Indholdsfortegnelse for December 2022 i World Soccer

Lennart Johansson was relaxed, precise but dismissive. He told me: “This has no significance and no relevance. In sport we have our own rules and regulations and even referees. UEFA is based in Switzerland. European Union laws do not affect us. Their lawyers have no place in our football.” Johansson, Swedish president of the European federation, was speaking to me in the summer of 1995 about a barely-noticed legal action that had been set before the European Court of Justice. But Johansson was living in an ivory tower. That ivory tower came crashing down six months later. December 15, 1995 was the historic date on which the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg ruled in favour of a restraint-of-trade complaint by a modest Belgian second-division footballer, Jean-Marc Bosman. Football, quite…

SEASON RANKINGS Cumulative votes through the season GOALKEEPERS Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid) 10 Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG) 3 Yann Sommer (B. M’Gladbach) 3 Diogo Costa (Porto) 1 Rafal Gikiewicz (Augsburg) 1 Gregor Kobel (Borussia Dortmund) 1 Mike Maignan (Milan) 1 Juan Musso (Atalanta) 1 Rui Patricio (Roma) 1 Geronimo Rulli (Villarreal) 1 Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Barcelona) 1 DEFENDERS David Alaba (Real Madrid) 8 Joao Cancelo (Manchester City) 7 Dani Carvajal (Real Madrid) 6 Kim Min-jae (Napoli) 6 Benjamin Pavard (Bayern Munich) 6 Ruben Dias (Manchester City) 3 Eric Dier (Tottenham) 3 Eder Militao (Real Madrid) 3 William Saliba (Arsenal) 3 Pau Torres (Villarreal) 3 Danilo (Juventus) 2 Gabriel (Arsenal) 2 Alex Grimaldo (Benfica) 2 Theo Hernandez (Milan) 2 Roger Ibanez (Roma) 2 Lisandro Martinez (Manchester Utd) 2 Ferland Mendy (Real Madrid)…

As Sepp Blatter unfurled the rolled up paper and held it up to the camera, the world winced in unison. The FIFA president, pokerfaced despite the significance of what the small blue ball he’d opened contained, read out the country clearly: Iran. It was the draw for the 1998 World Cup and the Asian nation had just been put in Group F alongside Yugoslavia and European champions Germany. Yet it was their pairing with the final group opponent that was setting pulses racing. The draw meant Iran would take on the USA in a match quickly dubbed “the mother of all games” by US Soccer Federation president Alan Rothenberg. The countries had been at loggerheads since the Iranian revolution’s overthrowing of the pro-American Shah in 1979. There had been no…

What are your reflections on Euro 2020 when Denmark reached the last four and in many ways were the team and story of the tournament? The European Championship was of course a roller coaster, emotionally and the way the team was tested. We showed tremendous team spirit. You reveal yourself when things like this happen, all the layers are peeled away and you see the core of the team. We showed who we were. I cannot praise both the team and the staff enough, but also the nation; we were standing together. A Washington Post headline read: “We are red, we are white, we stand together side by side.” That is the core. We stood together and showed the character of the team. How special is it to have Christian…

We provide you with a comprehensive overview of Qatar 2022 including stunning photos, team-by-team reviews, match reports, players of the tournament, World Cup A-Z, Jonathan Wilson’s incisive verdict on the host nation, comment from Keir Radnedge and more. Plus, don’t miss reviews of the South American domestic season and the European summer leagues; previews of the Arabian Gulf Cup, Southeast Asian Championship and 2022 African Nations Championship; and January’s most wanted transfer targets. Print £5.99 Digital £3.99 ORDER NOW shop.kelsey.co.uk/WSC22 Or Call: 01959 543 747 You may have missed… September 2022 October 2022 November 2022 World Cup Special SAVE 10% when you spend £25 or more VOUCHERCODE: WSCSHOP22 Also from the publishers of NEW – History of the World Cup A nostalgic and definitive history of the World Cup, looking…

EUROPE 2022-23 UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Group A Oct 4 – Liverpool Liverpool 2 (Alexander-Arnold 7, Salah 53 pen) Rangers 0 Oct 4 – Amsterdam Ajax 1 (Kudus 9) Napoli 6 (Raspadori18, 47, Di Lorenzo 33, Zielinski 45, Kvaratskhelia 63, Simeone 81) Oct 12 – Naples Napoli 4 (Lozano 4, Raspadori16 Kvaratskhelia 62 pen, Osimhen 89) Ajax 2 (Klaassen 49, Bergwijn 83 pen) Oct 12 – Glasgow Rangers 1 (Arfield17) Liverpool 7 (Firmino 24, 55, Nunez 66, Salah 76, 80, 81, Elliott 87) Oct 26 – Naples Napoli 3 (Simeone11,16, Ostigard 80) Rangers 0 Oct 26 – Amsterdam Ajax 0 Liverpool 3 (Salah 42, Nunez 49, Elliott 52) Nov 1 – Liverpool Liverpool 2 (Salah 85, Nunez 90+8) Napoli 0 Nov 1 – Glasgow Rangers 1 (Tavernier 87 pen) Ajax 3…

