John Chapman looks back on a highly successful season for Anderlecht

The long-term significance
This season was a highwater mark in Belgian football. Not only did Anderlecht retain the championship but they also reached the second group stage of the Champions League. In the decade since, no Belgian team has achieved anything like that in Europe. Unfortunately, success was a double-edged sword, as an exodus of players led to Anderlecht losing their way. Only recently are the club beginning to return to 2000-01 levels. Further down the table, promoted Antwerp finished 12th in the first of their two seasons in the top flight – this was the peak of their collaboration with Manchester United. The Old Trafford hierarchy had expected much more.

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David Bartram gets a sense of perspective on outlandish claims about a country competing in their first World Cup for 44 years

It’s July 11, 2010, and they’re celebrating on the streets of Pyongyang. North Korea have just won the World Cup. Well, not quite, but at least the people celebrating think they did. In reality, government officials have spent days tinkering with footage, editing out anything that reflects badly on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). The 6-0 drubbing of the US in the final was particularly tricky, given that both sides crashed out in the group stages.

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The penalty shoot-out has never been particularly popular. However, as Matthew Knott wonders, if we all dislike the system so much, why has no one come up with a lasting alternative?

As a system it has variously been labelled as “public flogging”, “a lottery”, “gripping drama”, and even “racist”. Even Sepp Blatter professes to dislike its use, yet August 5 marks 40 years since Denis Law stepped up in the first-ever penalty shoot-out in England and demonstrated its potentially humbling effect.

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A football club set up for asylum seekers in Vienna has found itself pressurised by the Austrian state. Paul Joyce explains

“FC Sans Papiers is a fight against racism and discrimination using modern and elegant means – sport,” explains its president Dr Di-Tutu Bukasa, who founded the side in 2002. Inspired by the French political movement of the same name, the Viennese team offers asylum seekers who lack an Austrian residence permit the chance to play regular lower-league football.

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James Eastham attends a star-studded charity match and feels that a similar situation would look very different in England

May 25, 5pm. Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez’s private jet touches down on the tarmac at Marck aerodrome, 183 miles north of Paris. Out steps a smiling Zinedine Zidane. He strides over to greet 200 or so supporters eagerly waiting for an autograph or photo.

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