Innehållsförteckning för September 2021 från World Soccer

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CRUZ AZUL Two months on from winning their first league title in 24 years, the Mexican side have another trophy to add to their collection. In May, Cruz Azul ended their trophy drought by winning the Clausura, finishing three points clear of America, then followed it up by beating Apertura champs Leon in the Champion of Champions trophy. RAUL JIMENEZ The Wolverhampton Wanderers striker’s playing career looked in serious doubt after the horrendous head injury he suffered against Arsenal last season. But after recovering from a fractured skull, the Mexican star made his long-awaited return in a friendly against Crewe Alexandra. “He’s shaken it off like it never happened and it’s like he’s the same old Raul,” said Wolves’ captain on the day, John Ruddy. MOGADISHU STADIUM Somalia’s national stadium…

Third European club competition is a welcome restoration At Villa Park on May19, 1999, Christian Vieri and Pavel Nedved scored the goals that gave Lazio a 2-1 win over Mallorca and secured their place in football history as the last-ever winners of the European Cup Winners’ Cup. UEFA president Lennart Johansson and his executive committee had decided that the competition was an anachronism. Never mind that in its 39-year history, winners had included the likes of Ajax, Arsenal, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Juventus, Manchester City and United, and Milan. However, the romance of the game had to bow to the bottom line. For Johansson’s UEFA, the lottery of a cup competition did not conform to the all-commanding cash-safe concept of mini leagues. Patronisingly, in an ominous pointer to…

When Turkish troops annexed the top half of Cyprus in 1974, an estimated 6,000 people died and thousands of Greek Cypriot refugees fled to the south of the Mediterranean island. Some sports clubs that were a big part of people’s lives before the war simply disappeared but Podosfairiki Athlitiki Enosi Eparxeias Kerynias – better known as PAEEK – survived. Some players from the club, which was founded in the harbour town of Kyrenia in1953, were taken prisoner but a small group of Kyrenians, led by then-mayor Stelios Katsellis, fought to keep the club alive. For years, PAEEK were homeless, constantly borrowing fields or stadiums, before eventually leasing government-owned land in the Strovolos suburb of Nicosia, some 22 miles inland, to build a stadium. “Our club survived to give a sense…

Manchester City remain strong favourites to retain their title. All the ingredients that made them such worthy champions last season remain in place With the new Premier League season almost upon us, transfer questions hang over most of the major title contenders. Will Manchester City succeed in their pursuits of Harry Kane and Jack Grealish? Can Chelsea persuade Borussia Dortmund to sell Erling Haaland, and if so who will leave to fund it? Manchester United are hoping to add defenders Raphael Varane and Kieran Trippier to their squad, in addition to Jadon Sancho – but will those deals make them contenders again? And what about Liverpool, where the uncertainty over Jordan Henderson’s future threatens to disrupt the spirit at Anfield? In truth, regardless of how all of those questions are…

Have Club Brugge outgrown Belgium? On the back of two league crowns and financial stability, the club’s hierarchy likes to think so. Onwards and upwards with plans for a new 40,000-seater stadium on the site of the current Jan Breydelstadion under consideration, and perhaps even a BeNeliga, a crossborder league with the Netherlands, so as to generate more revenue and close the gap with Europe’s elite. But plans can backfire, as the club’s failed IPO demonstrated in painful fashion. Even so, in the new campaign, Brugge will be confident of more silverware. Last season, “Blauw-Zwart” prevailed after a tight finish to defend their league title for the first time in 43 years. The team played engrossing and dominant football, resulting in a16-point lead at the end of the regular season.…

As thousands lined the streets of Rome on the day after Italy’s win in the Euro 2020 final to applaud their returning heroes, it was tempting not to recall the “Triumphus” (Roman Triumph) once held by the Emperors of Ancient Rome on their return from a successful foreign campaign. With both state president Sergio Mattarella and prime minister Mario Draghi holding enthusiastic state receptions for the team, it was absolutely clear that no one was underestimating the importance of the moment. Socially, culturally, economically and, of course in strict football terms, this was a terrific post-COVID triumph that Italy badly needed. Starved of meaningful international success for the last11 years (since Jose Mourinho’s Inter won the 2010 Champions League), once dominant Italian football has had to eat industrial quantities of…