By the time you read this, the World Cup will be underway and all the drama that comes with it will be unfolding. We’ll recount the full tale of Qatar 2022 in the next issue, but this month we profile one of the men that could be central to the story, Karim Benzema. Four years ago, our latest cover star watched on from home as France lifted the trophy. This time around – assuming he doesn’t become the latest player to suffer a tournament-ending injury – he will be front and centre of the French campaign, just weeks after being crowned the world’s best player at the Ballon d’Or awards. With all eyes on Qatar, we’ve also indulged in some World Cup nostalgia in this issue: Chris Evans tells the…

COCKER HOOP By Robert Endeacott and Dave Cocker (Pitch Publishing, £19.99) Cocker Hoop is the biography of coaching great Les Cocker. As a player he established himself as a tenacious forward, before retiring in 1958 to move into coaching. As one of the first recipients of full coaching badges at England’s Lilleshall, Les proved himself a supreme trainer for Leeds, helping build a famous footballing dynasty alongside Don Revie. That attracted the FA’s attention, and Cocker would go on to help England achieve World Cup success in 1966 under Alf Ramsey. ERIC AND DAVE By Spencer Vignes (Pitch Publishing, £18.99) A heart-warming story of lifelong pals Eric Gill (now 92) and Dave Hollins (84) whose unique friendship started out as a rivalry, wrestling over the same goalkeeper jersey at Brighton…

“We haven’t got through to Dele Alli yet. Let’s not discuss Dele Alli as a player, but he is below expectations”Besiktas coach senol gunes discusses on-loan midfielder Dele Alli “I will become a regular fan. I will support the team. I will pass my love for Barca to my children, like my family did with me. And you know me, sooner or later, I will be back”Gerard Pique on his decision to retire IN EUROPE Atletico Madrid finally completed the permanent re-signing of forward ANTOINE GRIEZMANN from Barcelona. The France international reportedly had a clause in his loan contract obliging Atletico to buy him for €40 million once he’d played over 45 minutes in more than half of their games. Newcastle United agreed a deal to sign 18-year-old Australia forward…

On October 1, Indonesia’s Kanjuruhan Stadium joined a list containing the likes of Hillsborough, Accra Sports Stadium, Ibrox, Heysel and the Estadio Nacional as a place that will forever be associated with the tragic death of football fans. At the time of writing, at least 135 supporters who saw Arema Malang lose 3-2 to Persebaya Surabaya in their league match lost their lives, a figure that includes more than 30 children. There have been plenty of problems in Indonesian football over the years, including losses of life on a semi-regular basis, but nothing like this. There were no away fans at this East Javan derby, a local rivalry if not the fiercest in this country of 270 million, so early reports of clashes between supporters were wide of the mark.…

The red and yellow striped flags of Catalonia that once proliferated on the balconies in Barcelona have reduced; the ensign still flies at state institutions and is draped outside some flats but, since the botched attempt at declaring independence in 2017, Catalonia’s relationship with Spain has been recalibrated in the political and sporting arenas. Spain’s socialist prime minister Pedro Sanchez has taken a more moderate approach to the issue than his conservative predecessor Mariano Rajoy, while on the sporting front Catalans benefit from an influential position in the national football association, the RFEF (Royal Federation of Spanish Football). Joan Soteras, who was elected president of the Catalan Football Federation (FCF) in 2018 and re-elected in May, is a vice president at the RFEF, where he leads two influential committees. In…

The story of Ronaldo’s 2002 World Cup begins four years earlier, at the Chateau de Grande Romaine in Lesigny, 20 miles southeast of Paris, France. It is the early afternoon of July 12, 1998. Ronaldo eats lunch and retreats to his room in the luxury, secluded hotel that the Brazilian Football Confederation has selected as the national team’s base for the World Cup. Ronaldo is apparently relaxed enough to take a nap despite being hours away from what ought to be his coronation as the king of world football, confirming his status as not only the radiant future of the game but its unstoppable present too. At 9pm local time, the World Cup final will kick off. He is 21 years old and just a year removed from a world-record…

