ลิ้งค์ดูบอล ออนไลน์ แมนยู ลิเวอร์พูล เชลซี อาร์เซนอล

EPL Football Live Sopcast 4-5 April 2009

2009-04-02T23:32:00.000-07:00

EPL Fixtures Football Saturday 4th April 2009
Live Football Streaming sopcast

Blackburn Rovers vs Tottenham Hotspur 12:45 Live Streaming

Arsenal vs Manchester City 15:00 Live Streaming

Bolton Wanderers vs Middlesbrough 15:00 Live Streaming

Hull City vs Portsmouth 15:00 Live Streaming

Newcastle United vs Chelsea 15:00 Live Streaming

West Bromwich Albion vs Stoke City 15:00 Live Streaming

West Ham United vs Sunderland 15:00 Live Streaming

Fulham vs Liverpool 17:30 Live Streaming

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EPL Fixtures Football Sunday 5th April 2009
Live Football Streaming sopcast

Everton vs Wigan Athletic 15:00 Live Streaming

Manchester United vs Aston Villa 16:00 Live Streaming

EPL Fixtures Football Saturday 21th March 2009

2009-03-19T12:14:00.000-07:00

EPL Fixtures Football Saturday 21th March 2009
Live Football Streaming sopcast

Portsmouth vs Everton 19:45
Live Streaming

Blackburn Rovers vs West Ham United 22:00
Live Streaming

Fulham vs Manchester United 22:00
Live Streaming

Stoke City vs Middlesbrough 22:00
Live Streaming

Tottenham Hotspur vs Chelsea 22:00
Live Streaming

West Bromwich Albion vs Bolton Wanderers 22:00
Live Streaming

Newcastle United vs Arsenal 00:30
Live Streaming

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EPL Fixtures Football Sunday 22th March 2009
Live Football Streaming sopcast

Wigan Athletic vs Hull City 20:30
Live Streaming

Manchester City vs Sunderland 22:00
Live Streaming

Liverpool vs Aston Villa 23:00
Live Streaming

EPL Fixtures Football 14-15 March 2009

2009-03-13T12:28:00.001-07:00

EPL Fixtures Football Saturday 14th March 2009
Live Football Streaming sopcast

Manchester United vs. Liverpool FC 19:45
Live Streaming

Arsenal vs. Blackburn Rovers 22:00
Live Streaming

Hull City vs. Newcastle United 22:00
Live Streaming

Sunderland vs. Wigan Athletic 22:00
Live Streaming

Bolton Wanderers vs. Fulham FC 22:00
Live Streaming

Everton FC vs. Stoke City 22:00
Live Streaming

Middlesbrough vs. Portsmouth FC 22:00
Live Streaming

EPL Fixtures Football Sunday 15th March 2009
Live Football Streaming sopcast

Chelsea vs. Manchester City 20:30
Live Streaming

Aston Villa vs. Tottenham Hotspur 23:00
Live Streaming

English FA Cup Fixtures 7-8 March 2009

2009-03-06T10:18:00.001-08:00

English FA Cup Fixtures 7th March 2009
Live Football Sopcast Streaming

English FA Cup Live

Coventry City vs. Chelsea 19:30 Live

Fulham FC vs. Manchester United 00:15 Live

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English FA Cup Fixtures 8th March 2009
Live Football Sopcast Streaming

English FA Cup Live

Arsenal vs. Burnley FC 13:30 Live

Everton FC vs. Middlesbrough 16:00 Live

ดูบอลออนไลน์ 4 - 5 มีนาคม 2551

2009-03-03T05:38:00.001-08:00

EPL Fixtures Football 4 March 2009
Live Football Streaming sopcast

Portsmouth vs Chelsea 02:45
Live Streaming

WBA vs Arsenal 02:45
Live Streaming

Liverpool vs Sunderland 03:00
Live Streaming

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EPL Fixtures Football 5 March 2009
Live Football Streaming sopcast

Manchester City vs Aston Villa 02:45
Live Streaming

Newcastle vs Man Utd 02:45
Live Streaming

Stoke City vs Bolton 02:45
Live Streaming

Wigan Athletic vs West Ham Utd 02:45
Live Streaming

Blackburn vs Everton 03:00
Live Streaming

Fulham vs Hull City 03:00
Live Streaming

Tottenham vs Middlesbrough 03:00
Live Streaming

UCL Fixtures Football 26 February 2009

2009-02-25T08:28:00.000-08:00

EPL Fixtures Football Thursday 26 February 2009
Live Football Streaming sopcast

Real Madrid vs. Liverpool FC 02:45
Live Streaming

Chelsea vs. Juventus 02:45
Live Streaming

Sporting Lisbon vs. Bayern Munchen 02:45
Live Streaming

Villarreal CF vs. Panathinaikos Athens 02:45
Live Streaming

EPL Fixtures Football Sunday 22nd February 2009

2009-02-22T02:54:00.000-08:00

EPL Fixtures Football Sunday 22nd February 2009
Live Football Streaming sopcast

Fulham vs. West Bromwich Albion 20:30
Live Streaming

Liverpool vs. Manchester City 22:00
Live Streaming

Newcastle United vs. Everton 23:00
Live Streaming

EPL Fixtures Football Saturday 21st February 2009

2009-02-21T01:27:00.000-08:00

EPL Fixtures Football Saturday 21st February 2009
Live Football Streaming sopcast

Aston Villa vs. Chelsea 19:45
Live Streaming

Arsenal vs. Sunderland 22:00
Live Streaming

Bolton Wanderers vs. West Ham United 22:00
Live Streaming

Middlesbrough vs. Wigan Athletic 22:00
Live Streaming

Stoke City vs. Portsmouth 22:00
Live Streaming

Manchester United vs. Blackburn Rovers 00:30
Live Streaming

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EPL Fixtures Football Sunday 22nd February 2009
Live Football Streaming sopcast

Fulham vs. West Bromwich Albion 20:30
Live Streaming

Liverpool vs. Manchester City 22:00
Live Streaming

Newcastle United vs. Everton 23:00
Live Streaming

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EPL Fixtures Football Monday 23rd February 2009
Live Football Streaming sopcast

Hull City vs. Tottenham Hotspur 03:00
Live Streaming

EPL Fixtures Football 14-18 February 2009

2009-02-13T14:06:00.003-08:00

EPL Fixtures Football Saturday 14th February 2009
Live Football Streaming sopcast

Portsmouth vs. Manchester City 22:00
Live Streaming

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EPL Fixtures Football Wednesday 18th February 2009
Live Football Streaming sopcast

Manchester United vs. Fulham 03:00
Live Streaming

English FA Cup Fixtures February 2009

2009-02-13T14:06:00.001-08:00

English FA Cup Fixtures 14th February 2009
Live Football Sopcast Streaming

Swansea City FC vs. Fulham FC 19:45
Live Streaming

Sheffield United vs. Hull City 22:00
Live Streaming

West Ham United vs. Middlesbrough 22:00
Live Streaming

Watford FC vs. Chelsea 00:30
Live Streaming

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English FA Cup Fixtures 15th February 2009
Live Football Sopcast Streaming

Everton FC vs. Aston Villa 21:30
Live Streaming

Derby County vs. Manchester United 23:30
Live Streaming

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English FA Cup Fixtures 16th February 2009
Live Football Sopcast Streaming

Arsenal vs. Cardiff City 02:45
Live Streaming

EPL Fixtures Football February 7-8,2009

2009-02-06T14:41:00.001-08:00

EPL Fixtures Football Saturday 7th February 2009
Live Football Streaming

Manchester City vs Middlesbrough 19:45
Live Sopcast

Blackburn Rovers vs Aston Villa 22:00
Live Sopcast

Chelsea vs Hull City 22:00
Live Sopcast

Everton vs Bolton Wanderers 22:00
Live Sopcast

Sunderland vs Stoke City 22:00
Live Sopcast

West Bromwich Albion vs Newcastle United 22:00
Live Sopcast

Wigan Athletic vs Fulham 22:00
Live Sopcast

Portsmouth vs Liverpool 00:30
Live Sopcast

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EPL Fixtures Football Sunday 8th February 2009
Live Football Streaming

Tottenham Hotspur vs Arsenal 20:30
Live Sopcast

West Ham United vs Manchester United 23:00
Live Sopcast

live Liverpool vs Chelsea sopcast

2009-02-01T05:40:00.000-08:00

EPL Fixtures Football Sunday 1st February 2009
Live Football Streaming

Newcastle United vs Sunderland 20:30
Live Streaming

Liverpool vs Chelsea 23:00
Live Streaming

Dubai Football Challenge

2009-01-06T04:29:00.000-08:00

Dubai Football Challenge

Hamburger SV vs. AC Milan 15:00
Sopcast Streaming Sopcast Streaming Sopcast Streaming

