Sweden have underachieved ever since the last World Cup, says Duncan Cooper
June 16th 1997 – the rainiest day of the year at Arlandastad golf course near Stockholm Airport. I stagger off the 18th green, wet through, and trudge slowly up to the clubhouse. Near the first tee a man with blond hair is struggling to put his waterproof trousers on. One foot seems to be stuck. He’s slightly podgy, unshaven, and generally rather grumpy
Phil Town analyses one of the biggest absentees from the upcoming World Cup
C’est fini blubbed the sports daily A Bola. And so it was. Perennial under-achievers Portugal had once again managed to snatch bitter failure from the jaws of certain success. They had been drawn in what seemed on the face of it an eminently accessible group. Second place at least looked a formality behind Germany but ahead of apparent pushovers Ukraine, Armenia, Albania and Northern Ireland. But a weak start against the first two, dropping five points from a possible six, made qualification an uphill struggle from the outset, and the Portuguese were left depending on third party favours which never materialized.
Simon Evans explains why the Champions League is the place to make money
There was a time when English fans dreamed of foreign investors, mystery millionaire Arab businessmen or an American caught by the soccer bug, pumping millions into their club. Today Walker, Hall, Harding, Gibson et al have removed the need for the foreign fantasy. But over here in Europe’s poorer half, there are few local heroes capable of turning a club’s fortunes around and delivering the dream and it is here that the romantic ideal of the outsider with his pot of cash is thriving – and believe it or not it is Englishmen they are dreaming of.
Roger Titford examines how ground advertising is becoming a much more visible part of the matchday experience in recent times
The move from commercial innocence to commercial overload has radically affected what the fan sees inside a football ground nowadays. All the clutter that is on display now seriously infringes on the beauty of football as a visual spectacle, especially when looking at one end of the ground from the other.
Football is the most popular sport in the world, so Matthew Foreman wonders why sponsors aren't earning enough out of it
It seems remarkable given the multi-millions sloshing around the Premier League, but in advertising circles they’re saying the world of football sponsorship is in crisis. Some of the game’s sponsors are seeing sales rise but others are wasting millions, naively thinking that football’s trendy status will help them sell any product they fancy. So what’s the secret of a good marketing campaign, and is there a downside to the advertising upsurge?