Innehållsförteckning för February 2022 från World Soccer

DON’T MISS 2022 – it’s going to be a big year for football! Get amazing coverage of the AFCON finals, Club World Cup, Champions League and more with World Soccer PLUS…don’t miss our ultimate build-up to the 2022 World Cup Save 50% Subscribe online now shop.kelsey.co.uk/WSC122 or call 01959 543 747 quote code WSC122 Calls charged at your standard network rate. Lines are open 8.30am-5pm Monday to Friday. Terms and conditions: Offer available for UK Direct Debit customers only. You will pay £38.94 for your first13 issues. Your subscription will then continue every13 issues at the rate of £49.99 – Still saving 35%. For overseas rates please visit shop.kelsey.co.uk/WSC. Offer closes March 31, 2022. Full UK subscription rate for 13 issues is £77.87, USA & EU £91, RoW £98. Here…

FEBRUARY 6 Africa Cup of Nations final Women’s Asian Cup final 27 English League Cup final MARCH 6 FA Women’s League Cup final 24 World Cup qualifiers – European play-off semi-finals 29 World Cup qualifiers – European play-off finals TBC World Cup qualifiers – African play-off finals APRIL 1 World Cup draw 23 Copa del Rey final 25 UEFA Youth League final MAY 5 CONCACAF Champions League final 8 WSL final day French Cup final 11 Italian Cup final 14 FA Cup final Bundesliga final day 15 Women’s FA Cup final 21 Ligue1 final day German Cup final 22 Women’s Champions League final Premier League final day Serie A final day La Liga final day 28 Champions League final 29 Championship play-off final JUNE 1 Finalissima – Italy v Argentina 14…

Just over three years ago, after all the fuss and fun of the 2018 World Cup had faded into summer holidays, pre-season training and a new club season, one further fascinating finals statistic slipped out. FIFA’s consultant Sportradar revealed that a phenomenal €136 billion had been turned over by the worldwide betting industry during the tournament. The average match at the finals generated an official €2.1bn with the final between Croatia and France spiralling an estimated €7.2bn. For context, FIFA’s entire World Cup revenue added up to a measly €5.6bn. That €136bn was a computation for the legal, authorised betting industry. Turnover of unregulated betting, sometimes labelled “illegal”, may have been ten, 20 or 100 times as much. Who knows? This was the money machine whirring throughout one single, month-long…

“The interview was about saying goodbye to the Inter fans, and it wasn’t about trying to disrespect the [Chelsea] fans, my team-mates, the club and the manager”Romelu Lukaku addresses his comments saying that he would like to return to Internazionale EUROPE Newcastle United’s Saudi owners made KIERAN TRIPPIER their first major signing, capturing the England full-back from La Liga champions Atletico Madrid for £12 million. Watford completed the double defensive signings of Ivorian HASSANE KAMARA from Nice and Brazilian SAMIR from Udinese. Brighton signed18-year-old Poland midfielder KACPER KOZLOWSKI, before allowing striker JURGEN LOCADIA to join Bochum on a free transfer the following day. Joining fellow full-back NATHAN PATTERSON at Everton is Ukrainian international VITALIY MYKOLENKO. Aston Villa agreed to sign PHILIPPE COUTINHO on loan from Barcelona. Hearts signed Australia rightback…

Political forces were widely ranged up against him, but in the end the star appeal of Samuel Eto’o saw him win a high-profile election as the new president of the Cameroon Football Federation, just over a month before his country began the hosting of the Africa Cup of Nations finals. It is no dream job in a country horribly short of resources. The federation has little cash and a long history of being dictated to by the country’s octogenarian president, Paul Biya, as well as a multitude of miscreant sports ministers who have come and gone in a rapid procession over the decades. But there will be the hope that Eto’o’s intimate knowledge of the foibles of Cameroon football will be able to elevate the Indomitable Lions back to their…

MEXICO The Mexican National team is in trouble. Gerardo “Tata” Martino’s team lost their last two qualifiers, in the United States and Canada, and fell from first to third in the CONCACAF qualifying final round. Although the ticket to Qatar does not appear to be in imminent danger yet, the defeats have plunged the team into a kind of mini-crisis both on and off the field. The first loss, 2-0 against USA, was particularly painful. Not only because the Americans are Mexico’s arch-rivals, but also because it was the third consecutive defeat of the year – in the summer, they had lost 3-2 in the final of the CONCACAF Nations League and1-0 in the final of the Gold Cup – which marks a reversal of a trend that, for the…

