Indholdsfortegnelse for April 2024 i World Soccer

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27.7% Share of Manchester United owned by Sir Jim Ratcliffe after the Ineos owner’s investment in the Red Devils was approved. 2 Graduates from the Right To Dream academy that will be at Brighton after they confirmed the £16m summer signing of Ibrahim Osman from Nordsjaelland, joining Simon Adingra. 6 Points that Everton have been deducted for breaching the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules after their original deduction of ten was reduced on appeal. 32 Age of Eric Ramsay, who left Manchester United to take charge of Minnesota United and become the youngest coach in MLS. 20 Teams that will continue to play in Serie A after the league’s clubs voted against a proposal to reduce the league down to 18. 9 Players to have hit over 100 Serie…

You could pretend Ivory Coast won the Africa Cup of Nations because of the balance and flexibility of the midfield shape introduced by Emerse Fae, and it would be partially true. Jean Michael Seri, Franck Kessie and Seko Fofana excelled in both the semi-final and the final. But really it was about something far less explicable, far wilder, far more thrilling than that. Ivory Coast won the Cup of Nations because nobody would work out a way of knocking them out. They lost twice in the group stage, sacked their manager, had a man sent off in the first half of their quarter-final, went behind in three knockout games and still somehow won the thing. So many times did their campaign seem dead, they came to be known as “zombies”.…

Two crucial questions have probably been lodged in the back of Gareth Southgate’s mind during a winter of reflection and hard thinking. How boldly should his England team play as they chase triumph in the European Championship? And, after eight years as an international team boss, is it time for a new challenge in the maelstrom of club football? Initial answers to the first question will arrive with spring friendlies against Brazil and Belgium, opponents of the requisite strength for tournament preparation. England supporters want to see their team play on the front foot, tackling high-class sides with confidence rather than caution, with freedom rather than fear. Southgate has long been criticised, at times unfairly, for being too pragmatic with his team selection, and the strategy for these two matches…

SEASON RANKINGS Cumulative votes through the season GOALKEEPERS Yann Sommer (Internazionale) 16 Wojciech Szczesny (Juventus) 8 Marcin Bulka (Nice) 6 Lukas Hradecky (Bayer Leverkusen) 6 Alisson (Liverpool) 4 Kepa Arrizabalaga (Real Madrid) 1 Lucas Chevalier (Lille) 1 Ederson (Manchester City) 1 Paulo Gazzaniga (Girona) 1 Kamil Grabara (Copenhagen) 1 Gregor Kobel (Borussia Dortmund) 1 Mike Maignan (Milan) 1 Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa) 1 Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich) 1 Jan Oblak (Atletico Madrid) 1 Andre Onana (Manchester United) 1 Ivan Provedel (Lazio) 1 Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Barcelona) 1 DEFENDERS Alex Grimaldo (Bayer Leverkusen) 21 Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool) 14 Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool) 13 Dani Carvajal (Real Madrid) 13 Jonathan Tah (Bayer Leverkusen) 11 Jeremie Frimpong (Bayer Leverkusen) 9 Bremer (Juventus) 8 Federico Dimarco (Internazionale) 7 Antonio Rudiger (Real Madrid) 7 Kyle…

What motivated you to return to Malmo last summer? A lot of things. Mainly to come home to where everything started. I always wanted to come back in good shape and at a good age, but also to leave England on a high. That was the most important thing. When I left Malmo ten years ago, I said quite early on that when I come home, I want to be able to perform at a good level. I learned my passion for football through this club. When I was young, I was in the stands with my brothers, my father and my mum. The club’s taking huge steps to compete with teams in Europe, but the heart of the people still working here is the same. You’d achieved so much…

