Indholdsfortegnelse for April 2022 i World Soccer

CARLOS AKAPO The Cadiz defender was praised after confronting a Granada fan who was racially abusing him as he walked around the pitch. Rather than walking by, Akapo stopped to address the man. “There have been three or four a**holes…but above all there was one who persisted and called me a monkey,” said the Equatorial Guinea international afterwards. “I treated him calmly, to make people see what idiocy and nonsense they do. Many thanks also to the Granada fans who told him to stop.” GIANLUIGI BUFFON The Italy great simply refuses to retire. In February, he signed a new contract with Parma to remain at the Serie B side until 2024, when he’ll be 46 years old. “I am optimistic for the future of this club,” he said. “It is…

The phone call lasted around half an hour. On the other end of a line was a Scunthorpe United fan. Not any Scunthorpe United fan. This one was from Qatar and he was telling me a fantastical tale of how a little-known Gulf state with a population of less than three million wanted to stage the World Cup in 2022. This was some15 years ago, long before any awkward talk of kafala and workers’ conditions had ever drawn attention. Now, with the draw for the finals looming on April1, the most remarkable of World Cups is on the horizon. I had known Qatar from attending an international youth tournament in the mid1980s, plus its short-notice staging of the World Youth Cup in 1995 as late substitute for Nigeria. Back then…

“I don’t know if I will play in Brazil again. I have a lot of will to play in the US, that I do want. At least for one season. The championship is quick, so there’s four months of vacation”Neymar discusses his future on the Fenomenos podcast “On very high instructions from the President of the Republic, the coach of the men’s national football team, Mr Antonio Conceicao, has been replaced by Rigobert Song”Cameroon’s sports minister Narcisse Mouelle Kombi announces the new coach of the Indomitable Lions EUROPE After eight months as a free agent, former England and Arsenal midfielder JACK WILSHERE joined Danish club AGF Aarhus. Elsewhere Levante signed left-back MARCELO SARACCHI, who was released by RB Leipzig in December, and former Italy forward SEBASTIAN GIOVINCO joined Sampdoria after…

MAKING OF MESSI As Messi mania swept football, World Soccer was there every step of the way, and this special 100-page bookazine tracks Leo’s amazing journey with club and country. Price: £7.99 (print) or £6.99 (digital) shop.kelsey.co.uk/issue/list/publication/WSP GREATEST RIVALRIES From Rome to Cairo, Glasgow to Buenos Aires, Milan to Shanghai and Moscow to Rio de Janeiro, this edition showcases some of the biggest rivalries in football. Price: £7.99 (print) or £6.99 (digital) shop.kelsey.co.uk/issue/list/publication/WSP FACE TO FACE This issue features a collection of interviews with footballing icons, including Maradona, Kaka, Zidane, Xavi, Ronaldo, Cruyff, Sacchi, Pele, Klinsmann, Shearer and Wenger. Price: £7.99 (print) or £6.99 (digital) shop.kelsey.co.uk/issue/list/publication/WSP HISTORY OF THE EUROS Published specifically to coincide with the European Championship’s 60th anniversary, World Soccerchronicles the history of the Euros, from 1960 through…

If any European fans were wondering what Odion Ighalo had been up to between leaving Manchester United in January 2021 and then facing Chelsea at the FIFA Club World Cup just over a year later, the answer is quite a lot. After his one-year loan move from Shanghai Shenhua to Old Trafford ended with little fanfare, the Nigeria striker joined Al Shabab of Saudi Arabia in February 2021. His time in the Middle East has been a big success. The 32-year-old arrived halfway through the season and scored nine goals in13 league games to help Al Shabab finish second in the league behind Al Hilal, who became national champions for the17th time. It also helped the former Udinese, Granada and Watford striker become a fan favourite. “He is a player…

Strassen is a town of almost 8,500 inhabitants, placed in the heart of Luxembourg, near the capital city. UNA Strassen, the town’s football club, will celebrate their centenary this year, but they are not among the traditional nobility of Luxembourg football. Their first season in the top flight was in 2015-16, when they finished a very unexpected fifth, having been predicted to be involved in a relegation battle. At the heart of their impressive growth is Luc Hilger, the club president. He was a midfielder in the club’s youth team, before later returning for the final season of his career. “He joined the committee immediately and, from that moment, came the idea of making UNA an important club,” recalls Jempy Luchetti, chief of the club’s youth system and a former…