Ever since you returned to Iran, expectations have skyrocketed. How do you maintain a sense of realism among the supporters? For me, it is not bad to feel that. That pressure raises our responsibility, our motivation and our duties. But I confess that inside the group our expectations to do well are exactly at the same level as the fans. So there’s nothing wrong with that because we feel the same. We want to move forward, be better, and for sure in 2014 and 2018 we had our expectations to reach the second round of the World Cup and nothing has changed. We go for the third one with the same belief and the same ambition. Have Iran been underestimated by their group rivals? I never think in that way…

Does European football have a problem with representation? UEFA’s latest benchmarking report found that 724 clubs played in their countries’ top divisions in 2021-22; so how can an organisation with 245 members possibly claim to represent all of the continent’s clubs? The European Club Association emerged in 2008 as a replacement for the old G14 bloc of leading clubs that had lobbied for greater power in European football and has surrendered none of that body’s power. The ECA membership roster has grown by more than 100 clubs since its formation and all of UEFA’s 55 members have at least one ordinary member, but this does not always confer voting rights. Many members are only associates with no chance to influence decisions at the ECA, which is still dominated by the…

In the third consecutive all-Brazilian final of the Copa Libertadores, playing their third final in four years, Flamengo bounced back from the heartbreak of last year’s defeat to overcome Athletico Paranaense and win the trophy for the third time. The Rio giants were hot favourites against the team from the southern city of Curitiba, who were aiming to land the cup for the first time. Athletico had battled their way through every stage of the competition. Flamengo, meanwhile, had cruised their way through, and ended the campaign with the superb record of 12 wins and a draw, scoring 33 and conceding just eight. But on a warm afternoon in Guayaquil, Ecuador, Athletico made them work very hard for their 1-0 triumph, at least in the first half. Veteran Athletico coach…

Major League Soccer’s 27th year was a tale of two standout teams. For much of the season, Los Angeles FC and Philadelphia Union could not be separated. After 34 league matches, two play-off games and a final between the pair that went to extra-time, a penalty shootout was eventually required to decide the overall champion in 2022. The two clubs from opposite coasts had been the outstanding teams in the regular season, topping their respective conferences and battling it out for the Supporters’ Shield. LAFC eventually claimed the league leaders’ shield due to MLS tiebreaker rules that prioritise total wins over goal difference. Both teams finished the season with 67 points from 34 games, but although Eastern Conference leaders Philadelphia Union scored more goals and conceded fewer, they only won…

Yokohama F. Marinos won their fifth J. League championship and first since 2019 on the final day of the 2022 season. Just as in 2019, the success once again prevented their Kanagawa neighbours Kawasaki Frontale from winning three titles in a row. This time around, Yokohama held an eight-point lead over Kawasaki with four games remaining and might have won the title with three games to spare. Yet consecutive defeats to struggling Gamba Osaka and Jubilo Iwata saw their lead whittled down to just two points, while Kawasaki maintained the pressure with four straight wins to the finish. Yokohama made no mistake at the last though, cruising 4-1 at home to Champions League finalists Urawa Reds in their penultimate match and then 3-1 away to Vissel Kobe on the final…

The ominous-sounding Vipers FCT from Uganda are the only newcomers in this season’s 16-team line-up for the African Champions League with an all too familiar field battling it out for honours. Half of them are past winners of the continent’s top club prize and there is again a majority representation from the Arabic-speaking north, with nine clubs to seven from south of the Sahara. The draw for the group phase took place on the eve of the World Cup finals, giving clubs plenty of time to prepare before the group phase gets underway in February. Seven of last season’s eight quarter-finalists return, headed by holders Wydad and their fierce rivals Raja from Casablanca in Morocco; the Egyptian giants Al Ahly and Zamalek; and Esperance from Tunisia who, like Al Ahly,…

Nine years after being made a full member of CONCACAF, Guadeloupe’s international aspirations remain held back by being unable to join other remnants of France’s empire, such as Tahiti and New Caledonia, in joining FIFA. Guadeloupe is one of the more competitive Caribbean islands, reaching the CONCACAF Gold Cup semi-finals in 2007 and the final of the 2010 Caribbean Championship despite a raft of obstacles. The best players are routinely creamed off by France; 1998 World Cup winner Lilian Thuram and Jocelyn Angloma, a European Cup winner with Marseille, were both born in the Caribbean territory. Indeed, Guadeloupe’s lack of FIFA membership meant that the latter was able to play for the country of his birth at the end of his career, despite winning 37 caps for France, and was…

