The Archive

If you believe the leaks there is a new European Super League on the horizon. Ben Lyttleton searches for the clubs’ real motives

Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas blamed his team’s Champions League elimination by Barcelona on fundamental flaws in the structure of French football; AC Milan managing director Adriano Galliani has asked UEFA to consider a salary cap as “a wind of crisis” blows across the European game; and Spain’s professional clubs have a combined debt of over €700 million. Reason enough, apparently, for all three to be accused of leaking plans of a new European Super League to sports papers across the continent. They all denied the claims, but the reasons behind the leak are as interesting as the plans themselves.

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Barcelona may take pride in giving youth a chance but the story isn’t as simple as some people make out. Ian Farrell reports

After three of their graduates made the shortlist for World Player of the Year, Barcelona’s academy was widely hailed as the role model for these turbulent times of recession and chequebook team-building. But while the quality of its best players is not in question, the exact quantity “produced” is open to debate.

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Setanta will be covering half as many Premier League games as a result of their new deal. Denis Hurley ponders the implications

Where now for Setanta? The Irish company’s attempt to play hardball in the recent Premier League live TV rights negotiations ended with it winning only half of what it previously had. They will be paying £159 million to show 23 live games on Saturday evenings for the three years from 2010-11, down from the 46 of the previous deal as Monday night games were lost.

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With a familiar name and ambitious backers, Mike Woitalla finds the MLS’s latest team are already winning over the locals

The city known for Boeing, Starbucks, Microsoft and grunge rock is giving Major League Soccer a welcome boost as it copes with David Beckham’s jilt and a tanking economy. And if the Seattle Sounders ring familiar, it’s because they’re the reincarnation of a North American Soccer League (NASL) team that popularized the sport in the Pacific Northwest.

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Martin del Palacio Langer reports on a Mexican defender whose family ties always make him the first name on the teamsheet

“How can a player say something when his team-mate misses a chance if he’s the one signing the pay cheques at the end of the month?” So did a former coach explain the awkward circumstances that exist inside a football club in Mexico’s second largest city. He’s talking about Juan Carlos Leaño, team captain and son of the president and owner of Tecos (Owls), officially known as Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara. For generations, both club and institution – an ultra-conservative college – have been the personal fiefdoms of the Leaño family, one of the richest in the Jalisco region, whose influence goes way beyond the educational and football environments (Tecos players are not required to be students).

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