up at the Olympic Stadium in Turin to watch Torino’s home game against Sampdoria, accompanied by his four-year-old son, Lorenzo. Bonucci junior was quite clearly decked out in a Torino shirt, which bore the name of his favourite player, namely the host’s star striker Andrea Belotti. Given that the game took place just a week before the always fiercely contested Juventus- Torino derby, dad had a bit of explaining to do. “We’re at the stadium, he’s supporting his team whilst I am having a good look at our next opponents” he posted on Twitter as, to the delight of half of Italy, Bonucci had to explain there was nothing he could do about his…

In-Ka New Entry On 2 December 2015, a 16-yearold boy made his Ligue 1 debut for Monaco in a game against Caen. He was on the pitch for less than 10 minutes. Fast-forward 18 months and the same youngster’s world has turned upside down and inside out. Having written his name into the history books as Monaco’s youngest-ever goalscorer when he hit the net against Troyes in February 2016, Kylian Mbappe has been the revelation of the current European season. His lightning speed and ability to finish coolly in any situation has seen him find the target more than 20 times this season, while six goals in nine Champions League games proved that the teenager is already capable of delivering the goods at the very highest level. No wonder all…

New Entry Manchester United’s season has been dominated by Zlatan Ibrahimovic – the egotistical Swedish star who played a Cantona-esque role in their League Cup Final triumph against Southampton. But Ibrahimovic’s knee-ligament injury – a potentially career-ending one – in the Europa League quarter-final against Anderlecht opened the door for teenager Marcus Rashford to spearhead United’s attack in the final crucial weeks of the season. It was a challenge the youngster accepted with aplomb – witness his remarkable free-kick for the only goal of the Europa League semi-final first leg against Celta Vigo. United manager Jose Mourinho bristles at suggestions he does not promote youth. But with Rashford, there has never been any doubt of his talent. The trail had already been blazed by Mourinho’s predecessor, Louis Van Gaal, who…

Po-Ru New Entry Halfway through the season, such had been the impressive nature of the Hoffenheim centre-back’s performances that Bayern Munich wrapped up a €20million deal that will see the outstanding youngster move to Bavarian capital this summer. Fearless and obdurate in his defensive work, he is also clearly unfazed by the massive challenge that lies ahead of him with the perennial German champions. With Nationalmanschaft stars Mats Hummels and Jerome Boateng the club’s first-choice central defensive pairing, he knows only too well that he is unlikely to be an automatic starter any time soon at Bayern. Yet he still jumped at the chance of a switch to the Allianz Arena, making the calculation that sooner or later he, as heir apparent, will have his day. Bayern were not the…

lthough they dominated the regular season, Sydney had to rely on penalties to see off a dogged Melbourne Victory in the Grand Final in a brutal finale that saw nine yellow cards issued and more than 50 fouls committed. A Besart Berisha’s fifth Grand Final goal had given Victory the lead, but an equaliser from Rhyan Grant took the game into extra-time and then spot-kicks. After Carl Valeri and Marco Rojas missed for Victory it was left to Milos Ninkovic to stroke home the winning kick to give Sydney a third title, and their first in seven years. It was a fitting reward for Graham Arnold’s team, who set the tone for the campaign right from the opening weekend when they hammered rivals Western Sydney Wanderers 4-0 in front of…

“They know where I live. Let’s see if they have the courage to come to me” Torino coach Sinisa Mihajlovic accuses Juventus fans of directing racial abuse at him Could Borussia Dortmund’s German Cup Final showdown with Eintracht Frankfurt on May 27 be the swansong of coach Thomas Tuchel? With Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke recently admitting that his relationship with TT was strained, and several players briefing against him in the media, there now seems nowhere for the 43-year-old to go but the exit. The simmering Tuchel-Watzke clash is, to all intents and purposes, a difference of opinion about the decision to rearrange Dortmund’s Champions League quarter-final against Monaco just 24 hours after a bomb attack on the club’s bus. A furious Tuchel later alleged neither he nor the players…