MAR 23, 2012 Plays his first senior game, coming off the subs’ bench for Cherbourg during a1-0 win. MAY 3, 2014 Starts in Cherbourg’s 1-0 defeat to Stade Bordelais, his final appearance for the club before their relegation and his release. JAN 23, 2016 After more than 18 months without a game, Mendy starts a French fourth-tier game for Marseille’s reserves. AUG 1, 2016 Makes his Ligue 2 debut for Reims, coming off the bench after first choice goalkeeper Johann Carrasso is sent off after just five minutes. NOV 17, 2017 Declares his international allegiance for Senegal, having turned down a call-up by Guinea-Bissau for AFCON 2017. APR 20, 2018 Registers his 18th clean sheet of the season as Reims win the 2017-18 Ligue 2 title. AUG 11, 2018 Plays…

Your father played for FC Twente and represented the Netherlands at youth level. How much of an influence was he on you when you were growing up? Yeah, he still is actually. He played professional football but he got injured really young, so he had to stop. Now we talk about football every day, he can’t leave it. Sometimes it drives me crazy! We always analyse my games and he used to be my coach as well when I was younger. After a game, I want to know his opinion, because he knows me and what I can bring – or what I didn’t bring in the game. He’s had a big influence on my career definitely. Now I play closer to home, he’s here almost every game to watch…

World Soccer It’s quicker and easier to complete online at worldsoccer.com/survey ABOUT YOU AND WORLD SOCCER 1. What is your gender? □ Male □ Female □ I’d prefer not to say □ Other (please specify) 2. What age are you? □ 14-19 □ 20-29 □ 30-39 □ 40-49 □ 50-59 □ 60-69 □ 70+ 3. Where do you reside? □ United Kingdom □ Europe □ North America □ Central America/Caribbean □ South America □ Africa □ Asia □ Australia/Oceania 4. What social media channels do you use? (tick all that apply) □ Facebook □ Twitter □ Instagram □ YouTube □ TikTok □ Pinterest □ Reddit □ None (I don’t use social media) 5. Do you currently follow World Soccer on social media on any of the following channels? (tick all that apply) □ Facebook…

A successor to the Intercontinental Cup and its unpretentious format, the Club World Cup has always endured existential questions: what does the tournament mean? To Europe it’s a nuisance; to South America and the rest of the world it means everything. To FIFA, it is a vehicle not only to remain relevant in the club game, but also to expand its influence, while also acquiring a new revenue stream alongside its golden goose, the World Cup. Lately, in modern football’s disorienting and dislocated era, these questions have become even more pertinent. This edition, shoehorned into a wildly congested calendar and a global health crisis, is stretching the patience of those involved beyond the limit. With the Champions League knockout stage in February, Chelsea, the European champions, have far more important…

The good thing about curses is that, one day, they end. Even if, as in the case of Atlas, it takes 70 years for it to happen. After decades and decades of waiting, their fans were finally able to experience the joy of a title in Liga MX. Atlas, one of the most traditional teams in Mexico, could be described as the Mexican equivalent of Everton: extremely popular in the city of Guadalajara where they are based, yet second in their footballing achievements to their local arch-rivals, Chivas, the second-most successful team in the country with12 league titles. Atlas’ only previous title came way back in1951, when the league was simply awarded to the team with the most points, rather than the modern system. The Red and Blacks achieved it…

Kawasaki Frontale cemented their recent domination of Japanese football by securing their fourth J.League title in five years with four matches left to play, the same as last year. They sped out from the blocks with five straight wins, set a new J.League record of 25 games without defeat from the start of the season, and finished13 points clear of their nearest rivals, Yokohama F. Marinos. Even so, there was a difficult period in August when key players left the club, Kawasaki stumbled, and Yokohama reduced the gap to a single point. “To be honest, it was a relief,” said manager Toru Oniki after Kawasaki clinched the title with a gritty1-1 draw at home to Urawa Red Diamonds. “We had a lot of difficult matches this season but, all through,…

(All kick-off times, if stated, are BST) Saturday January 22 FRANCE: Arch-rivals Lyon and Saint-Etienne go head to head at the Groupama Stadium. GERMANY: Bundesliga top-four rivals Hoffenheim and Dortmund meet at the PreZero Arena. ITALY: Milan hostJuventus at the San Siro in Serie A. Sunday January 23 CAMEROON: The AFCON 2021 last16 begins, with the runners-up in Groups A and C meeting, before Group D’s winners kick off at 8pm. ENGLAND: Antonio Conte returns to Stamford Bridge as his Tottenham Hotspur side take on Chelsea. NETHERLANDS: PSV host Ajax. Monday January 24 CAMEROON: In AFCON, the winners of Group A are in action after the two runners-up from Groups B and F meet at 5pm. PORTUGAL: The Portuguese League Cup semi-finals take place over the next two days. Tuesday…

