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/ 5 February 2008
African soccer’s governing body has denied telling Didier Drogba and Frederic Kanoute that they had to attend last week’s African Footballer of the Year award ceremony to have a chance of winning. Côte d’Ivoire striker Drogba opted not to travel to Togo and Mali’s Kanoute, who did go, was declared the winner.
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/ 21 January 2008
William Gallas believes the fear factor can help Arsenal reach the League Cup final and extend their long unbeaten run against Tottenham on Tuesday. Gallas’s side travel to White Hart Lane for the League Cup semifinal second leg with the tie delicately poised at 1-1.
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/ 18 January 2008
There has been much debate about whether the African Cup of Nations should be held at the end of the European season so that there is not a club-versus-country clash. Two football experts discuss the pros and cons. The continental showpiece kicks off in Ghana on Sunday.
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/ 24 December 2007
Cristiano Ronaldo scored an 88th-minute penalty to give Manchester United a 2-1 victory over Everton at Old Trafford on Sunday. A lazy trip by Steven Pienaar on Ryan Giggs allowed Ronaldo to score his second of the day from the spot and extend United’s home league winning streak to nine games.
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/ 20 December 2007
Italian striker Luca Toni inspired Bayern Munich to a 6-0 rout of Greek side Aris to book their berth in the Uefa Cup knockout round on Wednesday as English side Bolton advanced without kicking a ball. Two goals in either half from Toni maintained Bayern’s decade-long unbeaten UEFA home record and defenders Christian Lell and Philipp Lahm completed the rout.
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/ 1 December 2007
European football’s governing body Uefa has called in police organisation Europol to investigate possible match-fixing by Asian betting syndicates in top-flight European football, Der Spiegel magazine is reporting in it’s Monday edition.
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/ 28 November 2007
Inter Milan, FC Barcelona, AS Roma and Sevilla all advanced to the second round of the Champions League on Tuesday. Inter, Sevilla and Roma advanced with wins, while a point against Lyon was enough for Barcelona. The four teams join Arsenal and Manchester United in the next round.
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/ 13 November 2007
Slowly but surely, South African midfielder Steven Pienaar is recapturing the form that made him one of the most sought-after players in Europe in his early 20s. Pienaar is now a regular starter for Everton, and impressed in patches during his team’s creditable 1-1 draw at 2005 and 2006 Premier League champions Chelsea on Sunday.
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/ 10 November 2007
Avram Grant insists he never doubted he would silence the critics who claimed he had no chance at Chelsea. When Grant took charge in the aftermath of Jose Mourinho’s dramatic departure in September, it seemed the Israeli coach would find it hard to last a month if one listened to the cynicism that greeted his appointment.
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/ 4 November 2007
Harry Redknapp fears the African Nations Cup could wreck Portsmouth’s European ambitions after his side’s impressive 4-1 victory over Newcastle strengthened their top four credentials. Redknapp acknowledged that Portsmouth’s challenge will be affected more than most of their Premier League rivals by the tournament early next year.
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/ 29 October 2007
New Tottenham manager Juande Ramos had only a few words to say to his players after he saw Blackburn come from behind to win 2-1 at White Hart Lane on Sunday. He told them: ”The hard work starts tomorrow.” That work involves instilling a belief in a side that is not short on talent but has forgotten how to win.
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/ 27 October 2007
Juande Ramos on Friday night resigned as manager of Sevilla, the Spanish team said, clearing the way for the award-winning Spaniard to join Tottenham. Sevilla said that Ramos had unilaterally rescinded his contract, presenting documents to this effect to senior team officials at the Sevilla stadium. The club referred to Ramos as ”the now former coach of Sevilla”.
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/ 26 October 2007
Tottenham Hotspur have sacked their Dutch manager, Martin Jol, the Premier League club said in a statement on Thursday. ”We can confirm that the board has this evening asked Martin Jol, the club manager, and Chris Hughton, the first team coach, to stand down from their positions with immediate effect,” the statement read.
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/ 25 October 2007
Former British European Cup winners Liverpool and Celtic suffered another blow after both lost in the latest round of Champions League matches on Wednesday. Liverpool have just a point after three matches — having gone down 2-1 to Besiktas in Istanbul — while Celtic have three points following a 1-0 reverse away to Benfica.
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/ 23 October 2007
Martin Jol’s Tottenham tenure looks almost certain to be coming to an end following his team’s 3-1 loss at Newcastle on Monday night. Sam Allardyce’s side may have hammered the final nail in the Dutch manager’s coffin with a dominant display and deserved victory.
Scottish giants Rangers led the way with a 3-0 victory over six-time French champions Lyon on a superb night for British clubs in the latest Champions League action on Tuesday. English powerhouses Arsenal and Manchester United both won 1-0 — Arsenal away at Steaua Bucharest and United with Wayne Rooney’s first goal of the season at home to Roma.
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/ 20 September 2007
Manchester United, Arsenal, FC Barcelona and AS Roma opened their Champions League campaigns with victories on Wednesday. United won at Sporting Lisbon 1-0 with a goal by Cristiano Ronaldo, while Arsenal beat visiting UEFA Cup champion Sevilla 3-0.
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/ 19 September 2007
AC Milan opened the defence of their Champions League title with a 2-1 win over Benfica on Tuesday, while Chelsea and 10-man Liverpool had to settle for 1-1 draws. Nearly four months after beating Liverpool to win their seventh European Cup, Andrea Pirlo scored one goal and set up the other.
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/ 13 September 2007
As the pressure grows on the parents of missing British toddler Madeleine McCann, support from their extended family, who have angrily denounced the police probe, has become stronger. The McCanns — named as formal suspects by Portuguese police last week — come from close Roman Catholic working-class families.
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/ 9 September 2007
Italy drew 0-0 with France in their World Cup final repeat, Germany and England notched easy wins and 10-man Spain were frustrated by a 1-1 draw in Iceland in Saturday’s Euro 2008 qualifiers. The battle to reach the finals in Austria and Switzerland also saw The Netherlands beat Bulgaria 2-0, while the day’s other upset left Turkey with only a 2-2 draw in Malta.
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/ 7 September 2007
In the end, all it took was a quick stop-off on the way home from not-so-sunny Scotland to sort out the Benni McCarthy problem once and for all. After Bafana Bafana had lost 1-0 a fortnight ago in Aberdeen, somewhere close to the arctic circle, coach Carlos Alberto Parreira did what World Cup-winning coaches do when they want their nation’s best striker to play for them. He asked him.
Five-time European champions Liverpool beat Toulouse 4-0 to complete their qualification for the group stage of the Champions League on Tuesday. The Reds will be joined in Thursday’s draw for the lucrative group stage by Lazio and Rangers. Lazio won 3-1 at Dinamo Bucharest to round off a 4-2 aggregate victory.
Sevilla’s Spanish international defender Antonio Puerta died on Tuesday after suffering a heart attack during a Spanish league match on Saturday, the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) told Agence France-Presse. ”It’s official. Puerta has died,” an RFEF spokesperson said.