We report on the OFC Champions League, turn back the clock on Manchester United and Arsenal’s classic FA Cup encounter 25 years on, and interview Hugo Lloris and Uzbekistan coach Srecko Katanec. Plus, don’t miss dispatches from Germany, Tajikistan, Brazil, Malaysia and Canada; previews of the Copas Libertadores and Sudamericana; and reviews of the Euro 2024 play-offs, CONCACAF Nations League finals, Copa America qualifiers and March’s international friendlies. Print £5.99 Digital £4.99 ORDER NOW shop.kelsey.co.uk/WSC24 Or Call: 01959 543 747 You may have missed… SAVE 10% when you spend £25 or more VOUCHERCODE: WSCSHOP24 Also from the publishers of World Soccer Presents As Messi mania swept football, we were there every step of the way to track Leo’s epic journey. This special edition showcases some of the biggest rivalries in…

GROUP A Equatorial Guinea’s humiliation of the hosts in their last group game, winning 4-0 in Abidjan, rates as undoubtedly the biggest upset in tournament history; rarely has a host nation been so humbled, and never in such an emphatic fashion. The crowd’s bewilderment turned into downright anger, as the Ivory Coast players needed a police escort to take them off the pitch amid jeers from those who had remained. It was an amazing turnabout in a matter of nine days from a bright start for the hosts when Seko Fofana scored after only four minutes of the tournament’s opening game against Guinea-Bissau. After a 2-0 win, where the Ivorians looked uninspired but were excused because of the hot conditions, they then lost 1-0 to Nigeria in their second game.…

GROUP A The Asian Cup version of Qatar was the complete opposite of the World Cup Qatar, as the hosts won all three group-stage games at a canter. Roared on by big crowds, the Maroons were even able to defeat China 1-0 with a second-string team in the final game after already securing top spot. Hassan Al Haydos came off the bench and his first touch was a stunning volley straight from a corner. China left without even scoring a goal in their worst-ever performance at the finals, arriving home to general apathy. Lebanon were in with a shout of a first-ever second-round spot but despite taking the lead in the final game against Tajikistan with a beauty by Bassel Jradi, then fell to two late goals. It meant that…

No country has ever won three consecutive men’s Olympic football gold medals – and that record will remain intact for a while longer now that Brazil, winners in the last two Games, failed to grab one of South America’s two slots in Paris. Brazil fell on the last day to rivals Argentina, while the other slot went to Paraguay, who, needing to hold hosts Venezuela, ran out comfortable 2-0 winners to win the South American Under-23 Championship. There is a delightful symmetry here: 20 years ago, the same two nations snapped up the Olympic places, with Argentina going on to beat Paraguay 1-0 in the Athens final. Then, as now, Paraguay’s coach was Carlos Jara. Then Javier Mascherano was Argentina’s holding midfielder, and now he is their coach. Their two…

Global friendlies The FIFA Series, the latest initiative from football’s global chiefs, will see countries from all across the world meet each other in friendlies this March (more on page 12). Among the fixtures kick-starting the series will be Algeria v Bolivia, South Africa v Andorra, Equatorial Guinea v Cambodia and Bulgaria v Tanzania. There are also plenty of inter-confederational friendlies that have been organised independently of the FIFA Series, including England v Brazil at Wembley, Netherlands v Scotland, Spain v Colombia and France v Chile. World Cup qualifying While most of the world’s international teams have their attention elsewhere in March, the road to the 2026 World Cup continues in Asia and CONCACAF. In the former, the second round of qualifying (nine four-team groups where the top two advance…

Netherlands1 Croatia 2 1998 World Cup, third-place play-off, Paris The former Croatia midfield playmaker looks back on his role in firing his country to third place at their first-ever World Cup I remember that we approached that game with mixed feelings. On one hand, there was still disappointment in our camp after the defeat against France in the semi-finals. We had a1-0 lead, but lost 2-1 after two goals by Lilian Thuram – he’d never scored for France before that. We felt that we could have reached the final. On the other hand, we knew that we must try to bounce back and try to win the game for third place against Netherlands. They had a great team – for me, the best team at that World Cup. They should…