Although this is World Soccer’s February issue, it’s our first edition with an on-sale date beginning in 2022, so it seems only fitting to preview the year ahead in some capacity. We’ve provided you with a football calendar for 2022 (opposite), while Nick Bidwell highlights the biggest talking points of the year in our regular annual preview (page 34). With the Africa Cup of Nations well underway (see next month’s issue for a full review) and the Women’s Euro 2022 and Men’s Qatar World Cup on the horizon, it’s certainly going to be a big year. That being said, there are still plenty of current football matters that need addressing. The January transfer window is in full flow (see page 18 for the month’s early deals), while several domestic leagues…

“The doctors told me straight up, ‘that’s enough’…I did everything possible. I dreamt about playing football since I was five years old and I first touched a ball…I’m proud of the career I’ve had”Sergio Aguero speaking at his Barcelona press conference to announce his retirement from football Sergio AGUERO After the former Manchester City striker was forced to hang up his boots with a heart condition, we pick out some of the standout statistics from his career… • Aguero was the youngest player in Argentine top-flight history when he made his debut for Independiente as a15-year-old in 2003. • Atletico Madrid broke their transfer record to sign him for €20m in 2006. • With184 goals, Aguero is the fourthhighest goalscorer in Premier League history, the most prolific foreign player ever…

When Paris Saint-Germain signed Lionel Messi, what did they expect? Of course there were all the benefits for their brand, and to land a player widely accepted as one of the best in history emphasised their status. The fact that the financial issues that meant Barcelona had to release him were in part provoked by the club’s panicked reaction to PSG’s audacious signing of Neymar can only have made his arrival sweeter: a vindication of that €222 million outlay in 2017. But presumably, there was also the thought that Messi would bring football of attacking luminosity. You have Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, two of the greatest forwards in the world, and you add another great forward: the result, surely, must be great forward play? But football doesn’t work like that.…

“Following a technical problem with the software of an external service provider that instructs the officials as to which teams are eligible to play each other, a material error occurred in the draw”UEFA declare their initial Champions League round of16 draw “void” and that it would be “entirely redone” Champions League ROUND OF 16 FIRST LEGS FEBRUARY 15 Paris Saint-Germain v Real Madrid Sporting v Manchester City FEBRUARY 16 Red Bull Salzburg v Bayern Munich Internazionale v Liverpool FEBRUARY 22 Chelsea v Lille Villarreal vJuventus FEBRUARY 23 Atletico Madrid v Manchester United Benfica v Ajax SECOND LEGS MARCH 8 Bayern Munich v Red Bull Salzburg Liverpool v Internazionale MARCH 9 Manchester City v Sporting Real Madrid v Paris Saint-Germain MARCH 15 Ajax v Benfica Manchester United v Atletico Madrid MARCH…

With the current financial problems in the Chinese Super League, it wasn’t much of a surprise that December saw Elkeson joining the exodus of Fabio Cannavaro, Paulinho, Talisca and others in leaving Guangzhou FC. Unlike others though, the 32-year-old’s connection with China is set to endure: in nine years he has not just scored over100 goals for Guangzhou and Shanghai Port, collecting many medals along the way, but he also picked up a Chinese passport. In 2019, the player now known as “Ai Kesen” became the first without any Chinese heritage to be naturalised and to represent the national team. China had long struggled to produce top-class strikers – it can be debated as to whether this is a result or cause of clubs signing foreign forwards for years and…

The apparently inexorable progress of the Women’s Super League to pre-eminence has taken a blow in the UEFA Champions League with a series of chastening results for its trio of elite clubs. The competition’s expansion to three entries from the major leagues, instead of leading to more English clubs making the last eight, has resulted in fewer. Only Arsenal made the quarter-finals; Chelsea were despatched in the group stage while Manchester City did not even get that far. And if those three aren’t good enough, no one else is likely to be. Between them the trio have occupied the top three spots in every WSL season since 2014. They have also won the last nine Women’s FA Cup finals and all ten League Cups. Well-funded by their men’s clubs, they…

£100m Value of Southampton takeover by Serbian Dragan Solak, who has acquired an 80 per cent stake in the Premier League club. 100 Premier League red cards received by Arsenal – the first team in the competition’s history to reach the milestone. €11m Reported annual salary of Napoli and Italy forward Lorenzo Insigne when he joins Major League Soccer side Toronto FC this summer on a contract until 2027. €2.1bn Value of an investment in the top 42 clubs in Spanish men’s football by private equity fund CVC Capital Partners in exchange for an 8.2 per cent stake in a new company that will manage sponsorship and broadcasting revenues. 4 Decades in which Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira has received a Premier League yellow card, both as a player and…

