Search: ' Copa del Rey'

Socrates’s illness has highlighted alcohol’s impact on Brazilian football, reports Robert Shaw

Brazilian football legend Socrates left hospital on September 22 after two stays for stomach haemorrhaging and liver-related problems that could yet necessitate a transplant. Given that doctors admit that the 57-year-old’s condition was life-theatening, the relief among friends, family and the better part of 190 million football fans is tangible.

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Dermot Corrigan reviews a highly eventful La Liga campaign, in which Real Betis, managed by an Irishman, defied the odds

The long-term significance
La Liga was formed in 1929, and Real Betis' win this season was the first time one of the initially dominant "big three" of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao did not take the title. The leading clubs all featured players who had starred for Spain in the preceding summer’s World Cup finals. A skilful Spanish team were out-muscled in a quarter-final replay by the more physical Italians, who went on to win the competition watched by Benito Mussolini. Domestic Spanish football was also to suffer from the effects of fascism during the 1930s, with La Liga suspended once civil war broke out in July 1936. During the war separate leagues were organised in the Fascist and Republican controlled areas, before La Liga returned in 1939-40.

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Robert Shaw looks at how the serious illness of a World Cup hero has brought to light the negative impact alcohol has had on Brazilian football

Brazilian football legend Socrates left hospital on September 22 after two stays for stomach haemorrhaging and liver-related problems that could yet necessitate a transplant. Given that doctors admit that the 57-year-old’s condition was life-theatening, the relief among friends, family and the better part of 190 million football fans is tangible.

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A change of attitudes in Italy could provide some useful lessons for football's oldest tournament. Matthew Barker explains

Much has been made in the press recently about falling attendances in the FA Cup, with concerned reports warning that the grand old competition is on the wane, its status increasingly devalued as an unloved irritant for clubs who prize the Premier League above all else. The temptation is to draw a parallel with its continental counterparts, the Coppa Italia and Copa del Rey.

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Relegation, a much-loathed owner and an uncertain future. Dermot Corrigan examines troubled times at Real Betis

Since Real Betis’s relegation on goal difference on the last day of last season, the club’s fans have been directing waves of anger and frustration at the club’s majority shareholder Manuel Lopera.

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