Upon the full-time whistle that brought the 2020-21 season to a close, Diego Simeone simply burst out laughing on the sidelines at Valladolid. The Atletico Madrid boss had just won his second La Liga title and the club’s first since 2014. “I can’t stop laughing for some reason,” he told reporters after the game. Atleti have always thrived under their underdog status, but last campaign was different. They led the league from the off and by the halfway point had 50 points – a double-digit points lead over their rivals. Perhaps inevitably, their form dipped – collecting17 points from their following 13 games – and the advantage was slowly whittled away by Real Madrid and Barcelona, who hit their strides in the second half of the campaign. Sevilla, who finished…

HARVEY RETURNS TO OL REIGN In America, Laura Harvey has returned to the helm of NWSL club OL Reign after the departure of Farid Benstiti. Englishwoman Harvey, who had been working with the US national team, was Reign coach from 2013 to 2017. Elsewhere, Ebony Salmon, newly recruited from Bristol City, made an immediate impact for Racing Louisville by scoring within a minute of her debut. The expansion side also signed Denmark striker Nadia Nadim and former England defender Gemma Bonner. Portland Thorns gave a debut to 15-year-old Olivia Moultrie following a court injunction staying the league’s prohibition on Under-18s playing professionally. Former England international Casey Stoney will coach 2022 expansion side San Diego with double World Cup-winning US coach Jill Ellis as president. PROTEST IN BRAZIL Brazilian players carried…

“You’ve scored more than 250 goals in your career so far – from League Two to the Premier League in England, and now in Australia and India. What does it take to be a consistent goalscorer? I guess a bit of luck and hard work. From six or seven years old, I’ve pretty much dedicated my life to football, and always tried to improve. I’m no different now as I get to 35. I want to keep improving. I’ve spent a lot of time working on finishing and watching the best strikers in the world, seeing what sort of positions they take up and how that can help me as a player. luckily, I’ve managed to stay fit as well, which is very rare in football. I’ve managed to keep…

The quarter-finalists of the Copa Libertadores were defined at a time that was extraordinarily favourable to the Brazilian teams: in mid-July, straight after the Copa America when everyone else was in or just coming out of pre-season, while the Brazilians were in full competitive flow. Absurdly, Brazilian football is being rewarded for having a calendar that pays no heed to FIFA dates. Had Internacional not surprisingly fallen on penalties to Olimpia of Paraguay, then there could have been six Brazilians in the last eight. As it is, there are four and the near certainty of five – Fluminense’s second leg with Cerro Porteno of Paraguay was put back to August 3 after the tragic death of the son of the Paraguayans’ coach. But with Fluminense at home and with a…

Seven years ago, the City Football Group acquired Melbourne Heart as part of its burgeoning global portfolio of clubs. A-League watchers anticipated an upsurge in the then-struggling Heart, and an immediate injection of funding that would lift the competition as a whole. Safe to say what followed was more of a slow build than a quick fix. Despite the renamed Melbourne City dabbling in high-profile signings such as David Villa and Tim Cahill, and the construction of a new $20 million training complex in the suburb of Bundoora, success proved elusive. One FFA Cup win in 2016 and a series of near misses was all that the club had to show. Until this season that is, when, after an ordinary start to the campaign, they came good to finish top…

AUGUST 22 Bologna v Salernitana Cagliari v Spezia Empoli v Lazio Internazionale v Genoa Napoli v Venezia Roma v Fiorentina Sampdoria v Milan Torino v Atalanta Udinese vJuventus Verona v Sassuolo AUGUST 29 Atalanta v Bologna Fiorentina v Torino Genoa v Napoli Juventus v Empoli Lazio v Spezia Milan v Cagliari Salernitana v Roma Sassuolo v Sampdoria Udinese v Venezia Verona v Internazionale SEPTEMBER12 Atalanta v Fiorentina Bologna v Verona Cagliari v Genoa Empoli v Venezia Milan v Lazio Napoli v Juventus Roma v Sassuolo Sampdoria v Internazionale Spezia v Udinese Torino v Salernitana SEPTEMBER19 Empoli v Sampdoria Genoa v Fiorentina Internazionale v Bologna Juventus v Milan Lazio v Cagliari Salernitana v Atalanta Sassuolo v Torino Udinese v Napoli Venezia v Spezia Verona v Roma SEPTEMBER 22 Atalanta v Sassuolo…