Arsenal vs Liverpool

2008-12-20T02:41:00.000-08:00

EPL Fixtures Saturday 20th December 2008
Live Football Streaming

Blackburn Rovers vs Stoke City 15:00 Live Sopcast

Bolton Wanderers vs Portsmouth 15:00 Live Sopcast

Fulham vs Middlesbrough 15:00 Live Sopcast

Hull City vs Sunderland 15:00 Live Sopcast

West Ham United vs Aston Villa 17:30 Live Sopcast

EPL Fixtures Sunday 21th December 2008
Live Football Streaming

West Bromwich Albion vs Manchester City 13:30 Live Sopcast

Newcastle United vs Tottenham Hotspur 15:00 Live Sopcast

Arsenal vs Liverpool 16:00 Live Sopcast

EPL Fixtures Monday 22th December 2008
Live Football Streaming

Everton vs Chelsea 20:00 Live Sopcast

Tottenham Hotspur vs. Spartak Moscow Sopcast

2008-12-18T10:42:00.001-08:00

Fixtures The UEFA Cup December 17th, 2008

Portsmouth FC 3 - 0 SC Heerenveen Video highlight

AC Milan 2 - 2 VFL Wolfsburg Video highlight

Hamburger SV 3 - 1 Aston Villa Video highlight

Ajax 2 - 2 Slavia Prague Video highlight

Club Brugge KV 0 - 1 FC Kobenhavn Video highlight

Saint-Etienne 2 - 2 Valencia CF Video highlight

Feyenoord 0 - 1 Lech Poznan Video highlight

Deportivo la Coruna 1 - 0 AS Nancy Video highlight

Fixtures The UEFA Cup December 18th, 2008

Paris Saint Germain vs. FC Twente 19:45 Streaming

Racing Santander vs. Manchester City 19:45 Live Sopcast Streaming

Benfica Lisbon vs. Metalist Kharkiv 19:45 Live Sopcast Streaming

Olympiacos Piraeus vs. Hertha BSC Berlin 19:45 Streaming Streaming

Sampdoria vs. FC Sevilla 19:45 Live Sopcast Live Sopcast

VFB Stuttgart vs. Standard de Liege 19:45 Streaming

Tottenham Hotspur vs. Spartak Moscow 19:45 Live Sopcast Live Sopcast Live Sopcast Streaming

NEC vs. Udinese 19:45 Live Sopcast Streaming

Deportivo la Coruna vs. AS Nancy Sopcast Streaming

2008-12-17T07:38:00.000-08:00

Fixtures The UEFA Cup December 17th, 2008

Feyenoord vs. Lech Poznan 19:45 Live Sopcast Live Sopcast

Deportivo la Coruna vs. AS Nancy 19:45 Streaming Streaming

Saint-Etienne vs. Valencia CF Sopcast Streaming

2008-12-17T07:37:00.000-08:00

Fixtures The UEFA Cup December 17th, 2008

Club Brugge KV vs. FC Kobenhavn 19:45 Streaming Live Sopcast Live Tvu

Saint-Etienne vs. Valencia CF 19:45 Streaming Streaming

Ajax vs. Slavia Prague Sopcast Streaming

2008-12-17T07:36:00.000-08:00

Fixtures The UEFA Cup December 17th, 2008

Ajax vs. Slavia Prague 19:45 Streaming Live Sopcast

Hamburger SV vs. Aston Villa Sopcast Streaming

2008-12-17T07:35:00.000-08:00

Fixtures The UEFA Cup December 17th, 2008

Hamburger SV vs. Aston Villa 19:45 Streaming Streaming Live Sopcast

AC Milan vs. VFL Wolfsburg Sopcast Streaming

2008-12-17T07:32:00.000-08:00

Fixtures The UEFA Cup December 17th, 2008

AC Milan vs. VFL Wolfsburg 19:45 Streaming Live Sopcast

Portsmouth FC vs. SC Heerenveen Sopcast Streaming

2008-12-17T07:26:00.000-08:00

Fixtures The UEFA Cup December 17th, 2008

Portsmouth FC vs. SC Heerenveen 19:45 Streaming

EPL Fixtures Football December 20-22,2008

2008-12-15T11:43:00.001-08:00

EPL Fixtures Saturday 20th December 2008
Live Football Streaming

Blackburn Rovers vs Stoke City 15:00 Live Sopcast Live Sopcast Streaming Streaming

Bolton Wanderers vs Portsmouth 15:00 Live Sopcast Streaming

Fulham vs Middlesbrough 15:00 Live Sopcast Streaming

Hull City vs Sunderland 15:00 Live Sopcast Streaming

West Ham United vs Aston Villa 17:30 Live Sopcast Live Sopcast Streaming Streaming

EPL Fixtures Sunday 21th December 2008
Live Football Streaming

West Bromwich Albion vs Manchester City 13:30

Newcastle United vs Tottenham Hotspur 15:00 Live Sopcast Streaming

Arsenal vs Liverpool 16:00 Live Sopcast Streaming

EPL Fixtures Monday 22th December 2008
Live Football Streaming

Everton vs Chelsea 20:00 Live Sopcast Live Sopcast Streaming Streaming

Thailand 6 - 0 Laos

2008-12-08T16:44:00.000-08:00

Thailand 6 - 0 Laos Clip Video highlight

19' [1 - 0] R. Rangsiyo
30' [2 - 0] P. Phetphun
40' [3 - 0] A. Sunthornphit
52' [4 - 0] A. Sunthornphit
79' [5 - 0] A. Sangsanoi
89' [6 - 0] A. Sangsanoi

Fixtures AFF Suzuki Cup 2008

2008-12-02T03:41:00.000-08:00

Fixtures AFF Suzuki Cup 2008 5-10th December 2008

Friday, 5th December 2008

Singapore vs. Cambodia 17:00 Live:1 Onweb

Indonesia vs. Myanmar 19:30 Live:1 Onweb

Saturday, 6th December 2008

Malaysia vs. Laos 17:00 Live:1 Onweb

Thailand vs. Vietnam 19:30 Live:1 Onweb

Sunday, 7th December 2008

Singapore vs. Myanmar 17:00 Live:1 Onweb

Indonesia vs. Cambodia 19:30 Live:1 Onweb

Monday, 8th December 2008

Malaysia vs. Vietnam 17:00 Live:1 Onweb

Thailand vs. Laos 19:30 Live:1 Onweb

Tuesday, 9th December 2008

Myanmar vs. Cambodia 17:00 Live:1 Onweb

Indonesia vs. Singapore 19:30 Live:1 Onweb

Wednesday, 10th December 2008

Vietnam vs. Laos 17:00 Live:1 Onweb

Thailand vs. Malaysia 19:30 Live:1 Onweb

Time : Thailand 17:00 , 19:30

EXPECTATIONS ON REID TO DELIVER IN AFF SUZUKI CUP 2008

2008-12-02T03:37:00.000-08:00

EXPECTATIONS ON REID TO DELIVER IN AFF SUZUKI CUP 2008

The Peter Reid chapter in the saga of Thai football began in earnest when Thailand kicked-off their T&T Cup campaign against DPR Korea in Hanoi and it won't be long to find out whether the genial Englishman will author an ASEAN success story or whether he will become a footnote of another failed foreign coach.

While Thailand's matches with the North Koreans and Vietnam mark Reid's first in charge, it is December's AFF Suzuki Cup that is key.

The Thais have won the competition three times when it was known as the Tiger Cup and a nation of fans who have seen their country's status as the region's football superpower usurped by Singapore will expect instant success from the former England international.

It's no secret that many Thais enjoy a flutter on football every now and again but investing millions to put the national team's fortunes in the hands of an individual that had not managed a side for almost four years must surely represent a massive gamble.

Or does it?

Eyebrows were raised when, in early September, Reid was officially unveiled as the new national team coach, agreeing a four-year contract worth a reported GBP 4 million.

When he took over the managerial reins from the popular Chanvit Polchivin he had been out of the game since his departure from Coventry in January 2005.

This is too long for some observers, who also point out to a number of disappointing tenures in English club football.

But a flick through the history book of Thai football reveals that their most successful period came under the helm of a coach that in many aspects mirrors Reid.

The similarities between Reid and the man in question, Peter Withe, are uncanny - apart from the obvious in that they share identical first names.

Reid and Withe are both former England internationals who hail from Liverpool. They both took helm of the Thailand national team in their early-fifties and at a time in their career when they had absolutely no experience of coaching in Asia.