Sometimes it’s hard to be a football fan. Yet as the sport increasingly moves away from its roots and feels consumed by greed and cynicism, this issue of World Soccer is filled with things to help restore your faith in the good of the game, including fairy tales of underdogs and cup magic, a club built by its fans, a few conquering heroes returning to their childhood teams, a handful of rising starlets, and international football at its best. It feels like a long time ago now that Ivory Coast’s Max Gradel lifted the AFCON trophy high into the night sky, one day after Qatar had won their own continental title on home soil. These days, dismissing international football and complaining when it dares to interrupt the domestic calendar seems…

Leaders of the world’s sports federations are infamous for their reluctance to step aside. Many, FIFA’s Gianni Infantino among them, appear to equate the welfare of the membership with their own continuance in power. UEFA, in all its 70 years, has been led by only seven presidents. Two died in office (Gustav Wiederkehr and Artemio Franchi), one stood down through ill health (Jacques Georges) and one was banned from football by FIFA (Michel Platini). Only one was voted out (Sweden’s Lennart Johansson). But worn down? That was the new twist delivered by Aleksander Ceferin when he handed congress his notice, three years ahead of time. Several of the executive committee were not amused that the 56-year-old Slovene had let the media in on the secret at a post-congress press conference…

Kurt HAMRIN (1934-2024) No player has scored more goals for Fiorentina in the club’s history than Hamrin; not even Gabriel Batistuta, who fell one short of the Swede’s total of 208. Hamrin arrived in Florence in 1958, weeks after scoring four goals en route to the World Cup final on home soil as Sweden lost to a Pele-inspired Brazil. The winger was the last remaining survivor from that match. Hamrin was one of a number of talented Swedes lured away from their country’s amateur league in the mid-1950s by high-paying Italian clubs. Hamrin initially joined Juventus in 1956, but only lasted a year before joining Padova. He scored 20 goals in 30 games to lead the minnows to a best-ever third place in Serie A. Sweden’s English manager George Raynor…

“I’ll be playing for Germany again from March. Why? Because I was asked by the coach and I’m up for it”Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos’ announcement on coming out of international retirement for Germany IN OUT EUROPE THOMAS TUCHEL It was announced that the Bayern Munich boss will leave the club at the end of the campaign. FRANCESCO CALZONA Napoli hired their former assistant to replace Walter Mazzarri. Calzona will continue in his role as Slovakia coach, leading them at Euro 2024. JOHN O’SHEA The ex-Manchester United defender was named interim head coach of Republic of Ireland. JON DAHL TOMASSON The Dane was appointed Sweden coach after leaving Blackburn Rovers by mutual consent. JOHN EUSTACE Blackburn hired the ex-Birmingham City boss. FRANCO FODA The ex-Austria coach took charge of Kosovo.…

Barely anyone in Split, never mind the rest of Croatia, would have believed you back in May 2005 if you’d told them that they would have to wait (at least) another 19 years to see Hajduk, a true Croatian powerhouse, win another league title. In that time, not only have they failed to spring a single legitimate title race with their arch-rivals Dinamo Zagreb – who have won 17 of the subsequent 18 league titles – but they even came on the verge of bankruptcy, twice, only to be saved from the very brink by their huge fanbase. Last time Hajduk were crowned Croatian champions, stars like Nikola Kalinic and Ivan Perisic were both still part of the club’s academy. Kalinic did rack up just under 80 appearances for the…

While the Year of the Dragon has recently got underway in China, the 2023-24 German Cup – AKA the DFB-Pokal, Germany’s premier knockout competition – has bore all the hallmarks of the Year of the Underdog. Of the five teams in the draw for the semi-finals (including the participants of the Saarbrucken-Borussia Monchengladbach quarter-final, which was postponed because of heavy rains and at the time of writing had yet to be replayed), non-Bundesliga sides were in the majority with Saarbrucken of the third division plus second-tier outfits Kaiserslautern and Fortuna Dusseldorf still standing. Top-flight clubs have been dropping like flies from the word go. Four teams (Darmstadt, Bochum, Augsburg and Werder Bremen) were sent packing in the first round; eight (Bayern Munich, Cologne, Hoffenheim, Heidenheim, Mainz, Freiburg, Union Berlin and…