ENDRICK Palmeiras In a sentence He’s only15, and he has already become a regular on the cover of the Spanish sports dailies. What they say “Yes, I see him with the potential to be the new Fenomeno [Ronaldo’s nickname]. Endrick is15. He’s very strong and has incredible talent. But he’s young and we need to see how he’s going to develop as a professional” Ronaldo “The kid is complete – just give him a shirt and send him out to play! But we know that the mental side can be complicated. I was very happy when Abel [Ferreira, Palmeiras coach] didn’t take him to the Club World Cup. It would have been too soon. He’s so young – better to take it one step at a time.” Lulinha, one-time wonderkid…

Have Internazionale got even better since Simone Inzaghi replaced Antonio Conte? For much of the year, Inter have led the title race, looking as if they were going to pull off the unlikely feat of winning a second successive title with a squad which had lost coach Antonio Conte, plus key players like Romelu Lukaku, Achraf Hakimi and Christian Eriksen. Thus far, coach Simone Inzaghi and former Roma striker Edin Dzeko have done a more than reasonable job of replacing Conte and Lukaku. However, at the time of writing, an Inter title win is far from a done job. Following a 3-1 defeat to Lazio in October, Inter set off on an impressive 14-match unbeaten run (including only three draws) which, however, crashed to an unexpected halt in February when…

How important is it to win the play-off tie? Of course, it is an important game. It’s the consequence from 2020 that we didn’t win any of our Nations League games and so we maybe don’t deserve to be in League C. We have to find our value, how strong we are, and these two games should show that. I think that over the last year we’ve shown good improvement, but we will see. But, of course, we want to stay in League C. Do you feel that it will be a major drop in the competitive standard if you do go down and have to play in the same group as Malta and San Marino? Or is it a chance to build confidence with good wins? You can say…

1 By scoring three goals for Barcelona against Valencia, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang became the first player this century to hit a hat-trick in the Premier League, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and La Liga. 2 African FAs that have been suspended by FIFA for government interference – Kenya and Zimbabwe. $24m Value of settlement for the US Women’s soccer team in their case against their governing body. 10 Matches that Morton manager Dougie Imrie will be banned for (four of them suspended) after being found guilty of historic betting offences by the Scottish FA. 37 Premier League goal combinations between Tottenham duo Harry Kane and Son Heung-min after hammering Leeds United 4-0 in February, taking them past the all-time record held by Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard. 9 CONMEBOL teams beaten by Argentina…

Areprise of the personal battle between Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah will take place just under two months after Mane came out tops in the Africa Cup of Nations final, leaving his Liverpool team-mate distraught and in tears. Senegal, who edged seven-time winners Egypt in a penalty shootout to win the tournament in Cameroon at the beginning of February, have been drawn against the Pharaohs in a two-legged play-off at the end of March to decide one of Africa’s five places at this year’s World Cup finals. The monster tie vastly overshadows another four intriguing showdowns as the winners of the ten qualifying groups, decided in the space of just three months between September and November last year, clash in five decisive two-legged ties with the aggregate victors advancing to…

At long last, Chelsea are world champions. Roman Abramovich beamed, chatting away on the pitch of Abu Dhabi’s Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium. Chelsea have now won every single trophy available since the Russian acquired the club in 2003, his stratospheric investment prompting the era of Europe’s super clubs. In a dramatic and suspenseful final of the Club World Cup, Kai Havertz’s extra-time penalty was the difference against South American champions Palmeiras. No one expected the Sao Paulo club to play for possession: Palmeiras coach Abel Ferreira applies an unabashedly conservative style, asking his team to defend and then defend some more, lurking on the counter-attack. The Portuguese coach relishes the big games and the planning that goes with them. He is something of a mini-Mourinho and Palmeiras lined up with…