But what the Thais are clearly looking for in Reid is the same motivational qualities that the ex-Aston Villa hard man brought to the side.

Withe was well aware that the expletive laden tirades that are par for the course on the pitches of England would not export well to the 'land of smiles' and an overly aggressive approach in Thailand would be about as welcome as a razor blade in a bowl of tom yum goong.

But Withe was still able to add an element of English steel to the Thais' footballing silk and the former Wimbledon manager oversaw an era of unprecedented success, as Thailand won two ASEAN championships and reached the semi-finals of the 1998 and 2002 Asian Games.

Reid has already made the right noises about motivating a side that he believes currently lacks the fitness and stamina to give a full 90 minutes of international football.

"You can't get people's backs up because different cultures react in different ways," Reid said in an interview with Reuters.

"I want to get the best out of these players and you can't do that by shouting at anyone."

The 52-year-old certainly understands the cultural sensitivities when it comes to coaching Thailand.

And in former national team skipper Tawan Sripan as his number two, he has an assistant with bags of experience as a player who is also still young enough to relate to Thailand's team of talented twenty-something on a different level from Reid.

When Reid was officially unveiled as Thailand coach during a press conference in Bangkok he spoke of his mission to build a team capable of qualifying to the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals.

But his immediate outlook should be regional rather than global.

The Englishman has to re-establish Thailand's place at the top of the ASEAN pecking order and fast.

Because even though his four year contract suggests that the Thais are thinking sustained development, the reality remains that failing to deliver positive results where it matters most could quickly close the book on Reid.

UEFA Cup

2008-11-27T12:35:00.000-08:00

galatasaray 0 - 1 metalist kharkiv clip

nec nijmegen 0 - 1 tottenham clip

schalke 0 - 2 manchester city clip

EPL Fixtures Football November29-30,2008

2008-11-27T12:33:00.000-08:00

EPL Fixtures Saturday 29th November 2008

Aston Villa - Fulham 15:00 Live:1 Onweb

Middlesbrough - Newcastle United 15:00 Live:1 Onweb

Stoke City - Hull City 15:00 Live

Sunderland - Bolton Wanderers 15:00 Live

Wigan Athletic - West Bromwich Albion 15:00 Live

EPL Fixtures Sunday 30th November 2008

Manchester City - Manchester United 13:30 Live:1 Onweb

Portsmouth - Blackburn Rovers 15:00 Live

Tottenham Hotspur - Everton 15:00 Live:1 Onweb

Chelsea - Arsenal 16:00 Live:1 Onweb

EPL Fixtures Monday 1st December 2008

Liverpool - West Ham United 20:00 Live:1 Onweb

EPL Football Fixtures November 1-3, 2008

2008-10-29T12:46:00.000-07:00

Football Fixtures

November 1, 2008

Everton - Fulham 12:45 Live:1

Chelsea - Sunderland 15.00 Live:1

Man Utd - Hull 15.00 Live:1

Middlesbrough - West Ham 15.00 Live

Portsmouth - Wigan 15.00 Live

Stoke - Arsenal 15.00 Live

West Brom - Blackburn 15.00 Live

Tottenham - Liverpool 17.30 Live:1 Live:1

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November 2, 2008

Bolton - Man City 16.00 Live:1

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November 3, 2008

Newcastle - Aston Villa 20.00 Live

Liverpool FC - Portsmouth FC

2008-10-29T12:45:00.000-07:00

October 29, 2008

Liverpool FC - Portsmouth FC 20:00 Live:1 Live:1 Live:1 onweb onweb

Football Fixtures

2008-10-06T06:07:00.000-07:00

Football Fixtures

18 October 2008

Middlesbrough 0 - 5 Chelsea

Arsenal 3 - 1 Everton

Aston Villa 0 - 1 Portsmouth

Bolton 0 - 0 Blackburn

Fulham 0 - 0 Sunderland

Liverpool 3 - 2 Wigan

Man Utd 4 - 0 West Brom

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

19 October 2008

Hull City 2 - 1 West Ham

Stoke City 1 - 0 Tottenham

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

20 October 2008

Newcastle 2 - 2 Man City

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

25 October 2008

Everton - Man Utd 12:00 watch live football

Sunderland - Newcastle 12:45 watch live football

Man City - Stoke City 15:00 watch live football

Portsmouth - Fulham 15:00 watch live football

Tottenham - Bolton 15:00 watch live football

West Brom - Hull City 15:00 watch live football

Wigan - Aston Villa 15:00 watch live football

Blackburn - Middlesbrough 17:30 watch live football

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

26 October 2008

Chelsea - Liverpool 13:30 watch live football

West Ham - Arsenal 16:00 watch live football

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

28 October 2008

Bolton - Everton 20:00 watch live football

Middlesbrough - Man City 20:00 watch live football

Stoke City - Sunderland 20:00 watch live football

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

29 October 2008

Aston Villa - Blackburn 19:45 watch live football

Hull City - Chelsea 19:45 watch live football

Newcastle - West Brom 19:45 watch live football

Arsenal - Tottenham 20:00 watch live football

Fulham - Wigan 20:00 watch live football

Liverpool - Portsmouth 20:00 watch live football

Man Utd - West Ham 20:00 watch live football

Football live scores

2008-10-06T06:04:00.000-07:00

Latest Football scores

EPL 4th October 2008

Sunderland 1 - 1 Arsenal Clip

West Brom 1 - 0 Fulham Clip

Wigan 0 - 1 Middlesbrough Clip

Blackburn 0 - 2 Man Utd clip

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

EPL 5th October 2008

West Ham 1 - 3 Bolton Clip

Portsmouth 2 - 1 Stoke City Clip

Tottenham 0 - 1 Hull City Clip

Chelsea 2 - 0 Aston Villa Clip

Man City 2 - 3 Liverpool Clip

Everton 2 - 2 Newcastle Clip

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Frustrated Hughes renews call for TV replays

2008-09-29T08:56:00.000-07:00

Frustrated Hughes renews call for TV replays

Soccernet staff

Sep 29, 2008

Mark Hughes added his name to the growing list of disgruntled Premier League managers calling for the introduction of video technology after a debatable penalty played a key role in Manchester City's 2-1 defeat at Wigan.

Vincent Kompany's close-range strike had cancelled out Antonio Valencia's spectacular opening goal before Amr Zaki scored from the penalty spot at the JJB Stadium.

But Hughes felt referee Steve Bennett was wrong to award the penalty after Wilson Palacios went to ground in spectacular style with minimal contact from City defender Javier Garrido.

''Referees have days when they don't perform as well as they should and that's true for players, managers, coaches and alike so we understand that,'' Hughes said.

''But all we ask is that they get big decisions right. I think it [diving] is part and parcel of the game and the foreign players are a bit more adept at it than the British-based players.

''The ability to draw fouls in some places is seen as a skill so he's obviously very skilful at that. I didn't used to fall down quite as easy as that.

''On occasions referees get the incidentals wrong and sometimes you scratch your head, but what they have to get is the key decisions right and the key decisions were not made correctly and that had a direct impact on the result I felt.'' Bolton manager Gary Megson had similar feelings after his side's defeat to Manchester United on Saturday when a soft penalty decision went against the Trotters and allowed Cristiano Ronaldo to pave the way for a 2-0 win for United. ''Goalline technology is something that has to be brought in because it is easily implemented'', added Hughes. ''The means are there to do it now so why it has not been I have no idea. Video technology, or technology in other parts of the game, is a different subject and possibly will impact fundamentally more on the game as we know it.

''But certainly for key moments, or key decisions, that have to be made which can directly change a game why not use the cameras? It's not as if it is like the old days when it was one camera on top of a gantry - there are cameras everywhere so it can be done.''

Wigan boss Steve Bruce disagreed with his former Manchester United team-mate's interpretation of the incident and felt Bennett's decision was the correct one.

He said: ''I know it was slightly exaggerated by Palacios but he has got the ball and then there has been contact from their player after. He's got out of the road and everyone is going to do that when you see a boot coming towards you.

''He made sure he was going to get out of the way of the challenge and that's where the exaggeration came but there is contact there. If he just stands there he is going to get whacked so he's not going to do that.'' Mark Hughes added his name to the growing list of disgruntled Premier League managers calling for the introduction of video technology after a debatable penalty played a key role in Manchester City's 2-1 defeat at Wigan.

Vincent Kompany's close-range strike had cancelled out Antonio Valencia's spectacular opening goal before Amr Zaki scored from the penalty spot at the JJB Stadium.

But Hughes felt referee Steve Bennett was wrong to award the penalty after Wilson Palacios went to ground in spectacular style with minimal contact from City defender Javier Garrido.