The 12th season of America’s National Women’s Soccer League kicks off on March 16 bolstered by further expansion, a record-breaking TV deal and increasing evidence that it can withstand the challenge from Europe. Yet despite the excitement of new clubs, players, coaches and owners, there is also, thanks to the unique structure of US professional sports, a new league on the horizon. The USL Super League, which has been granted the same top-tier status as the NWSL, launches later this year. How it will affect the US women’s soccer landscape is anyone’s guess. NWSL has geared up to meet the twin threat from across the Atlantic and within its own shores by using the staggering new $240 million four-year TV deal (a huge increase on the previous $4.5m three-year one)…

Depending on your point of view, Ivory Coast could be perceived among the most fortuitous winners of a major continental title, or as a side of admirable resilience and mental fortitude, who suffered a sudden plummet to the depths but then pulled themselves back from the brink in the most extraordinary circumstances. But whatever label, if ever a host nation has had a circuitous path to glory, then it is the Elephants, who became the first home team to take the Africa Cup of Nations since Egypt in 2006. They snuck through the group stages of their own tournament, emerging as the last of the four best third-placed finishers with a paltry three points from their group games, before embarking on a run of narrow escapes that saw them end…

Less than 14 months after Lionel Messi lifted the World Cup at the Lusail Stadium, Hassan Al Haydos walked across the podium, Asian Cup in hand, ready to share the glorious moment with his team-mates. There followed an almighty roar from the vast majority of the 86,000 fans present and those watching on big screens or at home around the tiny nation. Qatar had just beaten Jordan 3-1 and won a second consecutive continental title, the first team to mount a successful defence since Japan in 2004, and this time on home soil. It was five years since the 2019 success just 200 miles to the east in Abu Dhabi. Then the Maroons were dominant in the United Arab Emirates, scoring 19 goals and conceding just one as they swept…

Defending champions Al Ahly ended the group phase of the African Champions League undefeated but with another laboured performance, although their rivals will know the Egyptians have a history of plodding through the league format before going on to dominate the knockout stages. Al Ahly finished top of Group D with three wins and three draws but only six goals scored in as many games, securing their progress with a match to spare. They finished with a1-0 home victory over Young Africans, dominating play but proving wasteful in front of goal with winger Hussein El Shahat scoring the second-half winner. But it was the first time since 2019 that Al Ahly finished top of their group. In the four subsequent editions, they finished runners-up in their group only to show…

2023 AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS Group A Jan 13 – Abidjan Ivory Coast 2 (S. Fofana 4, Krasso 58) Guinea-Bissau 0 Jan 14 – Abidjan Nigeria 1 (Osimhen 38) Equatorial Guinea 1 (Iban Edu 36) Jan 18 – Abidjan Equatorial Guinea 4 (Nsue 21, 51, 61, Miranda 46) Guinea-Bissau 2 (Esteban 37 og, Ze Turbo 90+3) Jan 18 – Abidjan Ivory Coast 0 Nigeria 1 (Troost-Ekong 55 pen) Jan 22 – Abidjan Equatorial Guinea 4 (Nsue 42, 75, Ganet 73, Jannick 88) Ivory Coast 0 Jan 22 – Abidjan Guinea-Bissau 0 Nigeria 1 (Sangante 36 og) Group B Jan 14 – Abidjan Egypt 2 (Mohamed 2, Salah 90+7 pen) Mozambique 2 (Witi 55, Clesio 58) Jan 14 – Abidjan Ghana 1 (Djiku 56) Cape Verde 2 (Monteiro 17, Rodrigues 90+2)…

