Berlin has just lost its only top-flight club, but reaction to Hertha's relegation has been fairly muted. Paul Joyce explains
In March 2009, Hertha BSC were top of the Bundesliga and went on to finish fourth. The Berlin club were relegated a year later, however, having been bottom of the table since September. For the first time since 1997, Germany’s capital will be without top-flight football next season.
After 17 years of separation, James Baxter assesses future plans for a possible footballing reunification in central Europe
Nostalgia for Czechoslovakia, the federation that broke up in 1993’s “Velvet Divorce”, is fashionable in the modern-day Czech and Slovak Republics. Politically, the divorce, though amicable, is absolute. Sport might be another matter, however. There has been frequent talk over the years about merging the countries’ ice hockey leagues. Now there is a similar idea for football. Representatives of the Czech and Slovak football associations recently met to discuss a possible return to a joint top division.
A promising career undone by lifestyle choices. Graham Willgoss tells the tale of a good-looking footballer who made quite an impression on Harry Redknapp
Portugal has produced its fair share of gifted footballers who have embraced style over substance. None, however, has done so more openly than Dani da Cruz Carvalho, the twinkle-toed attacking midfielder-cum-striker known simply as “Dani”, who spent nine games at West Ham on loan from Sporting Lisbon in the late winter of 1996.
After months of chaos Darlington have been relegated to the Conference. But Thom Kennedy has spotted signs of recovery
The end-of-season dead rubber is often tagged with the optimistic phrase “playing for pride”, though we’ve all seen enough insipid bore-draws played out in front of sparse crowds trying to get value from their season tickets to know there’s little pride involved. But, for an example of a last-gasp attempt to restore some semblance of dignity, Darlington’s victory at Macclesfield on the season’s penultimate weekend fits perfectly. The 2-0 win spared the 54 players who have trudged into the Darlington Arena – and in most cases back out again – during this season the shame of being part of the worst-ever Quakers team.
Simon Goodley looks back on a successful but deeply uncomfortable season
I have an awful admission to make. I am a Notts County fan (that’s not it) and a strange thing has happened to me during our farcical season. Having had nothing much to celebrate since we won the old Third Division championship in 1998, I spent the majority of my team’s League Two title-winning season hoping that our challenge crumbled.