''Referees have days when they don't perform as well as they should and that's true for players, managers, coaches and alike so we understand that,'' Hughes said.

''But all we ask is that they get big decisions right. I think it [diving] is part and parcel of the game and the foreign players are a bit more adept at it than the British-based players.

''The ability to draw fouls in some places is seen as a skill so he's obviously very skilful at that. I didn't used to fall down quite as easy as that.

''On occasions referees get the incidentals wrong and sometimes you scratch your head, but what they have to get is the key decisions right and the key decisions were not made correctly and that had a direct impact on the result I felt.''

Bolton manager Gary Megson had similar feelings after his side's defeat to Manchester United on Saturday when a soft penalty decision went against the Trotters and allowed Cristiano Ronaldo to pave the way for a 2-0 win for United.

''Goalline technology is something that has to be brought in because it is easily implemented'', added Hughes.

''The means are there to do it now so why it has not been I have no idea. Video technology, or technology in other parts of the game, is a different subject and possibly will impact fundamentally more on the game as we know it.

''But certainly for key moments, or key decisions, that have to be made which can directly change a game why not use the cameras? It's not as if it is like the old days when it was one camera on top of a gantry - there are cameras everywhere so it can be done.''

Wigan boss Steve Bruce disagreed with his former Manchester United team-mate's interpretation of the incident and felt Bennett's decision was the correct one.

He said: ''I know it was slightly exaggerated by Palacios but he has got the ball and then there has been contact from their player after. He's got out of the road and everyone is going to do that when you see a boot coming towards you.

''He made sure he was going to get out of the way of the challenge and that's where the exaggeration came but there is contact there. If he just stands there he is going to get whacked so he's not going to do that.''

FA clarify situation over Kinnear touchline ban

2008-09-29T08:53:00.000-07:00

FA clarify situation over Kinnear touchline ban Sep 28, 2008

The Football Association have moved to clarify the situation over interim Newcastle boss Joe Kinnear's touchline ban.

It emerged in the wake of Kinnear's surprise appointment on Friday that he still has a suspension to serve from his time at Nottingham Forest.

Yesterday's 2-1 home defeat by Blackburn counted as the first and the 61-year-old will complete his punishment with next Sunday's Barclays Premier League trip to Everton.

An FA spokesman said: ''It is a two-match suspension which is carried over from when he left his position at Nottingham Forest to when he started any further employment, in this case at Newcastle United.

''Yesterday counted as the first one and Newcastle's next game at Everton will be the second of the two.''

Kinnear incurred the ban for comments made to the referee after Forest's clash with Gillingham in November 2004, when he described the official as 'Coco the clown'.

The punishment was not handed down until January 2005, by which time the former Wimbledon boss had resigned from his post.

Magpies owner Mike Ashley has appointed Kinnear as manager until the end of October, by which time he hopes to have sold the club.

Sport

2008-09-20T21:08:00.001-07:00

Luiz Felipe Scolari's reign has so far been a charming purge. The Chelsea manager has broken with previous regimes and there are even times when he succeeds in wiping the name of Jose Mourinho from the minds of the Stamford Bridge crowd. Spectators have been too enthralled to spare any brain cells for recollection of how it used to be at the club.

The allure is measurable. On Tuesday, 39,365 people watched the Champions League campaign get under way with a 4-0 victory over Bordeaux. A year before, a crowd of just 24,973 showed up for the 1-1 draw with Rosenborg and by the end of that week Roman Abramovich had parted company with Mourinho.

It would take a shameless rewriting of history to present the Portuguese as any sort of failure. Mourinho is the most successful manager in Chelsea's history and may well remain so. It was his achievement to make the team see itself as the dominant force and such a frame of mind could not have been brought into existence via Abramovich's investment alone.

Mourinho kept the side on a war footing by encouraging a siege mentality and there was a craving for confrontation to sustain it. Ultimately that policy was debilitating for Chelsea themselves. The dashing football seen on those days when Arjen Robben was fit had been all but forgotten. A preference had virtually developed for grinding out wins over opponents who could have been overwhelmed if the team had expressed itself. When Mourinho left there was a season when the club paused, even if Avram Grant's side could easily have won the Champions League.

The Israeli turned out to be a human buffer zone and Scolari goes about his work without the distraction of being compared to Mourinho. The only protests heard at Stamford Bridge are those he shouts from the technical area. His was the one bad review of the trouncing of Bordeaux.

A man who had been regarded in advance as an intimidating despot has applied a light touch. Ahead of tomorrow's game with Manchester United, he was probably parodying Manchester City's bombast when he made reference to signing Cristiano Ronaldo. There would have been no peals of laughter from Sir Alex Ferguson, but this was not the sort of brooding provocation that Mourinho perfected.

It is unlikely that any manager in England will ever again reshape a club as radically as Arsène Wenger did Arsenal since there is not the same scope to break new ground in all areas. In his own way, though, Scolari has turned Chelsea upside down. Losing the opener, as the team did so sloppily at Manchester City a week ago, would have been a terrible blow to Mourinho in his latter phase, but Chelsea went on to run up a confident 3-1 victory.

The red card for John Terry, in the same fashion, might have had the Portuguese declaring war on the FA. Scolari took it stoically and when the review panel found in his player's favour he launched into a tribute to English football culture. Until something really unpleasant happens we will not know, of course, if this serenity is built to last. United are itching to carry out that experiment.

Although a shortage of strikers may ultimately bedevil him, Scolari's judgment appears acute. Jose Bosingwa, bought well before the manager's appointment was announced, is reunited with the person who favoured him for the Portugal team. Scolari's signing of Deco also showed him imposing his own approach.

As it happens, it was Mourinho, arriving at Porto in 2002, who galvanised Deco, but the midfielder was not taken by him to Chelsea. Tellingly, Mourinho plundered his old club for defenders, Paulo Ferreira and Ricardo Carvalho. Some would have argued that Deco is not cut out for the unwaveringly visceral Premier League. In fact, the 31-year-old, under Scolari's direction, now looks as if it were designed for him as he prompts with panache from a deep-lying role.

Chelsea, like so many teams, have five men in and around midfield but it is a tribute to the coaching that each of them has space to breathe. Mikel John Obi, taking the holding role in the absence of Michael Essien, is less prone to lapses than he was. While there is faith in him, a manager can give licence to his full-backs. On Tuesday, Bosingwa was tearing at the left of the Bordeaux defence from kick-off.

Ashley Cole, the subject of that unflagging pursuit by Mourinho, seemed, strangely, to have been asked to suppress the style with which he had made his name at Arsenal. With Chelsea, Cole has largely been applauded for his prowess as a defender, but now he is beginning to remember what it is to join in the attack.

United, indeed, will be out to sabotage Scolari's style by pinning back Cole and Bosingwa. Even then, however, Frank Lampard and, conceivably as a substitute, Michael Ballack could make headway in central areas.

As ever, no one will be confident of the outcome of a meeting between formidable squads. With the advent of Scolari, there is simply a feeling, in contrast to days gone by, that it will be fun to find out.

Zola all smiles as West Ham reign

2008-09-20T21:06:00.001-07:00

The much anticipated arrival ultimately went unnoticed. Blocked from view by a scrum of luminous-bib wearing photographers, Gianfranco Zola emerged from the dug-out minutes before kick-off and took his seat with the minimum of fuss.

Perhaps that is how he wanted it. The Italian had spoken in the build-up to this match of the anxieties he felt at becoming West Ham manager having enjoyed such a rich playing career at city rivals Chelsea. Such worries seemed unnecessary prior to the start here considering the most successful man to have ever lead this club, Ron Greenwood, also played at Stamford Bridge and mattered even less after proceedings had begun. There were no boos or jeers from the home supporters after Zola's presence had finally become obvious.

He first stepped outside his dug-out six minutes into the match to glance upon a threatening charge by David Di Michele into the Newcastle area. His response to the Italian's blocked shot was telling; a wild throwing of the arms and the definite stamping of a foot. The crowd appreciated what they saw, stirring to collectively applaud a gesture which was rare during Alan Curbishley's time in charge.

Moments later, Zola, like the crowd, was in raptures. Di Michele again ran at the Newcastle defence with purpose, this time right to left, and was rewarded for his verve when a resulting shot deflected first off David Edgar and then Steven Taylor to loop over Shay Given in the visitor's goal.

West Ham's manager, dressed in a club tracksuit, saluted the breakthrough with a pump of his fist. His assistant, Steve Clarke, who was also on his feet, applauded.