It is said that there are five stages in the grieving process, starting with denial. In the week after the Euro 2020 final, I was sure that my wall planner must be mistaken – or lying. Surely there had to be another game? It couldn’t all be over? Plenty of England fans, it seems, then moved quickly on to anger, and then bargaining: a change.org petition demanding the final be replayed gained just under 150,000 votes in two weeks. Next comes depression – and the behaviour of many England fans both at Wembley and in the subsequent days definitely added to that feeling – before finally, acceptance. Now, with the 2021-22 European domestic season almost ready to begin, it is time to move on; the Euros were great, but there…

Albert SAMBI LOKONGA (Arsenal) Sambi Lokonga is yet to earn his first Belgium cap, yet was close to a place in their Euro 2020 squad in place of Axel Witsel. Ultimately, the Borussia Dortmund midfielder was fit enough to travel and Lokonga had to settle for a place on the standby list, but a full call-up is likely to come soon enough. In spite of his tender years (he turns 22 in October), he was named Anderlecht’s club captain at the start of last season, and started 33 games as a key cog at the base of midfield. Capable of playing as a defensive holder or in a box-to-box role with a good passing range, he has been heartily recommended by both Anderlecht’s sporting director Peter Verbeke and manager Vincent…

THE FIX ByJames Dixon (Pitch Publishing, £16.99) The Fix: How the first Champions League was won and why we all lost is an examination of the 1992-93 Champions League season. The breakup of the USSR, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia gave UEFA a problem. There were more national league champions than their post-war competitions could handle. Against the backdrop of constant threats of a breakaway super league, the UEFA Champions League was born. The Fix looks at that first season, from its humble beginning on a Faroese hillside to its ultimate conclusion in a French courtroom. ORIGIN STORIES By Chris Lee (Pitch Publishing, £12.99) Origin Stories: The pioneers who took football to the world charts the growth of the game in each major footballing country, from the very first kick to the…

SUMMER 2021 LATEST MAJOR TRANSFERS £50m Ben White Brighton to Arsenal £30m Rodrigo De Paul Udinese to Atletico Madrid £18m Marc Guehi chelsea to crystal Palace £17.2m Albert Sambi Lokonga Anderlecht to Arsenal £13.5m Kristoffer Ajer celtic to Brentford £12.9m Kamaldeen Sulemana Nordsjaelland to rennes £12m Sebastiaan Bornauw cologne to Wolfsburg £11m Lukas Nmecha Manchester city to Wolfsburg £10.5m Marko Grujic* liverpool to Porto £10.3m Boulaye Dia reims to Villarreal £10m Rui Patricio Wolves to roma £10m Rayan Ait Nouri* Angers to Wolves £8.5m Frank Onyeka Midtjylland to Brentford £8.5m Calvin Stengs AZ to Nice £8.5m Mitchel Bakker PSG to Bayer leverkusen £8m Nuno Tavares Benfica to Arsenal £8m Michael Olise reading to crystal Palace £6.8m Jose Sa olympiakos to Wolves £6.5m Taiwo Awoniyi* liverpool to Union Berlin £6.4m Sandro…

“Who should sign up to this online scouting course? Anyone who is looking to become a professional first team football scout. The course replicates how you would scout for a club at first team level with practical scouting assignments and training on the scouting platform used by clubs across the UK and Europe. Course attendees will also have the opportunity to use this on the course. The course can also be taken by anyone anywhere in the world as it’s all based online. What happens when someone signs up for the course? They will instantly receive everything they need to begin the course via e-mail including professional scouting sample reports, scouting templates and FREE scouting handbooks. They also have the option to begin immediately! Will course attendees need any prior…