(All kick-off times, if stated, are BST) Friday March 18 SWITZERLAND: It’s the draw for the quarter and semi-finals of the Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League. Saturday March 19 SPAIN: The Bernabeu hosts the Clasico. Elsewhere, Sevilla take on Real Sociedad and Rayo Vallecano play Atletico Madrid. ITALY: In Serie A, the Rome derby gets underway as Roma play Lazio. ENGLAND: The 2021-22 FA Cup quarter-finals begin. ARGENTINA: River Plate face Boca Juniors in the Superclasico and Independiente take on Racing Club in the Avellaneda derby. Sunday March 20 FRANCE: In Ligue1, Monaco and PSG meet at the Stade Louis II, while top-four rivals Marseille and Nice also face off. QATAR: Oceania World Cup 2022 qualifying continues. AFRICA: The preliminary round of qualifying for AFCON 2023 takes…

The countdown to Qatar 2022 is beginning to start in earnest with the World Cup preliminaries from all major confederations scheduled to conclude at the end of March, including the play-offs to decide the final qualifiers from Europe and Africa. However, in light of recent events in Ukraine, the European section is now under a huge cloud of uncertainty after FIFA and UEFA announced that Russia would be suspended “until further notice”. With the World Cup qualifiers in flux due to the current situation, more decisive action could soon follow from the world and European football governing bodies as the tragic events continue to unfold. For the European World Cup qualifying action that does go ahead, Jim Holden and Jared Tinslay preview the crunch clashes, while Mark Gleeson casts his…

“Hopefully Nico, Pedri and Gavi can give us more joys and go beyond what Busquets, Iniesta and I have done” Barcelona coach Xavi compares the club’s current midfield starlets with his own generation Xavier SIMONS (Chelsea) Chelsea, it seems, are developing a problem when it comes to holding on to their academy talents. Simons, who made his first-team debut in December, is out of contract this summer and is said to be reluctant to sign a new deal without assurances of first-team football, with Southampton, Watford and Brighton on red alert. While the Blues were happy to cash in on the likes of Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori for big fees last summer, the departures of Tino Livramento (below) to Southampton and Lewis Bate to Leeds for much smaller amounts…

A year or so ago, it became apparent that for Liverpool a problem was lurking. It wasn’t an immediate issue, which in a way made it all the more troublesome, but all three of their forward line – a trio who, when in form, represented perhaps the most perfectly-balanced front three the Premier League has ever known – were all going to turn 30 in this 2021-22 season. That perhaps isn’t quite such a definitive cut-off as it used to be. Players, with better diets and significantly improved conditioning and recovery regimes, can go on far longer now than they used to. But still, 30 stands as a line, after which the trend tends to be downward: pace begins to wane and injuries take longer to shake off. What made…

Joey BEAUCHAMP (1971-2022) A legend at hometown club Oxford United, Beauchamp was sold to West Ham United for £1 million in1994 but never settled in East London and ended up back in Oxford a year later. A talented winger, he cemented his status as a cult hero over the following seven years, once scoring a goal that was voted the greatest ever in the club’s history by fans in1999. He retired in 2002 and remains fifth on Oxford’s list of all-time top goalscorers. Hector PULIDO (1942-2022) Former Cruz Azul and Mexico midfielder who started three of his country’s four games at the1970 World Cup on home soil, winning 43 El Tri caps in total. Pierluigi FROSIO (1948-2022) A legend of Italian side Perugia, where he made over 300 appearances and…

When the top brass of Ghana’s FA met with the president of the country, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, back in April 2021, it was specifically to discuss how to return the Black Stars to their past glory. The outcome was an unprecedented level of spending in the national team: it was agreed that the government would provide $10 million, with corporate organisations raising a further $15 million. A chunk of this money was to fund Ghana’s 2021 AFCON and 2022 World Cup campaigns. Handshakes were exchanged and assurances were made. “Together we will bring back the love; together we will ignite passion,” FA president Kurt Okraku ebulliently declared. Before the contingent left, though, president Akufo-Addo also made his demands. “The target is to bring the cup home by winning the…