The hosts continued to press and it would not have escaped Zola's notice that he was slowly becoming the second most eye-catching Italian on show. Di Michele, like he had been on his debut at West Bromwich Albion last week, was scampering around the pitch with abandonment and with every run raised the fervour on an already steamy day in east London. It soon became a case of "Where's David?" as the 32-year-old, who signed on loan from Torino on deadline day, popped up in every position on the pitch, even running from left-back at one stage.

But it is up front where the former Italy international is clearly at his most effective and he showed that once again on 37 minutes when he flicked the ball over Steven Taylor in a tight space inside Newcastle's area and, having taken a touch, drove a low shot past Given.

The crowd roared and any doubts Zola might have had about his acceptance among the home supporters was obliterated in that moment as a chant of "2-0 to the Mafia" spread from the Bobby Moore Stand.

Among the euphoria, it had perhaps been forgotten that another side was taking part in this match, one that like West Ham became manager-less earlier this month. Unlike the London club, however, Newcastle have shown little urgency in finding a long-term successor to the previous man in charge and looking on, one had to feel some sympathy for caretaker manager Chris Hughton. Arms folded as he stood on the edge of the visiting team's technical area, the former Upton Park player looked forlorn and fed-up. Any words of encouragement and orders of attrition he had given to his players in the past week were clearly abandoned once they took to the pitch.

Newcastle simply could not keep the ball and were hopeless at the back where Charles N'Zogbia continues to do a poor impression of a left-back and in the heart of the rearguard, Taylor and Fabrizio Coloccini operated like strangers.

And it was almost painful to glance at their attack and see Michael Owen toil with little reward. There were further frustrations for the former Liverpool forward when he finally had the chance to score seven minutes into the second half only for his close-range header from Taylor's flick-on to fall comfortably into Robert Green's arms.

That turned-out to be moment of aberration to the flow of this contest as moments later, West Ham made it 3-0. Di Michele was again involved, this time providing the low cross from which Matthew Etherington scored his first goal of the season.

The strike brought Zola back on to his feet and this time those in attendance were given the pleasure of seeing a double-fist pump from the one-time Parma forward. He stayed on his feet as play continued but, lost in focus, failed to respond to the cries of "Zola, Zola, give us a wave" that emanated from home supporters.

West Ham's third goal had come from a change in tactics which saw the home side switch from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3 with Di Michele and Etherington playing either side of Carlton Cole. That it paid off in such spectacular and immediate fashion shows that Zola may have the one quality all successful managers need; luck.

Any West Ham supporters who may by this stage have fallen in to a dreamy stupor, allowing thoughts of Champions League football and attacking play from the Gods to dominate their thoughts, were given a jolt on 67 minutes when Owen did eventually score with an excellent curling shot from just inside the host's area. Damien Duff almost made it 3-2 with a side-footed drive moments later and suddenly anxiety spread across Upton Park.

Zola tried to calm nerves among his players with the much seen press-down-on-an-invisible-space-hopper-with-outstretched-palms movement. It seemed to do the trick as the home-side slowly but surely stifled any hopes Newcastle may have entertained of a comeback thanks in a large part to the midfield duo of Mark Noble and Scott Parker who seized possession and with it, the impetus.

There were no further goals - there should have been but substitute Luis Boa Morte missed a stoppage-time sitter - and Zola had enjoyed a perfect day. A comfortable win allied with a fluent performance and no obvious, adverse response from the home supporters to his appointment. And to cap it off, it was a fellow Italian, Di Michele, who had been the star of the show.

To judge this win as the start of a bright new dawn would be unfair to Zola's predecessor who, it should not be forgotten, steered West Ham from relegation fear to mid-table calmness last season and, this year, helped achieve their best start to a Premier League campaign. But for a multitude of reasons Curbishley was never accepted at the stadium where he previously watched as a fan and strove as a player and so a parting was perhaps for the best. In his place has come a man who has much to prove and on darker, more difficult days, will no doubt be reminded of his inexperience and his "Chelsea legend" tag by what is arguably the most visceral support in England. But for the time being at least, all appears well for Zola and he was able to depart as he had arrived; with a smile.

Spurs sell their way to rock bottom

2008-09-20T21:03:00.000-07:00

Football changes with every passing season, unless you happen to be watching the early stages of the Champions League, in which case it looks so exactly the same. You begin to wonder whether you just dreamt the past 12 months after falling asleep during the second half of the Manchester United match.

The big change this season is that managers are now about as important as club mascots. OK, Sir Alex Ferguson is still doing things his way after 22 years, Arsène Wenger remains untouchable and Luiz Felipe Scolari looks like an ideal successor to José Mourinho at Chelsea. But Rafa Benítez had his wings clipped by his owners during the summer transfer window and he's one of the lucky ones. He's in the Champions League and still in a job. The increasing tendency of transfer windows to act as gauges to check the true level of a board's support for a manager resulted in the exits of Kevin Keegan and Alan Curbishley before the season had properly started, and then Tottenham contrived to hit the bottom of the table barely a year after securing the services of one of the most highly rated managers in Europe.

The reason is all too straightforward, as Juande Ramos has hinted. Managers are not required to manage any more, they are just employed to look confident and in control while players are being sold under their noses without being adequately replaced. Doubtless Ramos is still a good manager and will do his best to reverse the trend from silk purse to sow's ear, but no manager in the world could be expected to sanction the sale of three goalscorers - Jermain Defoe, Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov - while getting in return a single Russian striker who will need time to adapt. Similarly Spurs sold Steed Malbranque, not only a fine midfield player but a case-hardened Premier League performer, and brought in the talented though delicate Luka Modric and have been playing David Bentley out of position. Now their supporters are complaining the team looks lightweight. They could have their work cut out against Steve Bruce's pie monsters this afternoon.

Should the unthinkable happen and Spurs lose another match to unfancied opposition, the pressure on Ramos will be intensified and the fate of Martin Jol last season recalled. Yet it was not the manager's idea to keep hold of Berbatov until the last day of the transfer window, bumping up the price with the aid of Manchester City's unexpected interest but simultaneously running out of time to bring in a replacement. Spurs had all summer to sell Berbatov. They knew United wanted him, knew the player wanted to go, and knew all along that they would trade. The rest was simply about the price, and if the price includes a wholly unbargained-for visit to the relegation end of the table in addition to a few more quid in the bank account, then Spurs as sellers played their hand poorly.

Leaving aside the unfairness to supporters and season-ticket holders of selling a star name a fortnight into a new season - no one ever considers spectators any more, even managers are royalty compared to the poor saps who pay to watch - Spurs effectively cut off their nose to spite their face. United could easily afford the extra millions for Berbatov, while Spurs plainly cannot afford to leave themselves light on strikers for the first four months of the season.

Perhaps they saw what United did with Cristiano Ronaldo and felt they, too, would not be pushed around. But Ronaldo is younger than Berbatov and tied to a much bigger contract at the club where he made his name. United are champions of Europe and can offer Champions League football every year. Spurs cannot and, after initially making his mark in the Champions League with Bayer Leverkusen, Berbatov had reached a stage in his career where he knew, as did everybody else, that offers from blue-chip Champions League clubs would not be coming along indefinitely.

Spurs know exactly how the business works. They succeeded in signing Bentley from Blackburn despite Paul Ince's ostensible claims that the player was going nowhere, and when Berbatov began talking of United as his dream move they should have seen the writing on the wall. Ronaldo talked of a possible move to Real Madrid in similar terms, though United can make a fairly compelling case at the moment for being bigger than Real Madrid. 'We were in the right position to dismiss Real Madrid,' Ferguson has just said. Spurs are demonstrably not bigger than United. They needed to recognise their place in the food chain and act accordingly and decisively. Had United been forced to sell Ronaldo against their will, they would have not waited until the last day of the transfer window. Ferguson would have been wanting to spend the money much earlier than that. Ramos, one can only assume, simply didn't have a say.

The moral of the story is simple. If clubs such as Spurs, West Ham and Newcastle are going to emasculate managers with continental models of scouting, signing and selling players, all the new football directors and deal-makers are going to have to get their act together and stop making such a hash if things. Otherwise the managers will be sacked. It's all very well saying Damien Comolli or Dennis Wise should pay the price for poor performances, but what changes if they do? How does it get the team up the table? Conventional football wisdom states that it is always easier to sack the manager than the board or the players, logic that looks likely to survive the advent of football directors. They may be even easier to sack, but the new guy can't change a thing until the next transfer window.

FA quite wrong to make Terry right

Cameras lie all the time - one only has to watch television or flick through a fashion magazine to understand that - though occasionally the photographic image can be an instrument of absolute truth.

I was at Manchester City v Chelsea last weekend and like most people thought John Terry had grounds for complaint over his dismissal because the referee seemed to err in thinking he was the last defender.

