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Football Rankings and Awards

We live in a world obsessed with superlatives, constantly being sold by marketing ploys promoting their individual items. Football is sadly no different, how often are we told that Cristiano Ronaldo is the World’s best player, only to be told the same thing about Lionel Messi the very next day. Club’s are no different, Real…

Official FIFA World Rankings

FIFA’s official ranking system for nations was officially introduced in 1992. Initially it was a rather simplistic system, in which a win gave a team 3 points whilst a draw gave the team 1 point. This created a number of problems, based mainly around the fact that it didn’t take into account that some countries…

Ballon d’Or

Lionel Messi has won the 2009 Ballon d’Or, awarded to the European footballer of the year, after inspiring Barcelona to the treble last season. The forward was outstanding as the Catalan club won the Champions League, the Spanish title and the Copa del Rey. Messi beat last year’s winner, Cristiano Ronaldo, into second place by…

FIFA World Player of the Year Award

In 1991, some 30 years after the Ballon d’Or was first awarded to Sir Stanley Matthews, FIFA commenced the awarding of their own award. The FIFA World Player of the Year. The award uses a Borda Count system to tally votes. Simply put a Borda count involves voters ranking their candidates in order of preference….

FIFPro Player of the Year Award

Whilst the FIFPro player of the year award itself has a relativily short history (having only been awarded since 2005), the origins of the awards could feasibly traced back to 1898 and the formation of the Association Football’s Union in England. Whilst the AFU turned out to be unsuccessful and ultimately shortlived, shutting up shop…

UEFA Coefficients System

Think for a moment about the organisation of tournaments such as the UEFA Champions League or the European Championships. How do you decide how many teams are eligible for entry into each competition, when those teams should enter the competition or what about the fixtures of those competitions? It’s clear that without a ranking system…

The Odd Couple: Will it work out for Manchester United and Michael Owen?

Four weeks ago, I was playing Football Manager. I was managing Manchester United and was faced with the dilemma of how to replace Tevez and Ronaldo. With 80 million quid in the bank, money wasn’t an issue; however the question of bringing in the “right” player involves more than just money. Browsing through my shortlist,…

Top Ten Free Kick Specialists Of All Time

Cast your mind back to Saturday August 15th 1998. Manchester United were kicking off their season with a home game against Leicester City and one David Beckham was making the headlines for all the wrong reasons. His infamous moment of petulance at the 1998 World Cup saw him transformed from hero to zero in the…

Major Club Football Rivalries

They are the first games you look for when the fixtures are drawn pre-season. The games you crowd into the local pub with your mates to watch religiously. What is it about a derby game that captures the raw emotion & passion of football? They are much more than a normal game of football that’s…

South America’s Biggest Football Rivalries

All the major football rivalries from South America: Argentina Featured Derby: Superclasico, Buenos Aires, Argentina River Plate vs Boca Juniors The Superclasico is arguably the world’s biggest derby game. Pitting the most popular ( It’s commonly accepted that close to 70% of football fans in Argentina support either River or Boca) and successful clubs in Argentina against each other….