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Stories
The staginess of finals – sit behind the goal, wear your colours and hold up your part of the mosaic like good scenery should – is trickling downwards
Tensions are running high with inflammatory press releases from both sides as Portugal’s top two, separated by just one point, prepare to meet
As Portugal’s debts continue to rise, Phil Town explains how the money spent on new stadiums for Euro 2004 looks like a waste
As the economic crisis deepens in Portugal so the careless spending of years gone by appears increasingly irresponsible. We are left with barely used motorways, superfluous submarines and a small herd of white elephants – most of the Euro 2004 stadiums. The championship was heralded at the time as “a way for Portugal to affirm itself” by José Socrates, who became the country’s prime minister between 2005 and 2011. While Euro 2004 was ultimately a huge success as a sporting event, the country is still counting the cost.
Questions are being raised about the influence one agent has over La Liga’s biggest deals, reports Dermot Corrigan
Given the financial difficulties Spanish football faces, the summer transfer market was mostly quiet, with the majority of deals either free transfers or loans. However, this general trend was bucked by Portuguese super-agent Jorge Mendes and former Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon, whose dealings drew attention from the Spanish media and even FIFA, raising questions about just who makes the important decisions at some of La Liga’s biggest clubs.