Search: 'Luciano'

Martín Palermo recently became Boca Juniors’ record goalscorer, though some historians disagree. Sam Kelly investigates

On March 1, in La Bombonera, Martín Palermo scored the opener in Boca Juniors’ 3‑1 win over Huracán. Luciano Figueroa would score the hosts’ other two, but the following day it was Palermo on the front pages. Not only was it his first goal – in his third appearance and first start – after six months out with a knee injury, but it was his 195th in official competition for the club. He had just become the highest goalscorer in Boca’s history. Except for one thing: there’s a player who got more than 195 goals for Boca. Roberto Cherro, whose spell with the club lasted from 1926 until 1938, scored 221 times, and Palermo is still some way off that.

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French speaking Belgium has been eclipsed politically thanks to industrial collapse, and the rise of the country's Flemish half has been reflected in football, too – until now, reports John Chapman

On Sunday April 20, Standard Liège defeated Anderlecht 2-0 to become Belgian champions for the first time in 25 years. Standard’s coach, the former national-team goalkeeper Michel Preud’homme, was given the keys to the city and politicians queued up to talk about the rebirth of Wallonia.

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Portait of a Winner
by Gabriele Marcotti
Bantam, £18.99
Reviewed by Matthew Barker
From WSC 263 January 2009 

Buy this book

Gabriele Marcotti’s profile of Fabio Capello is a brisk (though at 400-plus pages not short) summary of the England coach’s career, putting his appointment in charge of the national team in the context of his achievements at club level. After the briefest of glimpses at his childhood and family background we’re off and running, rounding-up a quietly distinguished playing career: beginnings with Spal; the big move to Roma under early influence Helenio Herrera; joining Juventus; that azzurri goal at Wembley; and on to Milan. One constant that features in the various anecdotes and reminiscences is of a player old before his time, a bit of a loner, a little too focused, a little too intense. Classic managerial material in, other words.

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Agents or club chairmen – who are most disliked? Polling even worse are the growing subset who step from one job to the other. As one agent who helped bankrupt a club faces jail in Switzerland, Dan Brennan looks at the puzzling trend

Letting a football agent take control of your club might sound a bit like handing a burglar a spare set of keys to your house and telling him where the family silver is kept. That is certainly how it must now feel to supporters of Servette, the venerable Swiss club that went bankrupt two years ago and were forced to begin life again in the third division.

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Serie A is in a rare state of turmoil, but Marcelo Lippi's team gave the country something to shout about. Paul Virgo reports on a remarkable Italian renaissance

With the Moggiopoli referee-allocation scandal raging, Italy had to brave some pretty bizarre circumstances on the way to becoming world champions. Gianluigi Buffon had to leave the pre-tournament training camp to talk to magistrates about allegations of illegal gambling. A fortnight before kick-off consumer groups were calling for Marcello Lippi’s head because his son Davide is under criminal investigation. The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) prosecutor requested that Juventus be relegated two divisions and that AC Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina be sent down to Serie B for match-fixing the day before the semi-final with Germany. If that were not enough, the team also had to digest the upsetting news of a suicide attempt by Juventus’s recently appointed sports director Gianluca Pessotto, a former Azzurro and a friend of many players.

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