More than 3,500 miles and two decades separate where Tom Vernon stands, in his office overlooking the pitch of FC Nordsjaelland’s 10,000-capacity home stadium, and where the idea for his innovative, trend-bucking Right to Dream Academy was conceived. “Within 20 minutes of getting out of the airport in Accra in 1999,” he says of the moment the notion of creating a football academy to provide hope and opportunity for the young people of Ghana occurred to him. “The boys were so talented but also so magnetic in their personalities and love for life and love for the game. It was a combination of a desire to work with kids like that and then the obvious need for pathways and structure and opportunities that almost exclusively doesn’t exist in African football.”…

This is what the Bavarians do to stay on top: target the main men of their domestic opponents and make them an offer they can’t refuse Bold, innovative, incredibly flexible tactically, analytical to the nth degree and a consummate teacher: newly-installed Bayern Munich coach Julian Nagelsmann, just turned 34, rightly has a reputation as one of the brightest young bosses in the world game. When Hansi Flick opted to walk away at the end of last season, soon to re-emerge as Germany’s next Bundestrainer, the former RB Leipzig man was an obvious choice to take over the reins at the Allianz Arena. Champions for the last nine years and clear favourites to make it ten in a row, Bayern spared no expense to bring Nagelsmann on board, paying his former…

Steven Gerrard painted a perfect picture for Rangers last season. An unbeaten Scottish Premiership campaign could provide the template for more success this season. The only change in the Glasgow landscape is the arrival of Ange Postecoglou at Celtic. The former Australia national team coach was recruited from Yokohama F. Marinos in Japan for his first big job in Europe, with the mission of rebuilding Celtic. The Ibrox side created a 25-point gap over their rivals, whose attempt to win a record ten titles in a row went completely off the rails, with Neil Lennon sacked in February. Gerrard’s men were so dominant in collecting 102 points (32 wins and six draws in 38 games, conceding just13 goals). They were unbeaten in all four of their league clashes with Celtic,…

Now that the anger has dissipated a little in the wake of Turkey’s disastrous Euro 2020 campaign, the massed ranks of Super Lig devotees are increasingly turning their attention to the enticing prospect of being able to attend games once more. After 15 months of playing behind closed doors because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Turkish federation recently announced that all pro clubs would be allowed to fill their stadia to 50 per cent capacity. Needless to say, the unveiling of the season’s fixture list had supporters scrambling to pore over the schedule, with fans of the Istanbul “Big Three” anxious to know when the derbies would take place. The first of the showpiece games will be held on matchday ten when reigning champions Besiktas host last season’s runners-up Galatasaray…

“How would you describe yourself as a footballer? What would you say are your best attributes? I think my best attributes are my speed, my intelligence in reading the game and the movements that I make with and without the ball. It’s also that killer instinct that I always try to improve. It’s not yet perfect, but I just try to improve it every day because the final product has to be good. If I have these things, like speed and good movement, I need to finish off the good movement that I’ve made. Which players did you admire or look up to when you were getting into football? My first inspiration was my father, may his soul rest in peace. He was the person who exposed me to football…

1 Zambia women’s captain Barbra Banda became the first female African player to score an Olympics hat-trick – although it came in her side’s crushing 10-3 defeat to Netherlands. £57,000 The price paid for a football rulebook, dating back to 1859, which was sold at a recent auction. 30 The number of minutes it took Everton’s Richarlison to score a hat-trick in Brazil’s Olympic opener against Germany. 1 Richarlison was also the first-ever Premier League player to score a treble at the Olympics. 35 Age of France ace Andre-Pierre Gignac when he scored his firstever international tournament goal. 3 Three Russian players – Ivan Knyazev, Daria Meshcheryakova and Vladimir Obukhov – have been given doping bans by FIFA. 50% The pay cut that Lionel Messi agreed to in order to…

It seemed that maybe this time, it was going to be different. But in the end, history repeated itself once more. For the past15 years, Mexican clubs have dominated the CONCACAF Champions League. Since Saprissa of Costa Rica won it in 2005, nobody has been able to challenge the supremacy of the Aztec sides. Nevertheless, Major League Soccer teams have gone close on several occasions, and the 2021 edition seemed a good opportunity to finally break the cycle – although more because of the problems of Mexican clubs than because of their own strength. In this tournament, Mexico had four teams, and they all had reason to doubt their title credentials. Santiago Banos, football director of the giants Club America, pointed out before the first game that the tournament “doesn’t…

