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Stories
A nomadic lifestyle drove a young Swiss star to God, abstaining from football and eventually back to the country of his birth. Paul Knott finds out why
The 12-year-old Johan Vonlanthen was in tears when he was taken away from his hometown of Santa Marta in Colombia in 1998 because he thought it meant he would never see a football pitch again. For a while, it seemed that he need not have worried. There were plenty of pitches in Switzerland, the home country of his mother’s new husband. During his teens Vonlanthen did little else but play stunning football on his way to becoming one of the most sought after prospects in Europe.
Having acquired sporting representatives in Austria and the US, Red Bull have turned to Germany. Paul Joyce assesses the fallout
No city exemplifies the decline of East German football since reunification more starkly than Leipzig. Lokomotive Leipzig, European Cup-Winners Cup finalists in 1987, went bankrupt in 2004 and had to restart at the bottom of the league pyramid. They now play in the same fifth division as former GDR champions Sachsen Leipzig, who entered insolvency in March with debts of €3 million (£2.7m).
Martin Greig looks at a possible solution to the poor performance of Scottish clubs in international competition
“In this country there are some pretty smart people. But I always ask how the nation which invented the telephone, the television, penicillin and getting drunk till you fall down, possibly think about playing football in the winter?” The words of Arild Stavrum, the Norwegian striker who played for Aberdeen, evoke the spirit of Robert Burns in calling for the ability to see ourselves as others see us. Another season of collective failure by Scottish clubs in Europe has prompted the perennial debate on the merits of summer football. Four of the country’s six representatives, Aberdeen, Motherwell, Falkirk and Hearts, were eliminated from the Europa League in the qualifying rounds.
No other coach has won as many Serie A titles as Giovanni Trapattoni – and that includes England’s coach. Paul Doyle looks at the reaction to the appointment of the Republic of Ireland’s new boss
And so, with the appointment of Giovanni Trapattoni to replace Steve Staunton, the Republic of Ireland team prepare to leap from one extreme to the other: from the era of the bungling novice to the reign of the revered veteran.