£3m Expected price for the ball used in the 1986 World Cup quarter-final between England and Argentina – when Diego Maradana stole the show – which went up for auction in November. 2 Ballons d’Or won by Alexia Putellas, making the Barcelona and Spain forward the first female footballer to win the award twice. 34 Years and ten months, the age Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema was when he won this year’s Ballon d’Or, making him the oldest winner since Stanley Matthews in 1956. -20 Rangers’ goal difference in this season’s Champions League group stage, making them the worst performers in the competition’s history. 2024 Year that the next Asian Cup will likely take place – now scheduled for Qatar – after China pulled out from hosting rights in the…

It was Barcelona’s 4-0 win in the Clasico in March that seemed to offer evidence that a Xavi-inspired renaissance was possible. And it was a 3-1 defeat in the Clasico in October that suggested responses to that 4-0 victory at the Bernabeu had been far too optimistic. It remains, still, early-ish days, but not all that early – and there have been a number of worrying signs this season. No Barcelona manager in the past 20 years has reached 50 games in charge with such a poor record. To an extent that is understandable. Frank Rijkaard is the only other of those managers not to have Lionel Messi for that first run of games. Xavi is overseeing a major revamp of the side. But that is part of the problem.…

“Devastated. The minute I injured my knee, I knew the turnaround to make the World Cup would be tight…Good luck to the boys. I’ll be back soon”England and Chelsea right-back Reece James on missing out on World Cup selection “A kid born in a refugee camp wasn’t supposed to make it! But here we are going to the World Cup. Don’t let no one tell you that your dreams are unrealistic”Bayern Munich’s Alphonso Davies on making Canada’s World Cup squad ● GERMANY One of the biggest shocks of all the World Cup squad announcements was Mario Gotze being recalled after last playing for Germany way back in 2017. Uncapped strikers Niclas Fullkrug and Youssoufa Moukoko were also picked after injuries ruled out Timo Werner, Lukas Nmecha and Marco Reus. ●…

English football has always developed stars. Even in periods of struggle for the national team, some of the game’s most feared and revered players have worn the Three Lions on their chest. But rarely has there been such a proliferation of highly technical, athletic and tactically savvy young players as those currently at Gareth Southgate’s disposal. And rarer still has there been the kind of success – at youth and senior level – seen in recent years. England entered this winter’s World Cup in Qatar as one of the pre-competition favourites after a run to a first major tournament final in 55 years at Euro 2020. This, coupled with England’s recent triumphs on the world and European youth stages, ought to serve as a ringing endorsement of the Elite Player…

The latest recipient of the Ballon d’Or, Real Madrid and France striker Karim Benzema has every reason to be enjoying playing at the 2022 Qatar World Cup with all the doe-eyed enthusiasm of a rookie. While the Lyon-born 34-year-old has won an incredible 23 domestic, European and world titles in a glorious 13-season stint with Real Madrid, his national team career has offered comparatively few highs. In the first three major international tournaments he played in (Euro 2008, Euro 2012 and World Cup 2014), he sparkled only intermittently and for six long years (2015-2021), the powers-that-be at the Gallic federation declared him persona non grata. Barred from the national team for his alleged role in a sex-tape blackmail affair, Benzema should have been an automatic choice to spearhead his nation’s…

Andrea Pirlo is usually the coolest man on any football pitch that he happens to be on. So his choice as Italy’s first penalty-taker in a World Cup final appears entirely logical, as footage of him calmly walking up to the ball appears to demonstrate. But internally, his thoughts were “all over the place; drunken ideas at the wheel of fairground dodgems,” according to the former midfielder. “The two teams gather in the centre circle and the next player up has to make his way from there to the penalty spot,” says Pirlo in his book, I Think Therefore I Play. “It’s an experience I wouldn’t wish on anyone. It’s barely 50 metres, but it’s a truly terrible journey, right through the heart of your fear.” The journey that Pirlo…

What did your team learn from the disappointment of both Euro 2020 and the 2020-21 Nations League final four? We use every game as an opportunity to get to know better player partnerships and how the team can perform at its very best. But the biggest takeaway was that there is a different approach when teams are playing against Belgium and we need to be able to cope and manage those situations better. When we were 2-0 up at half-time against France there is a different way of playing that game and that is an aspect that we need to learn from. But in the European Championship, when taking the time to analyse it properly, there are many things that we did well: we won four games and in the…