“We have to get used to not playing with Kylian [Mbappe], sooner or later it’s going to happen”Paris Saint-Germain coach Luis Enrique hints that his star player could leave soon, amid growing reports linking Mbappe with a move to Real Madrid This year’s March international break will see a pilot edition of the FIFA Series, a new initiative from the world’s governing body designed to provide more international playing opportunities, with the full roll-out expected in March 2026. As reported in the April 2023 edition of World Soccer, the series will be staged every March before major championships in even-numbered years and will pit countries from different confederations against each other. While inter-confederation friendlies between major nations have been commonplace for decades, friendlies between smaller nations from different continents are…

ONE SHILLING By Matthew Caldwell and Alan Dein (Pitch Publishing, £25) One Shilling: The Football Programme Design Revolution of 1965-85 is the first-ever exploration of this golden era of football programme design, when the humble football programme suddenly boasted a remarkable variety of eye-catching covers and layouts. This book compiles stunning examples, and tells the stories of those previously unheralded artists, in particular John Elvin, considered the greatest-ever football programme designer. THE GREAT ADVENTURE By Tony Banks (Pitch Publishing, £18.99) The Great Adventure: Al-Fayed’s Rollercoaster Ride with Fulham FC is the fascinating tale of Mohamed Al-Fayed’s 16-year reign as the owner of Fulham. The flamboyant Egyptian bought the club in 1997, promised to take them to the Premier League in five years, and did it in four. Along the way,…

“Brehme became one of my idols at the World Cup in Italy …an early, modern defender who played on the right as well as on the left. This also made him a defining part of my career”Germany’s 2014 World Cup-winning captain Philipp Lahm pays tribute to the late Andreas Brehme Chris NICHOLL (1946-2024) Northern Ireland international who was a centre-back for Southampton, Aston Villa, Luton Town, Grimsby Town and Halifax Town, notably winning two League Cups with Villa in the 1970s. Later managed Southampton and Walsall and served as assistant coach for Northern Ireland. Rui RODRIGUES (1943-2024) Born in Mozambique, the centre-back went to Portugal and played 12 seasons at Academica Coimbra either side of spells at Benfica and Vitoria Guimaraes. Won 12 caps for Portugal. Mark Gleeson Norin BETANI…

On a cold January evening in northwest Spain, fantasy threatened to become reality. For 15 surreal minutes, Barcelona – 27-time La Liga champions and five-time conquerors of Europe – trailed Unionistas de Salamanca in the last 16 of the Copa del Rey. Against the club of Cruyff, Guardiola and Messi, hometown lad Alvaro Gomez slammed home an emphatic volley to send the 6,000-strong crowd into raptures. The team from Spanish football’s third tier eventually lost 3-1, but the scalps they claimed during their cup run showed that another kind of football is possible. Unionistas is a club entirely owned by its fans, one of a growing number around Europe that are fighting for the soul of the game at a time when it has never been more threatened. How the…

Anyone keeping no more than a cursory eye on Manchester United’s tumultuous 2023-24 season could be forgiven for misunderstanding the hype surrounding the club’s latest academy-bred sensation, Kobbie Mainoo. The midfielder’s work is controlled, clean and precise. His demeanour is restrained and mature for an 18-year-old starring for his boyhood club. His calibre is clear if you look for it. But to those not watching carefully, Mainoo’s talents might not jump off the screen and command immediate attention in the way that other promising wunderkinds, past and present, have. At least, that was the case until the 97th minute of United’s Premier League fixture away at Wolverhampton Wanderers in February. With a fleetfooted skip past two defenders and a beautifully curled finish from the edge of the box to seal…

After a long battle for recognition, Gibraltar finally joined UEFA in 2013, becoming its smallest member in terms of both population and land mass. A British Overseas Territory of just 32,000 people will always face huge obstacles on the international stage, but their tenth year of official competition was perhaps the toughest yet. Gibraltar lost all ten games they played in 2023, conceding 46 goals and failing to score even once. The nadir was a14-0 hammering by France in November that made headlines around the world. While this aberrant result had little impact on their Euro 2024 qualifying group, it reignited the eternal debate about how the process is structured and who it serves. An Ethan Santos own goal after three minutes set the tone for a long and painful…