On Sunday February 20, Saudi Arabia beat Seychelles 2-0 in the Maldivian capital of Male and received a message of congratulations from Pele. “I want to congratulate the [Saudi Arabia Football Federation] and their Women’s National Football Team for their first-ever official [FIFA] match,” the Brazilian wrote on social media. Al Bandari Mubarak will always have the honour of being the first-ever goalscorer for the female Green Falcons, netting as she did after14 minutes, with Maryan Al Tamimi adding a second from the penalty spot early in the second half. A first win was welcome, but there is a long way to go in a country that has little history of women playing the game. In Asia, teams from the east have been dominant: Japan were world champions in 2011…

A freezing February night in Budapest. European evergreens Ujpest have just netted a sublime free-kick on the final whistle to win a bitterly cold Hungarian Cup tie at the death. Having chased shadows for most of the game, the players in lilac run towards the raucous home end. Having been defeated in such heart-breaking fashion, their opponents Kisvarda would have been forgiven for disappearing from the pitch to grab a warm and welcome shower, and catch the long bus back to a distant corner of Hungary. Not a bit of it. Even with no away fans to play up to, Kisvarda coach Gabor Eros arranges his men in a post-match huddle right out on the Ujpest pitch and cajoles them, his words barely heard above the din of rare lilac…

In one of the most interesting transfers of 2021, former Germany international Lukas Podolski made his dream move to Poland. By joining Gornik Zabrze, one of the most successful clubs in Polish history, he fulfilled a promise that he made to his grandmother Zofia. “I will play the last game of my career for Gornik,” Podolski said after finalising the move in July. Since then, Podolski’s impact on the pitch has been limited, but it has meant a lot to Gornik and the rest of the Polish league. Podolski played130 games for Germany and had a role in winning the 2014 World Cup, but he frequently mentions his Polish roots. He was born in Gliwice, a few kilometres from Zabrze, in1985, and his parents moved to West Germany two years…

Were Leeds right to dismiss Marcelo Bielsa? Unusually in the modern age, Bielsa’s sacking came not amid acrimony but sadness. Over the first three years of his reign, he had elevated fairly ordinary players to produce a thrilling side that had taken Leeds back to the Premier League. By the end, though, the defence had fallen apart with 40 goals conceded in his final12 league games, and14 in the last three. There was criticism of his man-to-man pressing system, but that is how he has always played; it’s unrealistic to expect him suddenly to change. More importantly, it was that approach that had brought his success, and made Leeds so good to watch. Bielsa’s fundamentalism has always had its critics, but the fact is that if you have the second-lowest…

How does Julian Nagelsmann’s Bayern compare to Hansi Flick’s treble-winning side of 2019-20? Bayern president Herbert Hainer has gone on record to claim that the current Allianz-Arena XI are more attractive to watch than Hansi Flick’s all-conquering ensemble and many would agree with him. Boasting an attack of all the talents – leader Robert Lewandowski is backed up by the likes of Thomas Muller, Serge Gnabry, Kingsley Coman and Leroy Sane – the Class of 2021-22 arguably has an extra coating of adventure, panache and positional flexibility. Flick’s team was arguably better balanced though, more pragmatic and less vulnerable to pacy counter-attacks. Under Julian Nagelsmann, Bayern have tended to play a gung-ho type of game, using an extremely high defensive line and having seven or eight players raiding in advanced…

As a player, how important was it for you to get the chance to play abroad, first with Anorthosis Famagusta and then AEK Athens? I played in the Soviet Union championship for three years [at Dinamo Tbilisi]. I had some offers to go elsewhere in Europe but, because the Georgian Federation left the Soviet Union to create our own championship, we weren’t allowed to play in European competition. We were banned for the decision we made. In the first year, we won the Georgian championship, and I was named the best player. I was hoping to go somewhere. I had an offer from Russia, but it was a difficult time for my family and we didn’t have a good relationship with Russia. When I was 23, I accepted an offer…

