Features news coverage of the Bundesliga.
Today’s transfer roundup starts with transfer-related news, but not a big rumor. Instead, I give two thumbs-up to Real Madrid’s Wesley Sneijder for looking out for his brother’s best interests, as he stepped in to prevent Real from making an offer to former club Ajax for his brother Rodney, a promising youth team player.
Written by Eddie Griffin. Leave a response
There could be tough times ahead for Luca Toni. The Bayern Munich striker, just recently crowned Bundesliga champion and currently leading the scoring charts with 21 goals, may soon be confronted with an unsurpassable obstacle… of the robotic kind. Its name is Goalias (or GoalIAS if you prefer), and it’s the first robot-goalkepeer capable of defending a regular-sized football goal.
Written by Marco Pantanella. 6 comments
According to Forbes.com Manchester United have been valued at $1.8 billion, ahead of the club traditionally known as the richest club in football (Real Madrid, $1.285 billion) and their chief domestic rivals Arsenal ($1.2 billion), Liverpool ($1.05 billion) and Chelsea ($764 million).
Have fun sorting the lists according to different criteria. Here are some highlights:
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 3 comments
In US sports they call it the ‘Rookie of the Year’ award, but there doesn’t appear to be an equivalent honour in European football. I know the PFA have their ‘Young Player of the Year’ award – but when you’ve got seasoned veterans like Cesc Fabregas and Cristiano Ronaldo in the running it hardly stacks up.
So I’ve created a list of ten authentic rookies, all young but also inexperienced before the 2007-08 season began back in August. All of them have impressed us this season – but do any deserve to be called the ‘Breakthrough Player of the Year’ ? Or did I forget someone ?
Written by Betfair. 20 comments
Images courtesy of GolTV.
Soccerlens is very privileged and honored to welcome a legend of world football, Enzo Francescoli. Mr. Francescoli, who was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, was one of the best players of the modern era. He was a striker with unusual grace and elegance on the football pitch. He was affectionately known as “El Principe.” For younger members in our audience, please take a few minutes to watch the featured highlight video (below). You will see an artist at work, and understand why he was called “The Prince.”
He is now the CEO of GolTV, which began operations in 2003, and is the only Spanish language network that televises soccer 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in North America. GolTV also broadcasts in English, and reaches a nationwide audience through cable and satellite operators. Their target audience is comprised mainly of Hispanic, European, Asian, and American fans 16 years and older.
Written by Steve Amoia. 4 comments
This can be a difficult time of the season for strong recommendations as title hopes evaporate; teams get lost in mid-table mediocrity with little to play for and those resigned to their fate fail to perform to expectation.
But there are some interesting clashes this weekend as in Serie A six of the top seven take each other on. In the Premier League, Arsenal’s season will finish early unless they can win at Old Trafford. There’s much to be decided at the bottom of the Bundesliga as any three from five could still be relegated and two of them meet this weekend. Ligue 1 is even less defined as only six points separates 12th from 19th and four of the bottom five have the same number of points. Only in Spain could nearly everything top and bottom of the table be resolved this weekend.
Written by Soccerlens. Leave a response
In recent seasons, we have witnessed (and continue to witness), slowly but surely, the elegant destruction of what we know as the ‘big’ teams. Spain, Italy, France, England, Scotland, Germany, Holland, Russia, Greece, and Turkey have all fallen to the inevitable rise of the ‘middle’ teams. Let’s review the movers and shakers:
Written by GT. 5 comments
Stuttgart have slapped a 50m euros price tag on Mario Gomez, in a manner reminiscent of Lyon’s incessant posturing that comes every year before they sell their star player in the summer (usually to Madrid or Chelsea, or Barcelona have been the beneficiaries as well).
Mario Gomez is in demand right now and if he goes with (and stars for) Germany in Euro 2008, his value will go even higher. Once Gomez decides to leave for greener pastures, it’s going to be very difficult for Suttgart to keep him from going to Spain (Madrid, Barcelona) or England (Manchester United and Chelsea).
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 3 comments
Five of last season’s champions in Europe’s six major leagues look like defending their titles successfully this season. The exception is Germany where last season’s champions VfB Stuttgart are currently sixth. If the other five win their domestic titles, it will equal the record set in 2005/2006.