Then came the photographs, revealing what Mark Halsey saw. They showed Terry making a rugby tackle without even a pretence of playing the ball and even caught his resigned, almost apologetic expression. It was the clearest case of a professional foul since Willie Young was at large, yet precisely because of rules aimed at stamping out such cynical challenges Terry and his club were able to claim with impunity that the defender was within his rights and should have stayed on the field.

The problem is that in seeking to define a professional foul the authorities have arrived at a situation whereby only the last defender is deemed capable of one. To judge from the past few days, as long as you have a covering defender somewhere in the vicinity you can behave as cynically as you like. But Jô was denied a goalscoring opportunity by Terry - if the covering defenders had been as handily placed as his apologists would have us believe, there would have been no need to bring him down in the first place - and there was no adequate sanction the referee could apply. Halsey was never going to make a charge of violent conduct or serious foul play stick, yet as he has discovered to his cost an instinct to punish a cynical challenge with a straight red is not supported by the rule book.

This loophole needs looking at, before others realise what is now permissible within the rules and begin to copy it. A dodgy precedent has been set. The FA's Respect agenda will not last long when the England captain is seen to be flouting the rules and profiting by his actions. Jô might not have scored at Eastlands had Terry let him past, but there is a strong probability that he would have. Certainly Terry must have thought so, and that is a useful Catch 22 to apply. Had the Chelsea player merely mistimed his tackle it would be another matter, but he didn't even attempt a tackle. He denied a goalscoring opportunity by illegal means and successfully argued - albeit in retrospect - that he was entitled to do so. That simply cannot be right.

Fit and proper people don't need a test

The Premier League are seeking help from the government on how to frame rules to screen out potential football club owners who might not pass the 'fit and proper persons' test. The difficulty the League face is that your average multi-billionaire does not place his business history and banking details on a handy website, and tracing ownership records through offshore accounts and deliberately obscure holding companies is a tough task even for dedicated professionals.

The irony here is that someone who has made squillions without attracting undue attention to himself, all the while covering his tracks to keep his gains safe from prying eyes, would probably be quite good at both running a football club and staying in the background. Whereas a maverick though essentially mainstream discount trader like Mike Ashley, who would have sailed through any 'fit and proper persons' test, has been a calamity on both counts.

History Bundesliga

2008-08-12T02:03:00.001-07:00

History

Origins For more details on this topic, see History of German football
Prior to the formation of the Bundesliga, German football was played at an amateur level in a large number of regional leagues. Regional champions played a series of playoff matches for the right to compete in a final game for the national championship. On January 28, 1900, a national association, the Deutscher Fußball Bund (DFB) was founded in Leipzig with 86 member clubs. The first recognised national championship team was VfB Leipzig, who beat DFC Prague 7-2 in a game played in Hamburg on May 31, 1903.

Through the 1950s, there were continued calls for the formation of a central professional league, especially as professional leagues in other countries began to draw Germany's best players away from the amateur domestic leagues. At the international level the German game began to falter as German teams often fared poorly against professional teams from other countries. A key supporter of the central league concept was national team head coach Sepp Herberger who said, “If we want to remain competitive internationally, we have to raise our expectations at the national level.”

Meanwhile, in East Germany, a separate league was established with the formation of the DS-Oberliga (Deutscher Sportausschuss Oberliga) in 1950. The league was re-named the Football Oberliga DFV in 1958 and was generally referred to simply as the DDR-Liga or DDR-Oberliga. The league fielded 14 teams with two relegation spots.

Establishment
The defeat of the national team by Yugoslavia (0–1) in a 1962 World Cup quarter final game in Chile was the impetus to the formation of a national league. Under DFB president Hermann Neuberger the Bundesliga was created in Dortmund on July 28, 1962 to begin play starting with the 1963–64 season. The new German professional league was modelled on the long-established English league, which had been set up in 1888.

At the time, there were five Oberligen, or upper leagues, in place representing West Germany's North, South, West, Southwest, and Berlin. East Germany, under Soviet occupation, maintained its separate league structure. Forty-six clubs applied for admission to the new league. Sixteen teams were selected based on their success on the field, economic criteria and representation of the various Oberligen.

From Oberliga Nord: Eintracht Braunschweig, Werder Bremen, Hamburger SV
From Oberliga West: Borussia Dortmund, 1. FC Köln, Meidericher SV (now MSV Duisburg), Preußen Münster, FC Schalke 04
From Oberliga Südwest: 1. FC Kaiserslautern, 1. FC Saarbrücken
From Oberliga Süd: Eintracht Frankfurt, Karlsruher SC, 1. FC Nuremberg, TSV 1860 München, VfB Stuttgart
From Oberliga Berlin: Hertha BSC Berlin
The first Bundesliga games were played on August 24, 1963. Early favorite 1. FC Köln was the first Bundesliga champion (with 45:19 points) over second place clubs Meidericher SV and Eintracht Frankfurt (both 39:25).

Structure and competition
The German football champion is decided strictly by play in the Bundesliga. Each club plays every other club once at home and once away. Originally, a victory was worth 2 points, with a draw worth 1 point and a loss no points. Since the 1995/96 season, a victory has been worth 3 points, with no change in the value of a draw or loss. The club with the most points at the end of the season becomes the German champion. Currently, the top two clubs in the table qualify automatically for the group phase of the UEFA Champions League, while the third-place team enters the Champions League at the third qualifying round (see overview). The two teams at the bottom of the table are relegated into the 2nd Bundesliga, while the top two teams in the 2nd Bundesliga are promoted. The sixteenth place team (third last), and the third place team in the 2nd Bundesliga play a two-leg play-off match. The winner of this match plays the next season in the Bundesliga, and the loser in the 2nd Bundesliga.

If teams are level on points, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:
Goal difference for the entire season.
Total goals scored for the entire season.
Head-to-head results (total points).
Head-to-head goal difference.
Head-to-head away goals scored.
Total away goals scored for the entire season.
If two clubs are still tied after all of these tiebreakers have been applied, a single match is held at a neutral site to determine the placement. However, this has never been necessary in the history of the Bundesliga.

In terms of team selection, matchday squads must have no more than five non-EU representatives. Seven substitutes are permitted to be selected, from which three can be used in the duration of the game.

Changes in league structure
Number of teams:
1963/64–1964/65: 16
1965/66–1990/91: 18
1991/92: 20, while East and West German leagues were being combined after German reunification
Since 1992/93: 18
Number of teams relegated (automatic relegation except as noted):
1963/64–1973/74: 2
1974/75–1980/81: 3
1981/82–1990/91: 2 automatic plus the 16th-place team in the First Bundesliga played a two-leg test match against the third-place team of the Second Bundesliga for the final spot in the First Bundesliga
1991/92: 4
1992/93-2007/08: 3
From 2008/09 on: 2 automatic plus the 16th-place team in the First Bundesliga playing a two-leg test match against the third-place team of the Second Bundesliga for the final spot in the First Bundesliga

European qualification (as of 2008–09)
1st and 2nd place: Group phase of UEFA Champions League
3rd place: Third qualifying round of Champions League for Non-Champions. Winners at this stage enter the group phase; losers enter the UEFA Cup.
DFB-Pokal (German Cup) winner: Qualifies for 4th qualifiying round of UEFA Cup, regardless of league position.
If the Cup winner has qualified for the Champions League, the losing finalist will enter the UEFA Cup. For example, although the Second Bundesliga side Alemannia Aachen lost to Werder Bremen in the 2004 DFB-Pokal final, Alemannia secured an entry in the 2004/05 UEFA Cup, because Werder qualified for the Champions League as First Bundesliga champions.
If both Cup finalists have qualified for the Champions League, an extra UEFA Cup place is granted on the basis of First Bundesliga position. Since the 2005 DFB-Pokal final pitted champions Bayern Munich against runners-up Schalke 04 (with Bayern winning), sixth-place Bayer Leverkusen received a berth in the 2005/06 UEFA Cup.
4th place: Qualifies for 4th qualifiying round of UEFA Cup.
5th place: Qualifies for 3rd qualifiying round of UEFA Cup.
16th place: Plays a two-leg relegation match (home and away) against the 3rd placed team of the 2nd Bundesliga.
17th and 18th place: Directly relegated to 2nd Bundesliga.
The number of German clubs which may participate in UEFA competitions is determined by UEFA coefficients, which take into account the results of a particular nation's clubs in UEFA competitions over the preceding five years.

History of European qualification
European Cup/Champions League:
Up to and including 1996/97: German champion only
1997–99: Top two teams
1999–present: Top two teams automatically into first group phase (only one group phase starting in 2003/04). Depending on the DFB's UEFA coefficients standing, either one or two other clubs (currently one) enter at the third qualifying round; winners at this level enter the group phase.