With Euro 2022 fast approaching there was encouragement for England, France, Sweden and Belgium, each of whom won one of the tournaments that have long marked the start of the international year in women’s football. England, who will stage the finals, achieved the most notable victory, heading a quartet that included Spain, Germany and Canada in a home-hosted competition. France, however, had the most impressive results, beating Brazil, Netherlands and Finland in the second Tournoi de France. England, who will stage the Euros, achieved the most notable victory, heading a quartet that included Spain, Germany and Olympic gold medallists Canada In Iberia, Sweden lifted the long-established Algarve Cup by defeating Italy in a penalty shootout, while Belgium won the Pinatar Cup in southeast Spain. Of the16 qualifiers, only four did…

The COVID-19 pandemic provoked an unprecedented disruption to World Cup qualifying but none of the FIFA member nations have gone through anything like Guam. “We’ve already played the World Cup; we’ve been around the world,” laughs Guam Football Association (GFA) president Tino San Gil. After thrashing Bhutan 5-1 in the first round, the US territory from the Western Pacific were drawn in Group A with Syria, China, the Maldives and the Philippines in what were due to be home and away games. Guam started in Autumn 2019 and had played and lost their first five qualifiers before the pandemic struck in March 2020. The Guam Soccer League was suspended and all13 clubs have only been able to train ever since, but the national team – known as the Matao –…

Brazil likes to refer to its championship as the most open and competitive in the world, where12 traditional giants go into the competition with equal chances of victory. But times have changed. Cruzeiro and Vasco da Gama face another season in the second division, joined this year by Gremio. New forces are emerging. And the country now has a “Big Three” – a trio of clubs who have won the major titles over the last four campaigns. But there are interesting question marks over all three. 2018 champions Palmeiras have won the last two versions of the Copa Libertadores. The low-risk approach of Portuguese coach Abel Ferreira seems better suited to cups than prolonged leagues. Can he add more to the team’s repertoire in 2022? The last two champions, Flamengo…

AL AHLY (EGY) GOALKEEPERS 16 Ali LOTFI (32) 14.10.89 31 Mostafa SHOBEIR (21) 17.03.00 33 Hamza ALAA (20) 01.03.01 DEFENDERS 5 RamyRABIA (28) 20.05.93 6 Yasser IBRAHIM (28) 10.02.93 12 Ayman ASHRAF (30) 09.04.91 20 Mahmoud WAHID (27) 19.06.94 21 Ali MAALOUL (Tun) (32) 01.01.90 24 Mohamed ABDELMONEM (23) 01.02.99 28 Karim FOUAD (22) 01.10.99 30 Mohamed HANY (26) 25.01.96 66 Mohamed MAGHRABI (20) 28.04.01 MIDFIELDERS 8 Hamdy FATHY (27) 29.09.94 11 Walid SOLIMAN (37) 01.12.84 14 Hussein EL SHAHAT (29) 21.06.92 15 Aliou DIENG (Mli) (24) 16.10.97 17 Amr EL SOLIA (31) 02.04.90 19 Magdy AFSHA (25) 06.03.96 29 Luis MIQUISSONE (Moz) (26) 25.07.95 35 Ahmed ABDEL KADER (22) 23.05.99 45 Ziad TAREK (21) 06.09.00 FORWARDS 10 Mohamed SHERIF (25) 04.02.96 27 Taher MOHAMED (24) 07.03.97 COACH Pitso MOSIMANE…

WORLD 2021 CLUB WORLD CUP First Round Feb 3 – Abu Dhabi Al Jazira 4 (Z. Al Ameri 5, Al Hashmi 25, Kosanovic 40, Diaby 63) AS Pirae 1 (Rabii 48 og) Al Jazira: Khaseif (A. Al Ameri 46) – Rabii, Al Hammadi (Sultan 46), Kosanovic (Dhawi 85), Idrees, Serero (Coulibaly 46), Jamal, Diaby, Joao Victor, Z. Al Ameri (Mabkhout 61), Al Hashmi. AS Pirae: Durot – Bennett (Warren 87), A. Tehau, J. Tehau, Paama, Bourebare, Gitton (Teriitahi 87), Tihoni (Graglia 46), Salem (Tepa 57), Tinirauarii (Pater 79), Mathon. Second Round Feb 5 – Abu Dhabi Al Ahly1 (Hany 53) Monterrey 0 Al Ahly: Lotfy – Hany, Ibrahim, Rabia, Maghrabi (Fouad 64), Maaloul, Dieng, Afsha, El Shahat (Soliman 79), Abdel Kader (Miquisonne 74), Mohamed. Monterrey: Andrada – Aguirre, Kranevitter, Moreno,…

