Search: 'Ferenc Puskas'

The current Middle East crisis has plunged Lebanon back towards chaos and badly damaged a football culture that had been a symbol of renewal after decades of strife. Hassanin Mubarak reports

On July 3, the Lebanon squad played a warm-up game at the Amin Abdel Nour International Stadium in Bhamdoun, a popular tourist area in the mountains east of the capital, Beirut. Their opponents were Iraqi club side Kirkuk, from a volatile city in the north of Iraq ravaged by sectarian violence. The Iraqi club’s officials had hoped to use the training camp as preparation for the new 2006-07 Iraq league season, while the Lebanese were gearing up to host the fourth edition of the West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) Championship, a tournament featuring part of the “Axis of Evil”, Syria and Iran, as well as former member Iraq. A few days after this match, won 2-0 by Lebanon, planes and missiles ranged over the country, killing more than 600 civilians and wounding thousands, with more than a million displaced from their homes.

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The Miracle of Bern was a massive commercial success in Germany, and its London viewing was a sell-out. Errol Lawrence, who despises many other samples of sport on the big screen, believes it could be the best film ever of its kind

Soenke Wortmann’s The Miracle of Bern stopped over in London at the end of November to open the annual German Film Festival. The film has become a huge commercial success in Germany and won praise across Europe and such is its reputation that the film’s single screening in London was a sell-out, attracting a polyglot audience of native Germans, students, film buffs and even the odd football fan.

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To the surprise of many the former giants of the European game came close to hosting Euro 2008, but Ray Dexter believes a football revival is a long way off

As 19-year-old Bela Koplarovics of Zal­aegerszeg bundled the ball past Man­chester United’s rather ponderous defence in the crumbling Nep Stadium in August, Hun­garian football found itself in the world football spotlight for the first time in a gen­eration. The result, greeted as some kind of sporting miracle in the bars of Bud­apest, allowed the people to forget the twin scandals of why over half the seats in their beloved national stadium were empty for such a big game (the entire upper tier was deemed too unsafe to be used) and why Vodafone, Manchester United’s sponsor, were allowed to buy 15,000 of the remaining 28,000 tickets for their corporate clients and users.

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Proposed new rules will mean players under a certain age with dual nationality will be able to choose who they play for. Matthew Taylor looks at the benefits of this scheme

Since 1964, FIFA’s eligibility rules have been based on the principle that, once chosen, a player’s footballing nationality is set in stone. That could change if a proposal to allow players with dual nationality under the age of 20 or 21 to switch the country they represent is ap­proved by the world governing body.

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Jack Hayward spent lots of money preparing Wolves for the Premier League, but as Charles Ross discovers, you need more then just a fancy stadium to get there

If it was a difficult start to this season for Wolves, it was worse for Sir Jack Hayward. After selling Robbie Keane, we exited the Worthington Cup at the hands of the other Wanderers (Wycombe), and lost the second home league game to Walsall. Cue sporadic chants of “sack the board” and “where’s the money gone?” After a decade of Hayward’s involvement, the answer seems to be that the money – around £46 million of it – has gone on a fabulous new Molineux and on players not fit to grace it.

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