Indholdsfortegnelse for June 2025 i World Soccer

English football has a long history of being suspicious of international tournaments – from the early World Cups and European Cups right up to the European Super League – so it is no surprise that the upcoming Club World Cup has been greeted with indifference by some and downright hostility by others. Of course, sceptics are right to be wary of the ever-expanding calendar. Yet World Soccer readers know the wealth of footballing talent, passion and history that exists outside Europe, which will be on display in the US this summer. Whisper it quietly, but maybe this tournament will actually be fun?…

Another Club World Cup The new iteration of the Club World Cup is the latest in a long line of worldwide club competitions All shipshape and Bristol fashion for the long awaited expanded FIFA Club World Cup. Long awaited, at least, by Gianni Infantino, ever since October 2017. That was when the FIFA Council, one year into his presidency, agreed to all past winners of the variegated club showdowns as official world champions. For Infantino it was rather like Alexander The Great tidying up the barracks in Macedonia before setting out to conquer the known world. Infantino, elected in 2016 fresh out of UEFA finishing school, always had a club world event as his favoured pet project, alongside the mundane business of gifting ever-larger subsidies to his loyal subjects from…

“Under his guidance, Trinidad & Tobago reached the World Cup for the first time…he was more than a tactician – he was a leader who respected the culture, earned our trust and inspired a nation”Trinidad & Tobago head coach Dwight Yorke on the late Leo Beenhakker Leo BEENHAKKER (1942-2025) Beenhakker was a modest player before developing as an outstanding coach at Veendam, Cambuur, Go Ahead Eagles, Ajax, Real Zaragoza and Volendam. An admirer of Rinus Michels, he led Ajax to the Dutch title in his first season there. Later hired by Real Madrid, “Don Leo” brought together the Quinta del Buitre, led by Emilio Butragueno, and won La Liga in1987, 1988 and1989. Later he was a Dutch league winner again with Feyenoord, before leading Netherlands to the1990 World Cup where…

“We are proposing, for the only time, to hold this anniversary with 64 teams, on three continents simultaneously, so that all countries have the opportunity to live a global experience”CONMEBOL president Alejandro Dominguez proposes an expansion to the 2030 World Cup 19 Bundesliga clubs that Harry Kane has scored against since arriving in Germany in 2023 – every single team that he’s faced. 2 Asian Under-17 Championships won by Uzbekistan after they defeated hosts Saudi Arabia 2-0 in this year’s final. 57 League titles won by Northern Irish side Linfield, extending their record as the country’s most successful club. 4 Bundesliga sides that third-tier Arminia Bielefeld have beaten on their way to this season’s German Cup final – a record for a club outside the top two leagues. 15 Years…

“What does it mean to you to be the head coach of the Sierra Leone national team? I’m very honoured and excited. To serve my country as head coach of the senior national team means a lot to me. I played for the national team for over15 years and was captain for more than a decade. Now it’s time to serve in this capacity, and I think it’s the right moment because we are planning an evolution, bringing a mix of young and experienced players to build a competitive side that can compete with the best teams in Africa. What are your main targets? Our objectives are ambitious. We are setting clear goals for the next three to five years. First, we want to build a strong team with a…

Go long Short-passing goalkeepers are almost ubiquitous in the Premier League. Something has to change There is a paradox in modern football, which is that attacks have become more risk-averse than ever before, while defences take more risks than ever before. Brian Clough would berate players for playing square balls across the back as an entirely needless affectation that risked giving up easy opportunities to the opposition, yet he had no problem with players taking on long-range shots. Now, Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca threatens to drop players for shooting when the probability of scoring is low while Robert Sanchez is encouraged to pass short from the back. In 2005-06, 48.2 per cent of all shots in the Premier League were attempted from outside the box. That has fallen to 31.7…

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EUROPEAN SPORTS MEDIA SEASON RANKINGS Cumulative votes through the season GOALKEEPERS Jan Oblak (Atletico Madrid) 12 Alisson (Liverpool) 8 Yann Sommer (Internazionale) 6 David Raya (Arsenal) 5 Matz Sels (Nottingham Forest) 5 Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid) 4 Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa) 4 Michele Di Gregorio (Juventus) 3 Caoimhin Kelleher (Liverpool) 3 Alex Meret (Napoli) 3 Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich) 3 David De Gea (Fiorentina) 2 Peter Gulacsi (RB Leipzig) 2 Franco Israel (Sporting) 2 Inaki Pena (Barcelona) 2 Wojciech Szczesny (Barcelona) 2 Noah Atubolu (Freiburg) 1 Marco Carnesecchi (Atalanta) 1 Lucas Chevalier (Lille) 1 Kepa Arrizabalaga (Bournemouth) 1 Mike Maignan (Milan) 1 Simon Mignolet (Club Brugge) 1 Vanja Milinkovic-Savic (Torino) 1 Djordje Petrovic (Strasbourg) 1 Lukasz Skorupski (Bologna) 1 Kevin Trapp (Eintracht Frankfurt) 1 Michael Zetterer (Werder Bremen) 1 DEFENDERS…

