Two intrepid travellers plan to spend over half a century watching games in all of UEFA’s ever-changing territories, writes Tristan Browning
My friend and I do one foreign football trip to a different European country every year, with the aim of completing the whole of UEFA by the time we are done. Seeing a game at every club in the English league – “doing the 92” – at least has the advantage of offering a fixed number. “Doing the 53” seems to involve hitting a moving target, dictated just as much by politics as by action on the pitch.
Read more…
Tuesday, May 1st, 2012 - The Archive
John Duerden says that despite an influx of money across the continent, clubs and governing bodies remain haphazard in their organisation
“A team that has scored just one goal in four matches has eight points. I am simply too amused to try and find an explanation to this,” said Uzbekistan’s Olympic coach Vadim Abramov of United Arab Emirates’ resurgence in the qualifying group. Amusement was not the general reaction after the worst of the wildly varying standards of professionalism in Asian football were revealed once again.
Read more…
Sunday, April 1st, 2012 - The Archive
Awarding spot-kicks from open play breaks the law of cause and effect, argues Ian Plenderleith
Since being appointed manager of Iraq last August, Zico has repeatedly made it clear that his principal aim is to guide the troubled nation’s football team to the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil. Despite being well positioned to lead the 2007 Asian champions to the tournament in his homeland, the 58-year-old has discovered that winning over the Iraqi media is a more complicated issue.
Read more…
Thursday, March 1st, 2012 - The Archive
John Duerden on the Afghan national team who, only ten years after their reformation, nearly won their first international trophy
Comedian Jasper Carrott used to joke that he grew up thinking his favourite team as a child were actually called “Birmingham City-nil”. Kids these days could be forgiven for thinking that the adjective “war-torn” was permanently attached to Afghanistan. Yet, for a few short days in December, the nation’s football team was making different kinds of headlines.
Read more…
Thursday, March 1st, 2012 - The Archive
The Iraqi media have been critical of Zico’s managerial performance and his reluctance to live in Baghdad, writes Sam Green
Since being appointed manager of Iraq last August, Zico has repeatedly made it clear that his principal aim is to guide the troubled nation’s football team to the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil. Despite being well positioned to lead the 2007 Asian champions to the tournament in his homeland, the 58-year-old has discovered that winning over the Iraqi media is a more complicated issue.
Read more…
Thursday, March 1st, 2012 - The Archive