AUGUST 8 Bordeaux v Clermont Lyon v Brest Metz v Lille Monaco v Nantes Montpellier v Marseille Nice v Reims Rennes v Lens Saint-Etienne v Lorient Strasbourg v Angers Troyes v Paris Saint-Germain AUGUST 15 Angers v Lyon Brest v Rennes Clermont v Troyes Lens v Saint-Etienne Lille v Nice Lorient v Monaco Marseille v Bordeaux Nantes v Metz Paris Saint-Germain v Strasbourg Reims v Montpellier AUGUST 22 Bordeaux v Angers Brest v Paris Saint-Germain Lyon v Clermont Metz v Reims Monaco v Lens Montpellier v Lorient Nice v Marseille Rennes v Nantes Saint-Etienne v Lille Strasbourg v Troyes Angers v Rennes Clermont v Metz Lens v Lorient Lille v Montpellier Marseille v Saint-Etienne Nantes v Lyon Nice v Bordeaux Reims v Paris Saint-Germain Strasbourg v Brest Troyes v Monaco…

Mourinho’s appointment the latest step in Serie A’s revival The wild celebration that greeted Italy’s victory at Euro 2020 was not merely about the joy and glory of triumph at a major tournament. The songs, car horns and fireworks in Rome, Milan and Naples were more than that: they were also exuberant delight that Italian football is relevant again, that Calcio is back in the big time, and that players like Federico Chiesa, Leonardo Spinazzola and Gigi Donnarumma can charm the world. For too many years football in Italy has endured an inferiority complex, believing the best teams and finest players were elsewhere. When Italy played in dazzling style to beat Switzerland 3-0 among a crowd of Romans at the Stadio Olimpico, the locals were still full of doubt. They…

Good riddance to the away goals rule The news that the away goals rule will not be used in UEFA competition from this season brought a flurry of gloomy prognostication. The game will be ruined, the naysayers insist. Away teams, disincentivised, will sit deep, especially in the first leg, knowing that a 0-0 draw is a great result because in the second leg they will potentially have an additional half hour of extra-time in front of their own fans in which to force a win. And perhaps that is what will happen – but if it is, it will require major changes. Firstly, such pessimism relies on the assumption that the away goals rule did achieve what it set out to do, that the additional value placed on an away…

Appointments, sackings and loans OUT EUROPE ARJEN ROBBEN retired for the second time after an injury-plagued season back at his first club Groningen. Former England, Liverpool and West Ham United striker ANDY CARROLL was released by Newcastle United. EDGAR DAVIDS was sacked by Portuguese minnows Olhanense after just six months in charge. Former England youth coach STEVE COOPER, who won the Under-17 World Cup in 2017, left his role as Swansea City manager after two seasons in charge. CONCACAF Atlanta United sacked manager GABRIEL HEINZE after just13 games in charge of the MLS side. SOUTH AMERICA Shortly after firing Colon to the league title in Argentina, midfielder LUIS “PULGA” RODRIGUEZ left the club to join Gimnasia La Plata. George CURTIS (1939-2021) A Coventry City legend, having made 543 appearances for…

One of the last places you’d expect to find a professional football club is 200 miles inside the Arctic Circle, where the snow is enduring and the winter nights interminable. Yet if you journey to the far northern reaches of Norway, to the vast and sparsely inhabited county of Troms and Finnmark, you will find one of the last bulwarks of civilisation against which the harsh and unremitting wilderness encroaches. On the island of Tromsoya is the settlement of Tromso, a small town of 70,000 people, home to the world’s northernmost professional football club: Tromso Idrettslag or TIL, for short. Since their inception in September 1920, they are a club that have long been accustomed to doing things differently. In a country marked by the stark divide between its southern…