A dark shadow hung over the closing stages of the NWSL season following the release of a horrifying report into abuse within the league compiled by former acting US attorney general Sally Yates. The report investigated three coaches, Paul Riley, Rory Dames and Christy Holly, who between them worked at five NWSL clubs up until the end of the 2021 season. It detailed abusive behaviour and sexual misconduct by the coaches – dating back decades in the cases of Riley and Dames – and a permissive attitude from owners more interested in results than welfare. The trio deny the allegations but the testimony is extensive and detailed. The report also makes clear this is just a snapshot; they also heard many similar tales of abuse in US women’s soccer –…

Argentina’s season finale ended in scandal as the Champions Trophy between Boca Juniors and Racing Club resulted in three goals and 11 red cards. The match was ultimately abandoned after World Cup referee Facundo Tello dismissed five Boca players, plus two of their substitutes, and coach Hugo Ibarra. Racing, for their part, had three men dismissed. The violence erupted after Carlos Alcaraz scored for Racing to make it 2-1 in extra-time before celebrating in front of the home fans, prompting fury from Boca’s players. The trophy pitches the winner of the year’s two league competitions against each other. Boca had been crowned champions just two weeks before, having won the previous title in May, so their opponents were decided by a play-off. Racing defeated Tigre for the right to face…

Pachuca were deservedly crowned the champions of Liga MX’s 2022 Apertura after obliterating Toluca in the most one-sided final in the last 20 years. With a core of young Mexican players, including internationals Kevin Alvarez, Luis Chavez and Erick Sanchez, backed up by illustrious veterans such as Oscar Ustari, Gustavo Cabral, Nico Ibanez and Aviles Hurtado, the side managed by Uruguayan Guillermo Almada conquered the country with their vertical, high-pressure style. Despite this, Pachuca did not arrive as favourites to the play-offs that define the champions in Mexico. After 17 matchdays of the regular season, they had finished only in fourth place, but found their best moment of form in the final phase. This was in stark contrast to the previous season, when they topped the table in the regular…

Finally, Ulsan Hyundai have shed their tag in South Korea as “chokers”. The Tigers entered the final day of the 2019, 2020 and 2021 seasons in pole position, only to throw it all away and hand the trophy to Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors. Not this time as Ulsan clinched their first K League championship since 2005 on the penultimate weekend in October with a 2-1 win at Gangwon FC. It was the first league title for head coach Hong Myung-bo. The captain of the 2002 World Cup team that reached the semi-final also coached the Olympic team to bronze in London 2012 and then was in charge of the national team at the 2014 World Cup. That campaign did not go well but the 53-year-old has returned to the top of…

It was déjà vu. After180 minutes, the party and the dream were over: India’s Under-17 women’s team were out of the World Cup on home soil. In Bhubaneswar, the supporters, the flags and the DJ were all there, but India’s team was exposed. The manner of the elimination was grating; an 8-0 loss to the United States in the curtain-raiser was deflating at all levels and indicative of what the rest of the tournament would be about – damage limitation. Against Morocco, the hosts restricted their opponents to just three goals; against Brazil, they woefully shipped another five. India were comprehensively outplayed, without even facing the tournament’s best sides. USA and Brazil advanced from Group A to the quarter-finals, where they were beaten by Nigeria (on penalties) and Germany respectively.…

2022-23 UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE Group A1 Sep 22 – Saint-Denis France 2 (Mbappe 56, Giroud 65) Austria 0 France: Maignan (Areola 46) – Kounde (Saliba 23), Varane, Badiashile, Clauss, Fofana, Tchouameni, Mendy, Griezmann (Dembele 78), Giroud (Nkunku 78), Mbappe (Kolo Muani 90+1). Austria: Pentz – Trimmel, Lienhart, Alaba (Posch 69), Wober, Weimann (Ljubicic 50), Schlager, Seiwald, Sabitzer (Schmid 69), Arnautovic (Gregoritsch 64), Onisiwo (Baumgartner 64). Sep 22 – Zagreb Croatia 2 (Sosa 49, Majer 79) Denmark 1 (Eriksen 77) Croatia: Livakovic – Juranovic, Sutalo, Gvardiol, Sosa, Modric (Vida 90+3), Brozovic, Kovacic (Majer 77), Pasalic (Vlasic 71), Kramaric (Petkovic 71), Perisic (Orsic 71). Denmark: Schmeichel – Wass (Kristensen 60), Andersen, Kjaer (Jensen 72), Christensen, Maehle, Hojbjerg, Delaney (Hojlund 60), Eriksen, Skov Olsen (Dolberg 89), Braithwaite (Damsgaard 60). Sep 25 – Vienna…