Matchdays1-4 (Jun 2-14) Group A1 Croatia v Austria, France v Denmark Austria v Denmark, Croatia v France Austria v France, Denmark v Croatia Denmark v Austria, France v Croatia Group A2 Czech Rep v Switzerland, Spain v Portugal Czech Rep v Spain, Portugal v Switzerland Portugal v Czech Rep, Switzerland v Spain Spain v Czech Rep, Switzerland v Portugal Group A3 Hungary v England, Italy v Germany Germany v England, Italy v Hungary England v Italy, Hungary v Germany England v Hungary, Germany v Italy Group A4 Belgium v Netherlands, Poland v Wales Belgium v Poland, Wales v Netherlands Netherlands v Poland, Wales v Belgium Netherlands v Wales, Poland v Belgium Group B1 Scotland v Armenia, Rep of Ireland v Ukraine Armenia v Rep of Ireland, Scotland v Ukraine Rep…

Austria 3 East Germany 0 World Cup qualifier, 1989, Vienna As Toni Polster walked out onto the pitch at the Praterstadion for Austria’s final qualifier for the 1990 World Cup, the home supporters showered him with boos. With the striker failing to reproduce his prolific Sevilla form for the national team, his home fans had fallen out of love with him; by the end of the game they were singing his name. The man nicknamed “Doppelpack” for his propensity to score braces had just netted a hat-trick to fire his country to Italia ‘90… “We were under pressure, because only a victory would qualify us for the World Cup. At the same time we had to hope that the Soviet Union, who had already won the group, would win or…

“We were driving and there were tanks coming past us. You see that stuff on Call of Duty. It was surreal. I’ve never seen anything like that in my life”Rukh Lviv player Viv Solomon-Otabor describes leaving Ukraine ◼ UKRAINE Around the world of football, confederations, federations, clubs and individuals have been reacting to the events unfolding in Ukraine. The strongest spotlights have been placed on UEFA and FIFA, with Saint Petersburg originally scheduled to host this season’s Champions League final, and Russia due to take part in 2022 World Cup qualifying play-offs at the end of March. UEFA quickly moved their showpiece event to Paris, while also ending its reported £30 million-a-year sponsorship deal with Russian energy giant Gazprom. All Russian clubs were then suspended from UEFA competitions, ending Spartak…

Italy have lost just once in their last 41 internationals, a sequence that includes a world-record run of 37 matches undefeated and last summer’s Euros trophy. Yet they find themselves on the brink of failure to qualify for the World Cup finals; it is a most curious situation. There is another curiosity about the situation as well: if Italy don’t make it through the play-offs to reach the tournament in Qatar, the people of a football-obsessed nation will respond with a philosophical shrug of shoulders rather than crushing sadness. The play-off final is likely to be away to Portugal – a thunderous showdown that would also, probably, represent Cristiano Ronaldo’s last chance to reach a World Cup. It would be a fifth for Ronaldo, equalling the record number of tournaments…

SEASON RANKINGS Cumulative votes through the season GOALKEEPERS Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid) 21 Edouard Mendy (Chelsea) 15 Ederson (Manchester City) 7 Alisson (Liverpool) 6 Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich) 5 David Ospina (Napoli) 4 David de Gea (Manchester United) 3 Jan Oblak (Atletico Madrid) 2 Aaron Ramsdale (Arsenal) 2 Oliver Baumann (Hoffenheim) 1 Walter Benitez (Nice) 1 Bono (Sevilla) 1 Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG) 1 Mark Flekken (Freiburg) 1 Alfred Gomis (Rennes) 1 Samir Handanovic (Internazionale) 1 Mike Maignan (Milan) 1 Juan Musso (Atalanta) 1 Maty Ryan (Real Sociedad) 1 Jose Sa (Wolves) 1 Yann Sommer (B. M’gladbach) 1 DEFENDERS Joao Cancelo (Manchester City) 34 Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool) 22 Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli) 19 Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool) 19 Ruben Dias (Manchester City) 18 Antonio Rudiger (Chelsea) 14 Achraf Hakimi (PSG) 12 David…