River Plate brushed aside all competition to extend their record as the most successful team in the history of Argentina’s top flight with three games to spare. Beyond the metrics of the seven-point difference at the top, the most goals scored, the most possession and the joint-best defence, it was a side that exhibited the competitiveness and verve that has come to be the trademark of the club under coach Marcelo Gallardo. While River claimed the title as their 37th, others insist that it was in fact their 36th. The exact nature of the 1936 Copa de Oro, which River won, is disputed: some historians of Argentine football consider it to be a national cup rather than a league title. Nevertheless, their status as the country’s most successful team is…

The extra-time goals from Amir Sayoud and Yacine Brahimi that crowned Algeria first-time Arab Cup winners may remain footnotes in football’s history books. That’s not to belittle the tenth edition of a tournament, outside the FIFA calendar, that enchanted with incessant last-minute drama and great goals. It enjoyed huge interest from across the region and led to wild celebrations on Algiers’1er Mai square. In the final against Tunisia, Brahimi’s championship-winning goal, the last kick of the match, was a fitting end to a tournament full of slow burners. In the quarter-finals, the African champions eliminated Morocco on penalties while Egypt needed two extra-time goals against Jordan. The stoppage-time drama in the semi-finals was as compelling as it was bizarre: Tunisia got a last-gasp winner in the dying seconds through an…

The 2021 K-League season ended in a familiar fashion: Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors lifted the trophy, while secondplaced Ulsan Hyundai were left shaking their heads in wonderment at just how they didn’t win. It was the fifth time in succession thatJeonbuk were South Korean champions and the third time that Ulsan, becoming known as serial chokers, threw it away at the end. With four games of the season left, the two teams met with Ulsan first, Jeonbuk second and third out of the running. Heading into the 95th minute it was 2-2 and the Tigers were staying in pole position, before Russian striker Stanislav Iljutcenko converted a delightful cross from Takahiro Kunimoto with a diving header to win the game and, in the end, the league. It was a bitter pill…

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

Paul McGrath Italy 0 Republic of Ireland1 1994 World Cup, USA I shouldn’t have been anywhere near a football pitch that day, that’s the reality. It’s amazing to me that people look back on the Italy game as my greatest performance, but I come at it from a very different angle. As I look back now, I have to ask myself: how the hell did I do that? There was no way I felt I could get through the game and perform anywhere near my best given the condition I was in. To be blunt, I was not fit to play and we all knew that. Our manager Jack Charlton knew it, I knew it, and if the Italian players had eyes, they would have worked it out very quickly:…

EUROPE & SOUTH AMERICA FIFA hit back against Nations League proposals FIFA will attempt to prevent South American countries from joining the European Nations League after plans for a revamped version of the competition were put forward by UEFA. In December, UEFA vice-president Zbigniew Boniek revealed to Polish outlet Meczyki that: “From 2024 CONMEBOL will join the Nations League. We do not know yet in what form. We signed a memorandum about cooperation.” FIFA were enraged having not been informed of the proposals. If they withdraw their sanction of the Nations League, it would relegate its status to effectively that of a friendly tournament. It has already been confirmed that Euro 2020 champions Italy will face Copa America holders Argentina this summer, in what could become a regular fixture between…

GOALKEEPERS Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid) 11 Edouard Mendy (Chelsea) 11 Ederson (Manchester City) 5 Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich) 5 David Ospina (Napoli) 4 David De Gea (Manchester United) 3 Alisson (Liverpool) 2 Jan Oblak (Atletico Madrid) 2 Aaron Ramsdale (Arsenal) 2 Oliver Baumann (Hoffenheim) 1 Bono (Sevilla) 1 Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG) 1 Mark Flekken (Freiburg) 1 Alfred Gomis (Rennes) 1 Mike Maignan (Milan) 1 Maty Ryan (Real Sociedad) 1 DEFENDERS Joao Cancelo (Manchester City) 23 Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli) 17 Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool) 14 Ruben Dias (Manchester City) 13 Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool) 10 Marquinhos (PSG) 9 Antonio Rudiger (Chelsea) 9 Achraf Hakimi (PSG) 8 Reece James (Chelsea) 7 Eder Militao (Real Madrid) 7 David Alaba (Real Madrid) 6 Alphonso Davies (Bayern Munich) 6 Thiago Silva (Chelsea) 6 Ben Chilwell (Chelsea)…