English football pays a high price for tournament phobia Another spring, another bout in the endless club versus country ding-dong that makes such a fool of English football. Could England select their strongest possible squad for an Under-20 World Cup played in May and June? Could they heck. Will England send all their finest young soccer talents, such as Marcus Rashford, to the European Under-21 Championship this summer? No prizes for guessing the answer. And no prizes either for making the connection between that sorry truth and England’s failure to win a major trophy since the 1966 World Cup played on home soil. That catalogue of underachievement demeans one of world football’s wealthiest and most powerful nations – and a major factor is the way England’s national teams at every…

“We played like civil servants and have to do better”Toulouse coach Pascal Dupraz endears himself to French bureaucrats after a home defeat in Ligue 1 to Caen. In a month when Juventus all but sealed the Italian title, the news was instead dominated by absurd scenes in Cagliari, where Pescara’s experienced midfielder Sulley Muntari, faced with racist abuse, walked off the pitch, picked up two yellow cards and received a one-match ban for his actions. Capped 84 times by Ghana, the 32- year-old had decided that enough was enough. At the end of the first half, fed up with the constant stream of “monkey noise” abuse aimed at him, he walked over to a family of Cagliari fans and gave his team shirt to a child who was with his…

Jack Warner continues to raise the occasional entertaining shaft of humour into his on-going campaign to avoid extradition from Trinidad & Tobago to the United States to answer fraud charges in the $200million FIFAGate case. One of football’s most influential powerbrokers while FIFA vicepresident and head of the central/ north American region, Warner is now 74. He left the game in 2011 after being suspended for conniving with Mohammed Bin Hammam in handing out envelopes full of cash to Caribbean FA delegates. The subsequent life ban bequeathed by the FIFA ethics chamber was academic. Warner had long since retreated to concentrate on politics back home, while Bin Hammam had a ban overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport and was subsequently suspended for life on other issues. Now Warner…

“I don’t need to take credit for anything. I do my job, I do it with enthusiasm and calm. I really enjoy coaching, that is what makes me relax” Max Allegri reflects on his life as Juventus coach “Losing on penalties in 2003 was very painful, but since I was only 25 I was fairly calm because I was convinced I’d win many more. That’s the exuberance of youth” Gianluigi Buffon on defeat in the 2003 Champions League Final Cardiff’s majestic National Stadium of Wales is the venue for the climax to the European club season as Real Madrid and Juventus go head to head in a re-run of the 1998 Champions League Final. In 1998, Madrid won their seventh European Cup, ending a 31-year wait for another European title,…

“We knew that Atleti were going to start well and they had the luck to score two goals, but we have experience and we knew that to get a goal would kill them. We are Real Madrid and we have more experience. I rate the Final as 50/50” Cristiano Ronaldo reflects on his side’s semi-final triumph over Atletico HOW THEY LINE UP If Bale is fit, Madrid will likely line up in a 4-3-3, with a midfield three of Modric, Casemiro and Kroos augmented by the dashing runs of left-back Marcelo. Alternatively, Zidane could opt for a 4-3-1-2, as he did in the semi-final against Atletico Madrid. Here, Isco comes in as an extra midfielder, behind a front two of Ronaldo and Benzema. There are fitness concerns over Carvajal, with…

New Entry This year’s African Nations Cup finals meant a triple treat for the Cameroon winger: a winner’s medal, the Player of the Tournament award and, last but not by no means least, a money-spinning transfer as he swapped Danish outfit AaB from Aalborg for Henan Jianye in China. No one could possibly have predicted the international emergence of the kid from the Doula quarter of New Bell Ngangue. A mere 20 months earlier he had been playing in the anonymity of the third tier of the American pyramid at North Carolina side Wilmington Hammerheads. Even in his first campaign in the 2015-16 Danish Superliga he started just once. It seemed for all the world that the youngster was on the road to nowhere. However, somehow, someway, it has all…

