Nassos Stylianou reports from Cyprus, where teams have been successful in the European competitions this season despite their tiny budgets
“This time, we are not here just to have fun.” So said APOEL Nicosia coach Ivan Jovanovic in August, after his team had booked their place in the Champions League group stages for the second time in three seasons. However, as Jovanovic and his players received a heroes’ welcome as they passed through the airport following the draw with Zenit St Petersburg that saw them qualify to the last 16, they were certainly enjoying themselves.
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Sunday, January 1st, 2012 - The Archive
A man with new ideas and a “clean” reputation could have a major football future, writes Steve Menary
On October 21, FIFA president Sepp Blatter unveiled a series of plans to combat the seemingly endemic problem of corruption in international football. Blatter proposed to reopen an investigation into the collapse of former marketing partner ISL, raising the possibility that senior FIFA figures could be shown to have taken bribes. Last year, FIFA paid CHF 5.5 million (£3.9m) to settle the case, but Blatter has now said: “We will give this file to an independent organisation outside of FIFA so they can delve into this file and extract its conclusions and present them to us.”
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Wednesday, December 21st, 2011 - The Archive
Slavia Prague were brought to their knees by financial chaos and mysterious ownership. Sam Beckwith reports that the Czech club’s future could be just as murky
The 2007-08 season seemed like a new dawn for Slavia Prague. Having finally qualified for the Champions League’s group phase at the sixth attempt, the Czech Republic’s oldest club went on to win their first league title since 1996. The following season, the popular Prague side moved in to their newly reconstructed Eden stadium and won the title again. Talk of the Sesivani (literally “sewn-togethers”) replacing rivals Sparta as Czech football’s dominant force seemed justified. Then it all went wrong.
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Friday, October 21st, 2011 - The Archive
Aleksander Goryunov is concerned about Skonto Riga, struggling against economic downturn and a huge sporting rival
The end of April saw the reigning Latvian champions Skonto Riga, managed by the former Southampton striker Marians Pahars, host leaders Metalurgs. Over 800 fans turned up at the 10,000-capacity Skonto Stadium to witness a dominant performance by the visitors. With the home team 2-0 down we were treated to the surreal sight of the 30-odd Skonto ultras behind the goal “doing the Poznan” in the near-empty ground. It will take much more than this to inject some life into Latvia’s most successful club.
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Thursday, July 21st, 2011 - Book reviews
Dave Hannigan looks at how Ireland are hoping to attract young footballers with a US education but an old country sentiment
In a little-noticed cameo during the February international break, Derby County striker Conor Doyle made his debut for Ireland Under-21s in a friendly against Cyprus. Born and raised in Texas to a father from Dublin, the 19-year-old’s appearance came just three months after Giovanni Trapattoni expressed interest in establishing a scouting network to find new talent for Ireland in the United States. Indeed, Trapattoni went as far as asking for a full list of Major League Soccer players with Irish-sounding
surnames.
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Thursday, April 21st, 2011 - The Archive