UEFA Cup:
Starting with the 1999/2000 season, the DFB-Pokal (German Cup) winner automatically qualifies. Depending on the DFB's UEFA coefficients standing, anywhere from 0 to 3 extra participants can enter. Since the Cup Winners' Cup was folded into the UEFA Cup after 1999, the DFB has always been entitled to enter a minimum of three clubs in the UEFA Cup, and has been able to enter as many as four (the maximum for any European federation). Teams that enter via UEFA's Fair Play mechanism, or those that entered through the now-defunct Intertoto Cup, do not count against the national quota. From 2006 through the final Intertoto Cup in 2008, only one First Bundesliga side was eligible to enter the Intertoto Cup and possibly earn a UEFA Cup berth. For the 2005/06 season, the DFB earned an extra UEFA Cup place via the Fair Play draw; this place went to Mainz 05 as the highest-ranked club in the Fair Play table of the First Bundesliga not already qualified for Europe.
Cup Winners' Cup (abolished after 1999):
DFB-Pokal winner entered the Cup Winners' Cup. Today, that club enters the UEFA Cup.

cradit : wikipedia

Serie A History

2008-08-12T00:41:00.000-07:00

History

Serie A, as it is structured today, began in 1929. From 1898 to 1922 the competition was organised into regional groups. Because of ever growing teams attending regional championships, FIGC split the CCI (Italian Football Confederation) in 1921. When CCI teams rejoined the FIGC created two interregional divisions renaming Categories into Divisions and splitting FIGC sections into two North-South leagues. In 1926 due to internal crises FIGC changed internal settings adding southern teams to the national divisions which lead to 1929-30 final settlement. No title was awarded in 1927 after Torino were stripped of the championship by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC). Torino were declared champions in the 1948-49 season following a plane crash near the end of the season in which the entire team was killed.

The Serie A Championship title is often referred to as the scudetto (small shield) because since the 1924-25 season the winning team will bear a small coat of arms with the Italian tricolour on their strip in the following season. The most successful club is Juventus F.C. with 27 championships, followed by A.C. Milan (17), Internazionale Milano (16) and Genoa C&FC (9). From 2004-05 onwards an actual trophy was awarded to club on the field after the last turn of the championship. The trophy, called Coppa Campioni d'Italia, is official since the 1960-61 season, but between 1961 and 2004 it was consigned to the winning clubs at the offices of Lega calcio in Milan.

Format

For most of Serie A's history there have been 16 or 18 clubs competing at the top level; however since 2004–05 there have been 20 clubs altogether. Below is a complete record of how many teams have played in each season throughout the league's history

1929–1934 = 18
1934–1943 = 16
1945–1946 = 25[7]
1946–1947 = 20
1947–1948 = 21
1948–1952 = 20
1952–1967 = 18
1967–1988 = 16
1988–2004 = 18
2004–present = 20

Scudetto patch.During the course of a season, from August to May, each club plays each of the other teams twice; once at home and once away, totalling 38 games for each team by the end of the season. In Italian football, a true round-robin format is used. In the first half of the season, called andata in Italy, each team plays exactly one time against each league opponent, a total of 19 games. In the second half of the season, called ritorno, the teams play in exactly the same order that they did in the first half of the season, the only difference being that home and away situations are switched. Since 1994 teams are awarded three points for a win, one point for a draw, and no points for a loss.

Since Italy is currently rated as one of the top three European countries in terms of club football ratings, the top four teams in the Serie A qualify for the UEFA Champions League. The top two teams qualify directly to the group phase, while the third and fourth placed teams enter the competition at the third qualifying round and must win a two-legged knockout tie in order to enter the group phase. Teams finishing 5th and 6th qualify for the UEFA Cup Tournament. A third UEFA Cup spot is reserved for the winner of the Coppa Italia. If the Coppa Italia champion has already qualified for one of the two European tournaments by placing in the top six of Serie A, the third UEFA Cup spot goes to the losing finalist. If both Coppa Italia finalists finish among the top six teams in Serie A, the 7th classified team in Serie A is awarded the UEFA Cup spot. The three lowest placed teams are relegated to Serie B.

Before the 2005–06 season if two or more teams were tied in points for first place, for only one spot in a European tournament, or in the relegation zone, teams would play tie-breaking games after the season was over to determine which team would be champion, or be awarded a European tournament spot, or be saved or relegated. Since 2005–06, if two or more teams end the season with the same number of points, the ordering is determined by their head-to-head records. In case two or more teams have same total points and same head-to-head records, goal difference becomes the secondary deciding factor.

The Golden Star

In 1958, based on an idea of Umberto Agnelli, the honor of Golden Star for Sports Excellence ("Stella d’Oro al Merito Sportivo" in Italian) was introduced to recognize sides that have won multiple championships or other honours by the display of gold stars on their team crests and jerseys. In Italy, the practice is to award one star for ten titles. The first team to adopt a star was Juventus in Italy and Europe[8], who added a star above their crest in 1958 to represent their tenth Serie A title. In 1982, they received their second golden star for having won their 20th league title.

The current (as of May 2008) officially-sanctioned Lega Calcio Serie A stars are:

Juventus FC (27; received in 1958 and 1982).
AC Milan (17, received in 1979).
FC Internazionale Milano (16, received in 1966).

Cradit : wikipedia

La Liga History

2008-08-12T00:14:00.000-07:00

Foundation
In April 1927 Jose Maria Acha, a director at Arenas Club de Getxo, first proposed the idea of a national league in Spain. After much debate about the size of the league and who would take part, the Real Federación Espanola de Futbol eventually agreed on the ten teams who would form the first Primera Division in 1928. FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Athletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad, Arenas Club de Getxo and Real Union were all selected as previous winners of the Copa del Rey. Athletic Madrid, RCD Espanol and CE Europa qualified as Copa del Rey runners-up and Racing Santander qualified through a knockout competition. Only three of the founding clubs, Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao, have never been relegated from the Primera Division.la liga gives famous player to world,

The 1930s
Although FC Barcelona won the very first Liga in 1929 and Real Madrid won their first titles in 1932 and 1933, it was Athletic Bilbao that set the early pace winning Primera Division in 1930, 1931, 1934 and 1936. They were also runners-up in 1932 and 1933. In 1935 Real Betis, then known as Betis Balompie, won their only title to date. Primera Division was suspended during the Spanish Civil War, but clubs in the Republican area of Spain, with the notable exception of the two Madrid clubs, competed in the Mediterranean League. FC Barcelona emerged as champions in 1937.

The 1940s
When the Primera Liga resumed after the Spanish Civil War it was Atletico Aviacion, Valencia CF and Sevilla FC that initially emerged as the strongest clubs. Atletico Aviacion were only awarded a place during the 1939-40 season as a replacement for Real Oviedo, whose ground had been damaged during the war. The club subsequently won their first Liga title and retained it in 1941. While other clubs lost players to exile, execution and as casualties of the war, the Atletico Aviacion team was reinforced by a merger. The young pre-war squad of Valencia CF had also remained intact and in the post-war years matured into champions, gaining three Liga titles in 1942, 1944 and 1947. They were also runners-up in 1948 and 1949. Sevilla FC also enjoyed a brief golden era, finishing as runners-up in 1940 and 1942 before winning their only title to date in 1946. By the latter part of the decade FC Barcelona began to emerge as a force when they were crowned champions in 1945, 1948 and 1949.

Di Stefano, Puskas, Kubala and Suarez
Although Atletico Madrid, previously known as Atletico Aviacion, were champions in 1950 and 1951 under catenaccio mastermind Helenio Herrera, the 1950s saw the beginning of the CF Barcelona/Real Madrid dominance. During the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s there were strict limits imposed on foreign players. In most cases clubs could only have three foreign players in their squads, meaning that at least eight local players had to play in every game. During the 1950s, however, these rules were circumnavigated by Real Madrid and CF Barcelona who naturalised Alfredo Di Stéfano, Ferenc Puskás and Ladislao Kubala. Inspired by Kubala, Barça won the title in 1952 and 1953. Di Stéfano, Puskás and Francisco Gento formed the nucleus of the Real Madrid team that dominated the second half of the 1950s. Real won Primera División for the first time as Real Madrid in 1954 and retained it in 1955. They were winners again in 1957 and 1958, with only Athletic Bilbao interrupting their sequence. CF Barcelona with a team coached by Helenio Herrera and featuring Luis Suárez gained the title in 1959 and 1960.