These days, it doesn’t take long for the words “Viva Semenyo” to echo around Ashton Gate, home of Championship side Bristol City. Fans of the Robins haven’t had much to shout about in recent years, as they head towards the end of another forgettable campaign. Yet a new crop of exciting youngsters is giving them cause for excitement – and none more so than 22-year-old forward Antoine Semenyo. A troublesome knee injury meant the young attacker didn’t start a league game until December, but since then he has been outstanding, notching six goals and seven assists in the following 12 games. It is already his best-ever season by far. Semenyo’s path to Championship stardom was far from typical or smooth. Born in London, he developed outside of the academy system,…

Real Betis have been one of La Liga’s outstanding sides this season. The team is full of headline acts such as Nabil Fekir, Sergio Canales and Joaquin. Yet alongside those big names and talismanic stars has been a more surprising success story: Juan Miguel Jimenez Lopez, aka Juanmi. Juanmi has been among the top scorers in La Liga all season. By the end of January he had scored12 goals, beating his best-ever league tally of11, scored for Real Sociedad in 2016-17. For further context, his previous two seasons at Real Betis yielded just five goals in all competitions. Now, with16 goals in his first 26 matches, the striker is enjoying a rich vein of form that has not always looked to be on the cards. The 28-year-old, from Coin, Malaga,…

With Real Betis and Sevilla flying high in La Liga, is Seville the new capital city of Spanish football? Simply put, Betis and Sevilla are very good – possibly better than ever before. The last time both teams won something in the same season was before the civil war – in1935 Betis won the league and Sevilla the cup – but that could just happen again. Madrid may dispute this: it is the only city to have provided both European Cup finalists, and has two sides still in the Champions League. But there’s nowhere like Seville right now. Led by Julen Lopetegui, Sevilla are the only team that can realistically challenge Madrid for the title, while Manuel Pellegrini’s Betis are playing the best football in the country and are in…

How has Ligue 1 been handling widespread fan unrest this season? Although fan unrest has abated to some extent in recent weeks, both Nice and Lyon were deducted points after projectiles struck and floored Dimitri Payet, resulting in both clubs’ games against Marseille being abandoned. The incident at Nice even resulted in a mass brawl between the players, fans and coaches. Nearly half the league’s clubs have been punished for some form of fan violence since. One of the more shocking incidents involved a major confrontation between Lyon and second-tier Paris FC fans during their French Cup tie back in December. Both sides were eventually removed from the competition while a handful of PSG ultras were also sanctioned for their role in the disturbances at Stade Charlety. It remains to…

The route to Qatar is a lot more complicated than a private jet ride and some complementary peanuts. Well, at least for the European nations still to compete in the UEFA play-offs. Their road to the 2022 World Cup was mapped out during last November’s draw, with the countries divided into three separate “pathways”. Fasten your seatbelts, because this could get bumpy. Path A saw Wales and Scotland paired in a potential British derby, providing they can get through their semi-finals first. Both sides do have the advantage of playing at home; remember, these are single-legged games that must be determined on the day, be it through extra-time or penalties if necessary. The Dragons, still led by caretaker coach Rob Page, are hoping to reach their first World Cup since1958,…

The world watched in February as Senegal defeated Egypt on penalties to win the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time. For those tuning in from Asia, there must have been more than a little twinge of envy at the international coverage the tournament received for three weeks. AFCON takes place every two years, in normal times, but still receives a good deal more international attention than the quadrennial Asian Cup. Further east, unless there is a major news story, there is little global coverage. War-torn Iraq winning the 2007 tournament just four years after being invaded and with a team that represented its major religious communities stands out; it is not often that a sitting US President talks about Asian football. There was, to a lesser extent, some…