Two years ago, it appeared that all six of these countries had repeat champions, but Juventus have since been stripped of both their 2005/2006 title and their title from the season before.
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 3 comments
Bayern Munich’s superstars Franck Ribery and Luca Toni can expect to sleep on the job next season as new coach Jurgen Klinsmann introduces radical changes - including beds in the team room.
Klinsmann is set to replace Ottmar Hitzfeld as Bayern coach on July 1 and has already given instructions for a number of bold changes including an eight-hour working day for the players and a luxury team room with beds.
Speaking with German magazine Stern, the Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said:
Written by Ahmed Bilal. Leave a response
I’ll get today’s transfer roundup started by getting your obligatory Berbatov tidbit out of the way first. Juande Ramos has slapped a 31 million GBP price tag on his prized asset. So, if you want to get him, you’ll have to pay an arm and a leg to get him, or, if you’re Roman Abramovich, two fingers.
Now, on to the real stuff.
Written by Eddie Griffin. 5 comments
Finally, we have some signings, because it can get a little boring talking about speculation sometimes.
Written by Eddie Griffin. One comment
“Soccer is a world made of numbers”. A phrase which would make any mathematician proud, with the eternal claim that you can find mathematics anywhere.
And where better to find numbers than Goal Totals: the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS), the famous (and often criticized) organization that chronicles the history of football, has just published its World’s Top Goal Scorer of 2007 ranking.
No, the results are further from probably anything you may expect.
Written by Marco Pantanella. 13 comments
It’s time to take a trip around Europe once again to see how some of the other leagues in the continent are shaking out as we head towards the new year (you did know that there was football beyond the English Premier League, right?).
Written by Eddie Griffin. 2 comments
Our European tour starts in France, where Lyon, as is to be expected by now, are standing alone atop the Ligue 1 standings, but aren’t running away with their seventh straight title just yet.
With their upcoming Champions League clash with Rangers in mind, Lyon manager Alain Perrin sat several key players for Saturday’s tie at Caen, and as a result, may have sacrificed three points, as the home side used an early goal to pick up a 1-0 victory.
Written by Eddie Griffin. One comment
Sir Alex Ferguson wants to buy an experienced defender, probably a full back, during the January transfer window. He knows it, we know it and now so do the Glazers after the usually reticent Old Trafford boss spoke at length about the latest injury setback suffered by Manchester United club captain Gary Neville.
Written by Betfair. 4 comments
The Topper Harley-like power dive of the Bavarians ended three meters below the surface of the Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion, due to the critical loss of the right wing. Gomez was all happy to take good advantage of it and still wearing his Halloween hangman costume showed no hesitation to carry out the sentence. However, he may never have succeeded if it weren’t for self-nominated robicarlos Ludovic Magnin, who provided excellent box to box play.
Expectable as it was, the Reds could have only been defeated two ways in Bundesliga – either with an out of bunker strike as Frankfurt t(r)ied, or with kamikaze attacks from the very beginning hoping to score before you die - knowing the inconsistent defence the VfB have, no wonder the young&wild opted for version B.
Written by Henrik Hegedus. Leave a response
It’s that time of the year again. The time when a random (ok, let’s call it ‘well-respected’ if you prefer) football publication makes an “All Time Best” ranking that never fails to create controversy and offend a few people.
FourFourTwo did one of those last month, this time it’s the turn of the ‘Association of Football Statisticians’ to make its Top 100, after studying every fact and figure from the beautiful game over the past 100 years.
Points are given for goals scored by forwards and clean sheets for defenders. Players also get awarded marks for trophies won, captaincy and the level they played at throughout their career.
Written by Marco Pantanella. 99 comments
Football is a simple game; 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans Bayern win.
Written by Henrik Hegedus. 10 comments
If you bet on all the home bankers last weekend in the Bundesliga, there’s a good chance your pockets are now empty. Some real surprise results in Germany on the Saturday, again working in favour of a now buoyant Bayern Munich side. The Bavarian giants continue to be the imperious pace-setters, while the nearest contenders stutter to weaker opposition.
Written by Daniel Curtis. Leave a response