The Madrid Years
Between 1961 and 1980, Real Madrid dominated the Primera Division, being crowned champion 14 times. This included a five-in-a-row sequence from 1961 to 1965 and two three-in-a-row sequences (1967-69 and 1978-1980). During this era only Atletico Madrid offered Real any serious challenge, adding four more titles to their tally in 1966, 1970, 1973 and 1977. Of the other clubs, only Valencia CF in 1971 and the Johan Cruyff-inspired FC Barcelona of 1974 managed to break the might of Real Madrid.

The 1980s
The Madrid winning sequence was ended more significantly in 1981 when Real Sociedad won their first ever title. They retained it in 1982 and their two in a row was followed by another by their fellow Basques, Athletic Bilbao who won back-to-back titles in 1983 and 1984. Terry Venables led FC Barcelona to a solitary title in 1985 before Real Madrid won again another five in a row sequence (1986-90) with a team, guided by Leo Beenhakker, and including Hugo Sánchez and the legendary La Quinta del Buitre - Emilio Butragueño, Manolo Sanchís, Martín Vázquez, Míchel and Miguel Pardeza.

The 1990s Barca years
Johan Cruyff returned to FC Barcelona as manager in 1988, and assembled the legendary Dream Team. Cruyff introduced players like Josep Guardiola, José Mari Bakero, Txiki Beguiristain, Goikoetxea, Ronald Koeman, Michael Laudrup, Romario and Hristo Stoichkov. This team won Primera División four times between 1991 and 1994 and won the European Cup in 1992. Laudrup then moved to arch-rivals Real Madrid after a fall-out with Cruyff, and helped them end Barcelona's run in 1995. Atlético Madrid won their ninth Primera División title in 1996 before Real Madrid added another Liga trophy to their cabinet in 1997. After the success of Cruyff, another Dutchman - Ajax manager Louis van Gaal - arrived at the Camp Nou, and with the talents of Luís Figo, Luis Enrique and Rivaldo, Barcelona again won the title in 1998 and 1999. Meanwhile, Real Madrid also experienced success on the intercontinental stage, winning the UEFA Champions League in 1998.

The new millennium
As Primera División entered a new century, the Big Two found themselves facing new challengers. Between 1993 and 2004, Deportivo La Coruña finished in the top three on ten occasions, a better record than either Real Madrid or FC Barcelona, and in 2000, under Javier Irureta, they became the ninth team to be crowned champions. Real Madrid won two more Liga titles in 2001 and 2003 and also the UEFA Champions League in 2000 and 2002, and won their third league title in 2007 after a three year drought. They were challenged by a re-emerging Valencia CF in both competitions. Under the management of Héctor Cúper, Valencia finished as Champions League runners-up in 2000 and 2001. His successor, Rafael Benítez, built on this and led the club to a Liga title in 2002 and a Liga/UEFA Cup double in 2004. The 2004-05 season saw a resurgent Barcelona, inspired by the brilliant Ronaldinho, win their first title of the new century, in addition to the Liga-Champions League double in 2005-06. Sevilla FC also won the UEFA Cup in 2006 and again in 2007, when the Andalusians defeated fellow Spaniards RCD Espanyol 3-1 on penalties. After 3 years of misery, Real Madrid finally won the La Liga in 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 season.

cradit : wikipedia

English Premier League Clubs

2008-08-06T07:35:00.000-07:00

English Premier League Clubs

Labels: Clubs, Premier League
A total of 40 clubs have played in the Premier League between 1992 and 2006. Two other clubs (Luton Town and Notts County) were signatories to the original agreement that created the Premier League, but were relegated prior to the inaugural Premiership season and have not yet returned to the top flight. For a list of all clubs past and present see List of FA Premier League clubs and an amalgamated table can be found at All-time FA Premier League table. For a list of winners and runners-up of the Premier League since its inception, and top scorers for each season, see English football champions.

Seven clubs have been members of the Premiership for every season since its inception. This group is composed of Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United, and Tottenham Hotspur.

English Premier League Media Coverage Worldwide

Labels: Premier League, TV Coverage
Promoted as "The Greatest Show On Earth", the Premier League is the world's most popular and most watched sporting league, followed worldwide by over half a billion people in 202 countries, generally on networks owned and/or controlled by NewsCorp, which owns BSkyB and thus the primary UK and Ireland TV rights. In the United States coverage is shared between Fox Soccer Channel and Setanta Sports North America; NewsCorp sometimes buy pitch-side advertising boards with the Fox Soccer Channel logo replacing that of Sky.

The Premier League is particularly popular in Asia, where it is the most widely distributed sports programme. In the People's Republic of China, matches attract television audiences between 100 million and 360 million, more than any other foreign sport. Due to this popularity, the league has held three pre-season tournaments in Asia, the only Premier League affiliated tournaments ever to have been held outside England. In July 2003, the FA Premier League Asia Cup was held in Malaysia, featuring three Premiership clubs, Chelsea, Newcastle United and Birmingham City, and the Malaysia national team. In 2005 the Asia Trophy featured a similar format, held in Thailand and featuring the Thailand national team competing against three English clubs — Everton, Manchester City and Bolton Wanderers, the last of which won the trophy. In 2007, the FA Premier League Asia Cup took place in Hong Kong, to be renamed the Barclays Asia Trophy and featured Liverpool, Portsmouth, Fulham and the Hong Kong FA Cup winning team, South China.

The FA has faced difficulty fighting internet copyright infringement. In an effort to stop the broadcasting of streams of live games on the net they have hired NetResult, a company that specializes on protecting trademark rights online. The BBC reported that NetResult, on behalf of the Premier League, emailed a warning to 101greatgoals.blogspot.com, an independent website that links to youtube videos, that forced its temporary closure.

English Premier League History

Labels: Foundation, History, Premier League
History

The 1980s had marked a low point for English football. Stadiums were crumbling, supporters endured poor facilities, hooliganism was rife, and English clubs were banned from European competition following the events at Heysel in 1985. The Football League First Division, which had been the top level of English football since 1888, was well behind leagues such as Italy's Serie A and Spain's La Liga in attendances and revenues, and several top English players had moved abroad. However, by the turn of the 1990s the downward trend was starting to reverse; England had been successful in the 1990 FIFA World Cup, reaching the semi-finals. UEFA, European football's governing body, lifted the five-year ban on English clubs playing in European competitions in 1990 and the Taylor Report on stadium safety standards, which proposed expensive upgrades to create all-seater stadiums, was published in January of that year.

Television money had also become much more important; the Football League received £6.3million for a two-year agreement in 1986, but when that deal was renewed in 1988, the price rose to £44m over four years. The 1988 negotiations were the first signs of a breakaway league; ten clubs threatened to leave and form a "super league", but were eventually persuaded to stay. As stadiums improved and match attendance and revenues rose, the country's top teams again considered leaving the Football League in order to capitalise on the growing influx of money being pumped into the sport.

Foundation

In the 1991 close season, a proposal for the establishment of a new league was tabled that would bring more money into the game overall. The Founder Members Agreement, signed on 17 July 1991 by the game's top-flight clubs, established the basic principles for setting up the FA Premier League. The newly formed top division would have commercial independence from the Football Association and the Football League, giving the FA Premier League license to negotiate its own broadcast and sponsorship agreements. This was considered necessary so that English clubs could once again compete with and beat the best of Europe, while attracting the best talent in the world, something which in 1991 seemed practically unthinkable.

In 1992 the First Division clubs resigned from the Football League en masse and on 27 May 1992 the FA Premier League was formed as a limited company working out of an office at the then Football Association's headquarters in Lancaster Gate. This meant a break-up of the 104-year-old Football League that had operated until then with four divisions; the Premier League would operate with a single division and the Football League with three. There was no real change in competition format; the same number of teams competed in the top flight, and promotion and relegation between the Premier League and the new First Division remained on the same terms as between the old First and Second Divisions.

Establishment

As of 2007 there had been 15 completed seasons of the Premier League. The league held its first season in 1992–93 and was originally composed of 22 clubs. The first ever Premiership goal was scored by Brian Deane of Sheffield United in a 2–1 win against Manchester United. Due to insistence by FIFA, the international governing body of football, that domestic leagues reduce the number of games clubs played, the number of clubs was reduced to 20 in 1995 when four teams were relegated from the league and only two teams promoted. On 8 June 2006, FIFA requested that all major European leagues, including Italy's Serie A and Spain's La Liga be reduced to 18 teams by the start of the 2007–08 season. The Premier League responded by announcing their intention to resist such a reduction. Ultimately the 2007–08 season kicked off again with 20 teams. The league changed its name from the FA Premier League to simply the Premier League in 2007.

Credit: Wikipedia