EDDIE HAPGOOD, FOOTBALLER By Lynne Hapgood?(Pitch Publishing, £19.99) The story of a young unknown from Bristol who became Arsenal and England captain in the1930s. Hapgood considered football an art, playing it joyously, but struggled when politics, class and money threatened to corrupt football. And by the late1930s, fascism, Nazism and looming war were bearing down? on the beautiful game. In this gripping memoir, his daughter pulls together the various threads - success, celebrity, tragedy and vindication - to reveal the real Eddie Hapgood. “I HOPE YOU DIE OF CANCER” By Marvin Close (Pitch Publishing, £12.99) A million miles away from the Premier League lies the world of non-league football: a far grittier version of the beautiful game. Footballer X lifts the lid on never-beforetold stories of dust-ups, bust-ups, backhanders and…

The successful North American bid to hold the 2026 World Cup across three countries will see Canada host the men’s tournament for the first time. The 23rd edition of football’s global gathering will span the continent, including cities in Mexico and the United States as well as Canada, with the three nations expected to qualify automatically as hosts for what will be the first 48-team tournament. Winning hosting duties meant that Canada would be guaranteed a spot at the men’s World Cup for the first time since 1986 – their only appearance in the finals to date. As it turns out, 2026 could well be their second World Cup in a row. Canada’s performances in the CONCACAF section of qualifying for the 2022 World Cup have seen them top the…

BRAZIL And then there were three. Rio de Janeiro giants Flamengo and Palmeiras from Sao Paulo have been monopolising the major titles in Brazil and South America, fighting out the final of the Copa Libertadores at the end of November. But domestically, there is no doubt about it: Atletico Mineiro from Belo Horizonte have joined the restricted ranks of the superclubs. In a season where fans were gradually allowed back during the course of the campaign, Atletico won the league for the first time in 50 years by a whopping13-point margin, and then followed it up by completing the double – a feat only achieved once before – thrashing Athletico Paranaense 6-1 on aggregate to claim the highlyprized domestic cup as well. They came close in the Copa Libertadores, too,…

The ejection of Niue from the Oceania Football Confederation was hotly contested by officials on the tiny South Pacific island, but it has at least resulted in football activity increasing. After a meeting of the OFC executive committee on March 3 2021, the associate membership of the Niue Islands Soccer Association was revoked after what the confederation describes as a decade of inactivity. The islanders only found out via a report onRadio NZ Pacific, and NISA secretaryJama’l Talagi claims that their ejection was based on a report written back in 2017. “They say they exhausted all avenues trying to contact us but where have they got that information from?” asks Ms Talagi. “For years OFC refuse to talk to Niue. I don’t think that they are interested in the small…

It’s taken 26 years for the MLS Cup to make its way to New York City but, at the end of the 2021 season, the club bearing the city’s name triumphed in the play-offs to bring the trophy to the USA’s most populous area. As a 2015 expansion side, this was only New York City FC’s seventh season in Major League Soccer, but big things have always been expected of a franchise that is part of one of football’s emerging global powers, the City Football Group. The network was put to good use to sign 2021 MLS Golden Boot winner Valentin “Taty” Castellanos, who arrived in 2019 from City Football Group’s Uruguayan club, Montevideo City Torque. The Argentine went on to top the scoring charts in the play-offs too, alongside…

The first day of 2022 saw Thailand lift the AFF Suzuki Cup, the ten-team biennial tournament held in Singapore, to return to the top of Southeast Asian football. This 13th edition, taking place 25 years after the first one in1996, should have taken place in 2020, but it was worth the wait for fans in this football-loving region of 650 million. The boys from Bangkok lifted the trophy for the sixth time, defeating Indonesia 6-2 on aggregate in the two-legged final. Many thought Thailand would meet defending champions Vietnam in the last game but that clash came in the last four instead. Vietnam kept a clean sheet in five of the six games in the competition, but two goals in the first leg of their semi-final gave Thailand the advantage…

The truly troubled 2021 season of football in New Zealand came to an end in Wellington on December12, as Miramar Rangers defeated Wellington Olympic 7-2 in the Grand Final of the South Central Series. New Zealand Football (NZF) had plans for this to be an historic season and, in many ways, it was – but not as they intended. 2021 was the New Zealand National League’s first-ever season, created as the successor to the New Zealand Football Championship. The competition is separated into two stages, with teams competing in regional leagues to qualify for the Championship Phase. Four teams come from the Northern League, three from the Central League and two from the Southern League. Those nine sides are joined by Wellington Phoenix Reserves, who automatically receive a spot each…