Expansion continues to be the name of the game for FIFA as the Club World Cup takes on a new form, featuring 32 teams from across the globe. The tournament will now be played every four years in a familiar World Cup format but with clubs instead of national teams, and offers a rare chance for clubs to test themselves against a range of opposition from other continents. Hosted in the United States, the 2025 Club World Cup will also serve as a warm-up for the 2026 World Cup a year later. FIFA commented that hosting the two tournaments in the same region back-to-back would allow it to “maximise synergies with the delivery of the FIFA World Cup 2026, to the benefit of both tournaments and the development of football…

The 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup forms part of a summer festival of football in the United States alongside the FIFA Club World Cup. International football for clubs and national teams will be taking place across the country, and also in Canada, with Vancouver set to host Gold Cup matches. In this scenario, the tournament that decides the best team in CONCACAF risks being overshadowed by FIFA’s new toy, which will likely be marketed more intensely and attract more headlines on and off the pitch. Though international club competition is potentially intriguing – and FIFA has pushed the Club World Cup by offering lucrative prize money in a bid to encourage clubs and media to take it seriously – for now, the Gold Cup remains the more prestigious competition in sporting…

How did your passion for football come about? My older brother played for Pro Vercelli and so, when I was little, I always went to see his games and training. I spent a lot of time playing next to the field where he trained. Watching him play made me more passionate about football. Which players were you inspired by? I especially liked strikers, like [Obafemi] Martins and Robinho. I also really liked Ronaldo, the phenomenon. I watched him often. He was an incredible player. After playing in the academies of Asti and Torino, you made your professional debut for Juventus at just 16. What memories do you have of that moment? The Juve shirt is a heavy shirt, an important shirt. I felt very lucky to be able to wear…

Women’s football was very different when Arsenal were last crowned European champions in 2007. What is now the UEFA Women’s Champions League was called the UEFA Women’s Cup, the final was played over two legs and there was a total attendance of less than 10,000. Arsenal were the nearest England had to a professional women’s team but most of the players worked, often in jobs servicing the men’s side of the club. What has not changed, as Arsenal return to the final on May 24 for the first time since that triumph, is that the North London club will very much be the underdogs. In Lisbon they will face defending champions Barcelona, who beat Chelsea 4-1 in each leg of their semi-final. That’s a Chelsea side heading for their sixth…

For the last seven years, the Sri Lanka national team has been firmly placed down in the 200s of the FIFA world rankings, but things were looking up. Yet the islanders’ positive mood was somewhat punctured by the decision to delay the next South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship, which was supposed to take place in Colombo. The would-be hosts’ hopes of getting out of the group for just the second time since 2009 were boosted in March when the third round of qualification for the 2027 Asian Cup kicked off. Although their first game of the stage ended in defeat (1-0 to Thailand), it was hugely encouraging. Thailand may not be a continental powerhouse but were ranked 97th, a full103 places above the visitors. For Sri Lanka to give…

CHAOS AND CANCELLATIONS IN BENIN Benin’s Championnat National has more clubs (36 in total, divided into two groups of18) than almost any other top-flight league worldwide – and arguably more chaos too. During the recent Group A game between Loto-Popo and Bani Ganse, home supporters allegedly broke into the away team bus and sprayed an irritant onto the seats that left the visiting players itching all the way home. Loto-Popo denied the accusation and hit back with a counter-allegation that a member of the Bani Ganse staff had dropped suspicious substances onto the pitch at half-time – a threat they claimed to have neutralised using holy water. Meanwhile, over in Group B, Sitatunga’s match against ASVO was cancelled because the required emergency service personnel were busy fighting fires and attending…

Manchester City and the ones that got away When Kevin De Bruyne announced in April that he would be leaving Manchester City this summer, there was the inevitable debate about who could possibly replace one of the most gifted and successful attacking midfielders to grace the Premier League. One school of thought centred around whether one of City’s finest academy graduates, Cole Palmer, could return from Chelsea. The story also focused on why on earth City allowed Palmer to leave in the first place in 2023. Simple: he wanted to play. With De Bruyne, Phil Foden and others ahead of him, Pep Guardiola eventually, and very reluctantly, granted Palmer his wish. The £42.5 million fee was deemed decent for an uncapped 21-year-old who had made only13 starts. Palmer was known…