LAST 16 Nigeria’s clash with Cameroon in Abidjan provided an immediate heavyweight tie on the first day of the knockout stages, and it did not disappoint as the Super Eagles provided a first convincing showing of the tournament to send home their long-standing rivals. Victor Osimhen’s work-rate was astonishing, but it was Ademola Lookman who scored both goals in a performance that exposed the Indomitable Lions’ poverty of ideas, with Rigobert Song’s coaching acumen consistently questioned. Guinea had never won a match in the knockout phase of the tournament, but finally secured a victory by ending Equatorial Guinea’s giant-killing run. But it took a goal with virtually the last touch of the match, eight minutes into stoppage-time, from Mohamed Bayo to send the gallant Nzalang Nacional home after top scorer…

LAST 16 If the group stage was full of excitement and drama, the second round didn’t disappoint either. The game of the round was Jordan’s 3-2 win over Iraq. It was finely poised at 1-1 until Aymen Hussein got his sixth goal of the tournament with 14 minutes remaining to put Iraq ahead. It really looked as if Iraq were recreating their 2007 triumph but then Hussein got carried away with his goal celebration, which saw him sit down and copy Jordan’s first-half ceremony where the players sat down and mimed eating. The Iranian referee had enough and sent off the forward. Jordan scored twice in stoppage-time to go through. Iraq protested the referee’s decision, leading the AFC to issue a statement that it was all correct “for excessively delaying…

There is plenty to play for as the nations of CONCACAF prepare for a March international window in which a trophy will be won and places at the Copa America secured. Participants will have one eye on the present and another on the future amid what is an exciting time for international football in the region. On this occasion, the undercard contains arguably the more significant matches as the remaining spots at this summer’s Copa America are up for grabs in a pair of play-off matches, but first, at the top of the bill, the 2023-24 CONCACAF Nations League reaches its finale. A champion will be decided from four semi-finalists: the United States, Jamaica, Panama and Mexico. All four games will be played at the same venue, the 80,000-capacity AT&T…

With their best chance to qualify for a World Cup finals looming, Fiji are throwing their net wider than ever before to bring in players from the Melanesian island’s diaspora. Fiji qualified for the finals of the Olympic Games in 2016 and have made two appearances at the Under-20 World Cup (in 2015 and 2023) but have never reached the senior tournament. In the past, the winners of the Oceania qualifying section, generally New Zealand, went into an inter-confederational play-off for a place at the finals, but with the 2026 World Cup expanded to 48 teams the format has changed. “Now, instead of half a place, we have 1.5 places,” says Rob Sherman, a former professional at Cardiff and Swansea, who was appointed Fiji coach in May 2023. “You could…

EUROPE 2023-24 CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Last 16 – 1st Leg Feb 13 – Copenhagen FC Copenhagen (Den)1 (Mattsson 34) Manchester City (Eng) 3 (De Bruyne 10, B. Silva 45+1, Foden 90+2) Feb 13 – Leipzig RB Leipzig (Ger) 0 Real Madrid (Spa)1 (Brahim 48) Feb 14 – Rome Lazio (Ita)1 (Immobile 69 pen) Bayern Munich (Ger) 0 Feb 14 – Paris PSG (Fra) 2 (K. Mbappe 58, Barcola 70) Real Sociedad (Spa) 0 Feb 20 – Milan Internazionale (Ita)1 (Arnautovic 79) Atletico Madrid (Spa) 0 Feb 20 – Eindhoven PSV (Ned)1 (DeJong 56 pen) Borussia Dortmund (Ger)1 (Malen 24) Feb 21 – Naples Napoli (Ita)1 (Osimhen 75) Barcelona (Spa)1 (Lewandowski 60) Feb 21 – Porto Porto (Por)1 (Galeno 90+4) Arsenal (Eng) 0 2023-24 EUROPA LEAGUE Knockout Round Play-Off – 1st Leg…