Search: 'Rayo Vallecano'

Madrid’s fourth team have become Madrid’s third team in recent years – but manager Bernd Schuster could be stepping up even further. At least if he goes, Getafe fans can look back on a first major final. Andy Brassell was there

What makes a cup competition special? The FA Cup was always meant to be far above any of its counterparts around Europe or the world. Of all the changes in the game over the last ten to 15 years, the FA Cup being reduced to virtually a private contest between the top four has shaken the faith more than most.

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Soaring TV deals for Real Madrid and Barcelona have left the rest facing an ever greater struggle to compete. Phil Ball gets out his calculator and an impressive array of signal boosters and cable boxes

Just how much money does any one team need? Real Madrid’s projected deal with Telemadrid, timed to run from 2009 until 2013, would earn them across five years the equivalent of the gross national product of Mali. Who needs an Abramovich?

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Dear WSC
How’s this for a delicious sense of irony? Brentford v Colchester United, Tuesday February 18, 2003. 1) On a freezing cold night when almost everyone wishes they’d stayed indoors, the Bees put in a dreadful first-half display and are roundly booed off the pitch. 2) In an effort to pla­cate the home fans, Brentford decide to play the D:Ream hit Things Can Only Get Better over the tannoy. 3) Immediately the song finishes, the club announ­ces the match has been abandoned at half time. If only the Bees’ strike force was as good as their comic timing.
Eddie Hutchinson, Ashford

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Next season the Bosnian league will finally include clubs from all parts of the fractured country. Nedim Hasic reports on the slow process of unification

Next season Bosnian football will be united for the first time since the war. After the Dayton peace agree­ment was signed in November 1995, Bosnia be­came the only country in the world with three different football leagues. The Premier League, organised by the Bosnian Football Federation (BFF), was recognised by UEFA and FIFA, while the Croat-controlled part of the country maintained its own tournament, as did the “ethnically cleansed” Bosnian Serb enclave, Re­publika Srpska.

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Having got used to relegation from the top flight, Huw Richards writes on how Rayo Vallecano are having an unexpected prolonged stay at the top

El Rayo Vallecano está de moda (Rayo Vallecano are in fashion). One can think of more unlikely headlines – “Manchester United back profit-­sharing” or “Swansea sign midfield play­maker” come to mind. But few others.

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