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Search: ' Charleroi'

Stories

Cup of good hope

By the time it was scrapped in 2008, the Intertoto Cup had little respect. In 1995, when English sides were first made to enter, it had even less. Owen Amos looks back at that first season

From 1961 to 1995, the Intertoto Cup was a summer tournament for mid-ranking, mainland European clubs. It offered pre-season football, modest prize money and – most importantly – kept the pools companies happy (Australian state league games having the same function here). By the mid-1990s, according to the November 1994 Intertoto newsletter – yes, there was one – the tournament was stagnating. The pools companies wanted better games, and bigger names. The organisers asked UEFA for help and, after some discussion, the Intertoto was made the fourth UEFA club competition.

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European Union

A German-speaking club are enjoying unprecedented success thanks to a strong Italian influence. John Chapman explains

May 23, 2010, was a day that will be long remembered by supporters of Allgemeine Sportvereinigung Eupen. On that day, AS Eupen became the first team from the German-speaking region of Belgium to reach the Jupiler League. With a population of 18,000 and close enough to Cologne to make watching games in the Bundesliga attractive, it’s not obvious how Eupen could put together a team that would one day rub shoulders with Anderlecht and Standard Liège. The answer dates back to October 2008, when Eupen were five points adrift at the bottom of the second division, and the arrival of Antonio Imborgia.

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Belgian Jupiler League 2000-01

John Chapman looks back on a highly successful season for Anderlecht

The long-term significance
This season was a highwater mark in Belgian football. Not only did Anderlecht retain the championship but they also reached the second group stage of the Champions League. In the decade since, no Belgian team has achieved anything like that in Europe. Unfortunately, success was a double-edged sword, as an exodus of players led to Anderlecht losing their way. Only recently are the club beginning to return to 2000-01 levels. Further down the table, promoted Antwerp finished 12th in the first of their two seasons in the top flight – this was the peak of their collaboration with Manchester United. The Old Trafford hierarchy had expected much more.

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Scouting For Moyes

The Inside Story of a Football Scout
by Les Padfield
Sportsbooks, £8.99
Reviewed by Pete Green
From WSC 291 May 2011

Buy this book

 

Scouting is one of those activities that runs in the background of football, like a virus scanner, mostly unseen, but with a key role to keep the other stuff working smoothly. Les Padfield's Scouting For Moyes offers an diverting glimpse into the underworld of hastily scribbled player reports and complimentary sandwiches and, in so doing, goes further than many football books to shed fresh light on other aspects of the game.

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The curious case of Borough United

Winning the Welsh Cup was an achievement but a run in Europe was how a now-defunct team from Llandudno Junction made history. Owen Amos remembers Borough FC's outing in the 1963 Cup-Winners Cup

The first Welsh club to win a European tie wasn’t Cardiff, Swansea or even Wrexham. It was Borough United, in the 1963-64 European Cup-Winners Cup. The Welsh Cup winners entered the Cup-Winners Cup every year, bar the first tournament, in 1960-61, when only ten teams entered. In 1961 Swansea Town (they became City in 1970) were beaten by East Germany’s Motor Jena. The year after Bangor City were beaten by Napoli, despite winning the first leg 2-0. Then came Borough.

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