Chelsea’s Champions League final victory over Manchester City was humiliating for Paris Saint-Germain. Masterminded by a coach in Thomas Tuchel that PSG had sacked mid-season for little more than a clash of personalities, aided by a former captain, Thiago Silva, who Paris had released a year earlier. Chelsea and their PSG alumni achieved in half a season what Paris have been desperately striving for across a decade of Qatari ownership. Images of Tuchel and Silva lifting the European Cup wearing the wrong shade of blue amounted to what was arguably the project’s lowest ebb to date. That embarrassment was compounded on the domestic front as Lille, whose first team cost roughly a third of PSG forward Neymar’s gargantuan transfer fee, spectacularly dethroned the capital club to win Ligue 1. Paris’…

The transfer market in the Eredivisie started slowly and hasn’t come to an end yet. However, it will be difficult to see a more controversial move than the €4 million deal taking Steven Berghuis from Feyenoord to arch-rivals Ajax. The deal came as a massive shock, especially in Rotterdam. And Feyenoord supporters will not forgive the winger. There were videos of a fan burning his shirt, while he also received several threats. Going from Rotterdam to Amsterdam has always been a sensitive move. That’s why only four players in history have left the harbour city for the capital: Henk Groot (in 1965), Jan Everse (in 1977) and Arnold Scholten (in 1995). There have been more that have gone in the opposite direction, since in Amsterdam they don’t make such a…

Sporting’s first title since 2001-02 represented a refreshing change in Portuguese football after two decades of Benfica and Porto hegemony. Going into the new season, the three traditional powerhouses look well matched, but have adopted differing approaches in the quest for supremacy. While Benfica and Porto’s squads are primarily made up of experienced campaigners, most of them non-Portuguese, Sporting are sticking to the policy of promoting from within their academy and, when dipping into the transfer market, putting their trust in young recruits. On March 20, 2021 Sporting midfielder Dario Essugo was brought on as a late substitute against Vitoria Guimaraes, one week after his 16th birthday. Essugo became the youngest-ever debutant in the club’s history and came to symbolise Sporting coach Ruben Amorim’s absolute faith in youth players. “This…

It would be easy to scoff at UEFA commissioning an anthem for the revamped Women’s Champions League. But there is no doubting Tony Britten’s Handel adaptation has become an intrinsic part of the success of the men’s competition, recognisable worldwide as the sound of the Champions League. Players and coaches talk about how, when they stand on the pitch hearing it before a game for the first time, they know they have arrived in the sport’s elite club competition. So there is emotional as well as marketing logic in creating a soundtrack for the women’s competition as it moves into a new era, 20 years after it began as the UEFA Women’s Cup and 12 years after rebranding as the UEFA Women’s Champions League. Now, it will ape the men’s…

“Your father Washington was a successful basketball player. How much influence did he have on you? He wanted to play football, but life and friends and luck took him to play basketball and he did very well. I’ve always had a strong relationship with basketball, it’s a sport I like a lot. I played it when I was young. But he was always pushing me and my brother to play football; what he couldn’t do himself he wanted his kids to do. Being a professional sportsman, did your father instil competitiveness in you? No doubt. and also I have to say, for a very long time he was still recognised. His popularity was bigger than mine, especially for older people. Maybe after I won the Copa america in1995, I achieved…

Coaching the Cambodia national team, owning a club in the domestic top flight while also still playing thousands of miles away in Europe is proving a difficult balancing act for Keisuke Honda. The Japanese legend had his contract with Portuguese side Portimonense ripped up after five days in February but moved to Azerbaijan, where he won the league with Neftci Baku. But back in Cambodia, Honda is having less success. Cambodia were thrashed 10-0 by Iran in June and a month later his club side Soltilo Angkor let their English coach Charlie Pomroy go amidst an unseemly row over changing priorities. “Zero wins out of five doesn’t look good,” says Pomroy. “But I was told we had a three-year development plan. Then, three weeks before the league started I was…

