Too bad, I wanted Xavi to win. Always liked him.

Who doesn't? Hell of a player.

I guess nobody saw Messi winning it. Twice in a row, quite an achievement for a 23 year old.

Platini again trying to push through the 'no debt' thing. While his intentions are good, it'll hurt football more than help it in the long run.

At the moment, teams that have rich owners have an unfair advantage over other clubs, which is fair enough, I agree with it. But the 'no debt' thing gives an unfair advantage to CL teams and big City teams. I've heard clubs earn around £20m for making the CL, so how the hell are teams meant to compete with that? It'll just mean the same teams qualify for the CL every year, especially if those clubs are big City teams and are likely to get more fans/sell more merchandise.

I think what the higher ups need to understand is that football is a losing business, teams rarely ever make a profit, so what's he going to do? Ban everyone from Europe?

I think football somewhat needs wreckless spenders to break the status quo. Look at City and Spurs in England, due to them spending a combined total of around £800m in the last half decade or so, they've broken the regular top 4 and it at least means there's changes near the top.

Look at leagues like Scotland and Spain now, do they honestly think it'll help? Rangers/Celtic/Madrid/Barca are easily the most supported clubs with the biggest income, plus CL money to boot. It'll just ensure nobody can compete with them if nobody else in the league is allowed to spend.

Not good



Not good. Easier to watch games - smaller tv deals - less money clubs - even lower attendances for clubs - very, very bad for football. Isn't the EU great? It's done nothing but destroy our country from day 1 and now it threatens to ruin our football! Yay!

But then again, that's always the case with unions. Rich and powerful countries will be at a loss one way or another most of the time. Not just England but any big country in Europe, they'll have to give much and expect less. And it is to be expected, whether it be football matters of financial.

Yes everyone is ruined... the world is ending...

If it means the end of the EU, good.

not just good, that would be great! the moment the EU is broken up everything will be fixed.

Does that mean Andy Murray will just disappear?

no, better, everyone will get to start their day by punching him in the face!

What are you two talking about? Are you serious?

Andy Murray disappearing? Not serious, though it'd be nice.

The end of the EU? I'd struggle to think of many better things that could happen to Europe.

Wait...you mean Britain...no...Europe...Britain...huh?
Oh, now I got it. You mean Great Britain! Like 4 centuries of world dominance wasn't enough, ha?

Sorry, I don't follow?

I don't want Britain in the EU. I really don't see how that translates to me wanting Britain to have World domination.

Shut up man, you're obviously a megalomaniac thinking of world domination, it's clear.

and you're racist!

Well why should any of us pay legally for the Sky TV package, I know loads of people with dodgy cards, foreign satellite, I was under the pretence that was illegal in this country.

Well there's no chance that anyone watching foreign streams should be punished anymore.

Well, why wouldn't Britain pay the price once; I don't think the EU alone is a failiure. There are countries who belive in the EU, and who obviously prosper from it. Why not grant them the chance, even if it means France, Britain or Germany suffering a bit more?

One of the biggest british issues are the politicians. Ever since Ms. Thatcher there's been no qualified PM.

This is exactly why I don't want us in the EU. Why the heck should we suffer as a country? Madness, as before I'm just so thankful people here saw sense and voted against the Euro. At least we have a little distance from this joke.

Even if it helps others?

Does it now, really? Last time I checked the UK has quite enough problems to deal with already without having to shoulder the burdens of the rest of the continent.

huh

And who said South American teams are second class ? They are not as rich as European, but they have teams oozing raw talent that could walk through any major European league.

I can't agree. I'm not getting into this again though. I think the top European leagues are far better than any leagues in the Americas, I'm sure others disagree.

Thank you

OH. MY GOD.

Thiago Motta called up for Italy and will make his debut against Germany.

I would usually go down the 'he is not Italian!' route, but that doesn't matter. He's already had 2 caps for the full Brazilian team, how can he now go and play for Italy?

The past 12 months have really begun to put me off International football in a huge way. It's just becoming a joke.

I think his parents have some Italian ties, or something like that. In fact, I think he's had an Italian passport for a long time. But yeah, the guy was born and raised in Brazil, and then developed his football career in Spain, at Barcelona. I don't really count him as an Italian.

That isn't even my main issue with it to be honest, it's the fact that he's already played International football with a different country.

Are you 100% sure about his full Brazil caps?! maybe they were unofficial friendlies or something and that doesn't count?


Wow...

I think I read they were in the North American championships where Brazil were an invited team, so they were definitely in competitive games. I presume it's the North American equivilent of the Euros/Copa America?

It's a complete disgrace.

It was in the Concacaf | Gold Cup competition.

FIFA excuse is that Brazil's entire team was 23 and under (despite the rules admitting full string NTs)

No one told Brazil to pick an U-23 side!

That's pathetic, even for FIFA.

It's a full International competition, therefore a full International cap. FIFA just making things up as they go along, surprise, surprise.

Another episode of Kurt vs. FIFA-UEFA.

So... the logic is that a U-23 player doesn't really have a nationality? In that case I say let's fork out some of that oil money and get Müller, Khedira, özil and Agüero. EURO 2012 here we come!

Is a bit of a joke.

International football has more transfers than domestic football these days.

Yeah ... Did you know 80% of Qatar's NT players are imported

So I'm hearing Ronaldo has retired, and I'm not talking about the spice boy.

He's going to announce it today.

Oh my. The last of my "Favorite Five!"

Guys, I'm looking for a link with the most popular football clubs in the world. I've been searching Google but I can't find anything. Anyone can help?

Well the reason for that is because no one has done a survey of this sorts, at least none that I know of. And whoever did this will probably pool a lot of different statistics together. I fail to see a group/company doing a worldwide survey in hundreds of millions across the world to determine the most popular football club. Well maybe FIFA/UEFA but that too does not seem likely any time soon. One way to gauge the popularity is check out the revenue of a club, generally the higher the sales from shirts/merchandise/tickets, even sponsorships and TV rights, the more popular a club is. And then there is the techy side of things. How many visitors the club's official website pulls from across the world. This link should get you started:

Top European Football Clubs Have Global Fan Base

Most links you will find are plain old fans babbling and squabbling. Ask any Roma fan and he will say that his club makes the cut when it comes to top 10 global fan base. When in reality it will probably find it hard to make the top 20. The big ones are given, of course, the ones at the very top (with Milan included), just check the link above to get a bit of an idea. And keep searching.

Newcastle. Even the japanese are screaming our name.

Thanks for the effort, acid.

Thank yous on a postcard, please! Seriously, though, don't mention it. Glad to be of help.

Colombian fans took a dead body to football match




What a strange country Colombia is!

Must have been his last wishes or something? Or maybe...it's just an empty coffin.

Um, weird?

A 17-year-old fan of Colombian side Cucuta Deportivo was shot dead while playing in a neighborhood park on Saturday -- allegedly by hired assassins. So on Sunday, his fellow members of the Barra del Indio fan group took a coffin supposedly filled with his corpse to the club's match against Envigado.

Supposedly? So not necessary true?