New entry A decade ago, Independiente del Valle, a little club from the outskirts of Quito, were in the Ecuadorian third division. But they have come a long way since then, making the top flight in 2010, going on to challenge for the league title and then shocking all of South America last year as they knocked out River Plate and Boca Juniors on their way to the Libertadores Cup Final. Such progress is based on a deep commitment to youth development. The club invests large sums in its impressive facilities and this model is based on producing players to sell. Last year’s Libertadores starting XI contained two experienced Uruguayans to add some solidity and nine others. While the Uruguayans remain, the other nine have all been sold – which…

He may not be the most flamboyant of individuals, nor is he a prolific marksman – averaging a mere goal or two per season during his three La Liga campaigns with Real Madrid – but as a director of operations, Toni Kroos is indisputably pure gold. Only the very best can hope to sit in the Bernabeu driving seat and the unassuming German midfielder general most certainly fits the bill. Never ruffled, he is always in total technical control and remains as reliable as a Swiss watch in his precision passing, temposetting and set-piece delivery. A player to co-ordinate, compliment and simplify, he combines skill, poise and vision with a tremendous work ethic. A coach’s dream, it speaks volumes for his professionalism that no one in the game ever seems…

Mu-Oz New Entry If Sampdoria’s Czech striker is one of Europe’s hottest properties, the mass interest can be explained in just two adjectives: deadly and elegant. In his inaugural season in Serie A following a €4million move last summer from his hometown side Sparta Prague, he has not only had the gallery purring with his stupendous close control and stylish dominance in one-on-one situations. But he has also proved to be the ultimate impact player, invariably on the score-sheet for Sampdoria when brought on as a substitute. Tall with a military bearing, and yet so mobile and skilful, he is an absolute nightmare for defenders to read. Although by now they know that he loves to cut in from the right flank before unleashing a powerful left-foot shot, stopping him…

New Entry Coming to the halfway point in his two-year loan at Besiktas from Benfica, the attacking midfielder has certainly been in show-stopping mode for the “Black Eagles” of Istanbul, sending the Vodafone Arena faithful wild with his lethal finishing, expressive left foot, long-striding surges and free-kick wizardry. In a sure sign of possessing a big-match temperament, he has saved some of his best performances this term for continental competition. On target with a stupendous free-kick in a 1-1 Champions League draw with Benfica in September, he has frequently dazzled as Besiktas reached the last eight of the Europa League, notably scoring twice in the second leg of their quarter-final against Lyon. During his two years at Benfica - who bought him in a €4million deal from Bahia in 2014…

Vi-Zu Left behind by the Bosman ruling and football globalisation, Ajax might not be the supreme force they once were, but they have not lost their ability to attract young, go-getting talent. Just ask playmaker Ziyech, who despite offers from England, Italy and Germany, only had eyes for the Amsterdammers on deciding to leave Twente last summer. “After speaking to Peter Bosz [the Ajax coach] and having a tour of the stadium, my decision to come to Ajax was made pretty quickly,” he told Dutch state broadcaster NOS. ““As far as career choices go, I like to take things step by step and Ajax was the best move for me at this time. “Ajax are a top club in the Netherlands and here I’ll have the chance to win trophies…

National champions for the first time in their history, Aizawl from the north-east province of Mizoram ended the season top of the I-League. Their victory celebrations did not last long, however, as the club now finds itself excluded from the top tier of Indian football. N In a bid to unite the game in the world’s secondmost populous country, with over 1.2 billion people, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) plans to merge the I-League with the Indian Super League (ISL). And Aizawl can’t afford to take part. Set up in 2014, the ISL consists of eight franchises, all owned by an exciting mix of Bollywood stars, cricket legends and business tycoons. The new competition kicked off with a host of veteran star players such as Alessandro Del Piero and…

frican football estimates that the next decade will deliver more than $1billion in marketing and television revenue, suggesting heady days lie ahead for the game on the continent. A For some time now Africa has been talked up as the next frontier for economic expansion and an expansion of the two annual continental club competitions fits firmly into that vision. But by doubling the group phase of both the Champions League and the Confederation Cup, CAF is primarily looking to inject some life into competitions that have fallen sadly short of their potential and are in urgent need of a boost. This year both competitions went up from eight to 16 teams in the group phase, following two rounds of knockout ties in the Champions League and an added preliminary…