In the end the fairy tale had a horror ending, but Kaizer Chiefs’ ride to the African Champions League final was among the most remarkable stories in the continental club competition for years. They eventually lost to a polished Al Ahly, who continued to break new ground as they completed “Al Ashra” – their tenth success in the competition, in the Arabic equivalent of Real Madrid’s “Decima”. The final proved a one-sided affair, with the Egyptians beating Chiefs 3-0 in Casablanca to enforce their superiority in the African game and add another chapter to an already illustrious history It was always going to be a tough assignment for the Soweto club, and their slim chances were reduced to virtually nothing when they had Happy Mashiane sent off just before half-time.…

World Soccer Presents Pep Talk looks at Pep Guar diol a’s coaching career s o far and opens upt he debate on whet her he should be consider edthe greatest manager of all time. Part five of World Soccer’s bookazi ne collecti on looks at Pep’sachi evements with Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City, and discusses where he sits a mong 50 managers that mattered. Subscribe today and pay just £40.94 every 6 issues Great reasons to subscribe •Pay just £40.94 for 6 issues – saving 15% on the shop price •Each issue delivered directly to your door for FREE Subscribe online at shop.kelsey.co.uk/WSP120 or call 01959 543 747 quote code WSP120 Calls charged at your standard network rate. Lines are open 8am-5.30pm Monday to Friday. Terms and conditions: Offer…

AUGUST 14 Bor M’gladbach v Bayern Munich Cologne v Hertha Berlin Union Berlin v Bayer Leverkusen Mainz v RB Leipzig Borussia Dortmund v Eintract Frankfurt Arminia Bielefeld v Freiburg Augsburg v Hoffenheim Stuttgart v Greuther Furth Wolfsburg v Bochum AUGUST 21 Bayer Leverkusen v Bor M’gladbach Eintract Frankfurt v Augsburg Bayern Munich v Cologne Hertha Berlin v Wolfsburg RB Leipzig v Stuttgart Freiburg v Borussia Dortmund Greuther Furth v Arminia Bielefeld Hoffenheim v Union Berlin Bochum v Mainz AUGUST 28 Cologne v Bochum Union Berlin v Bor M’gladbach Mainz v Greuther Furth Borussia Dortmund v Hoffenheim Arminia Bielefeld v Eintract Frankfurt Augsburg v Bayer Leverkusen Bayern Munich v Hertha Berlin Stuttgart v Freiburg Wolfsburg v RB Leipzig SEPTEMBER11 Union Berlin v Augsburg Bayer Leverkusen v Borussia Dortmund Bor M’gladbach v…

ASIA AFC CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2021 Group stage (east) Group F Jul 5 - Thanyaburi ulsan Hyundai 2 (Yoon 27, 51) Kaya-iloilo 1 (Bedic 47) Ht: 1-0. ref: Al-Yaqoubi (Oma) Jul 5 - Thanyaburi Viettel 1 (Pedro Paulo 23) bG Pathum united 3 (Chaowat 56, Tunez 62, Diogo 64) Ht: 0-0. ref: Sato (Jap) Jul 8 - Thanyaburi Kaya-iloilo 0 bG Pathum united 1 (Sarach 83) Ht: 0-0. ref: Mahfoodh (Bah) Jul 8 - Thanyaburi ulsan Hyundai 3 (Qazaishvili 48, Hinterseer 55, Oh 86) Viettel 0 Ht: 0-0. ref: Evans (Aus) Jul 11 - Thanyaburi Viettel1 (Caique 57) Kaya-iloilo 0 Ht: 0-0. ref: Hattab (Syr) Jul 11 - Thanyaburi bG Pathum united 0 ulsan Hyundai 2 (Kim 31, Qazaishvili 87) Ht: 0-1. ref: Faghani (Ira) Group G Jul 7 - Bangkok Pohang…

He was a raw18-year-old prodigy when Ajax coach Louis van Gaal handed him a chance to play in the biggest game in European club football, yet Patrick Kluivert was ready to embrace the challenge. Some 26 years on from the night that changed his life, his memories of scoring the winning goal against Italian giants Milan are still vivid… When you are 18 years old, you don’t have any fear. You just want to play, to experience everything as quickly as possible, even if it is the biggest game in European club football. That is how I felt when Ajax reached the Champions League final in 1995. I just wanted to play, even if it was for one minute, because you never know when you will get another chance in…