“This city. This club. These people gave me everything. I had no choice but to give everything back. And guess what – we won everything. Whether we like it or not, it’s time to say goodbye”Kevin De Bruyne announces that he will be leaving Manchester City this summer after a decade at the club TRANSFERS ★ LOANS ★ SACKINGS ★ HITINGS ★ SWITCHES ★ RETIRMENTS DORIVAL Brazil sacked their head coach in the wake of March’s 4-1 defeat to Argentina, with rumours again swirling that Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti will take charge. Zsolt LOW The Hungarian, who has previously worked as assistant to Ralf Rangnick, Ralph Hasenhuttl and Thomas Tuchel, took interim charge of RB Leipzig to replace the sacked Marco Rose. Victor WANYAMA The former Celtic, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur,…

‘This name has so much potential’ “Vukovar! Vukovar!” Wherever the Croatia national team has played since its independence 34 years ago, this chant has always been heard. Along with fans in the signature red-and-white chequerboard colours, a banner is unfurled proclaiming the name of this city by the Danube. “For all Croatians worldwide, the global diaspora, Vukovar has a particular status,” says Markus Buzov, owner of local club, HNK Vukovar1991. “It gives rise to special emotions.” Symbolised by its devastated water tower, Vukovar owes its prominence in the Croatian psyche to the city’s heroic 87-day stand against superior Serbian forces at the start of the war that broke up Yugoslavia. “I have a very personal relationship with Vukovar,” reveals the 45-year-old German Buzov, who assumed control of the club at…

“You arrived in South Africa in December to take over at Mamelodi Sundowns. What have you made of football in the country? I’m pretty satisfied with the level I found here in general and I’m highly satisfied with what I found at Sundowns. I found a great spirit that we need to permanently feed so that it keeps going. I think the team can perform better and better, and with time that will happen. The connection has also been very good. Regarding South African football, the stadiums are good but I’d highlight some things that I think can make it better. I think South African football has wonderful matches, but they can be played on better surfaces. The derby between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates – what a spectacle! This…

“Do you realise today what you achieved in 2005? It was only years later that I noticed that people still live for this final. There’s no escaping it. Wherever I go, whether to Africa or Asia, everyone remembers this match. And everyone has their own experiences connected to it. My wife went to the doctors a week after the match. When her name was called out, one of the patients asked if she was from the family of “that goalkeeper from the final”. When she said she was my wife, the patient said: “Please give him my regards. I’m here because this match gave me heart problems.” The emotions during the final were incredible. At half-time you were losing 3-0. What changed so much in the second half for Liverpool?…

Europe’s elite talent will be showcased this June, as16 top European Under-21 sides face-off in Slovakia. England, Germany and France will be among the favourites to win the tournament, which will involve not only the stars of the future but also the present. However, the cluttered football calendar might prove to be an obstacle for that. The championship will be played from June 11 to June 28, clashing with the start of the Club World Cup, which will prevent some of the continent’s best young talents from taking part. Players born on or after January1, 2002 are eligible to participate and, normally, FIFA regulations state that their clubs are obliged to let them represent their countries during the international window. However, the first edition of FIFA’s newly-expanded Club World Cup…

The island of Phuket will be a name familiar to backpackers and holiday-makers from all over the world. Yet visitors to its temples, beaches or full-moon parties might be surprised to learn that the region has a professional football team – for another season, at least. In March, Phuket Andaman kept their place in Thailand’s League 3 South, the lowest level of professional football in the country, with a nervy 1-0 win against FC Yala on the final day of the campaign. Defeat would have sent them down into the semi-professional fourth tier, known as the TS, which would have been a major blow to the new British owners, the Higher Sports Academy, who took over the club last August. Their first season in charge has been tumultuous, with the…

EUROPE 2024-25 UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Quarter-Finals – 1st Leg Apr 8 – London Arsenal (Eng) 3 (Rice 58, 70, Merino 75) Real Madrid (Spa) 0 Apr 8 – Munich Bayern Munich (Ger)1 (Muller 85) Internazionale (Ita) 2 (Martinez 38, Frattesi 88) Apr 9 – Barcelona Barcelona (Spa) 4 (Raphinha 25, Lewandowski 48, 66, Yamal 77) Borussia Dortmund (Ger) 0 Apr 9 – Paris Paris Saint-Germain (Fra) 3 (Doue 39, Kvaratskhelia 49, Mendes 90+2) Aston Villa (Eng)1 (Rogers 35) Quarter-Finals – 2nd Leg Apr 15 – Birmingham Aston Villa (Eng) 3(Tielemans 32, McGinn 55, Konsa 57) PSG (Fra) 2 (Hakimi11, Mendes 27) Paris Saint-Germain win 5-4 on aggregate Apr 15 – Dortmund B. Dortmund (Ger) 3 (Guirassy11 pen, 49, 76) Barcelona (Spa)1 (Bensebaini 54 og) Barcelona win 5-3 on aggregate Apr…