A League of Nations

English Premier League team Bolton’s 2006-7 squad included players from 19 nations:

• Denmark: Henrik Pedersen
• England: Kevin Davies, Nicky Hunt, Kevin Nolan
• Finland: Jussi Jääskeläinen
• France: Martin Djetou, Fabrice Fernandes, Bruno N’Gotty, Nicolas Anelka
• Greece: Stelios Giannakopoulos
• Iran: Andranik Teymourian
• Ireland: Joey O’Brien
• Israel: Idan Tal, Tal Ben Haim
• Ivory Coast: Abdoulaye Méïté
• Jamaica: Ricardo Gardner
• Japan: Hidetoshi Nakata
• Oman: Ali Al Habsi
• Mexico: Jared Borgetti
• Poland: Jaroslaw Fojut
• Portugal: Ricardo Vaz Té
• Senegal: El-Hadji Diouf, Abdoulaye Diagne-Faye
• Spain: Ivan Campo, Óscar Pérez Bovela
• Tunisia: Radhi Jaidi
• Wales: Gary Speed

Brothers in Arms

Has this happened before? In a televised match in the Norwegian second division (3-9-2006) between Ålesund and Løv Ham two brothers – Arve and Knut Walde – each scored an own goal for Løv Ham in their 2-1 defeat.

Football News Wednesday 30-5-2007

• International Friendly: Scotland beat Austria in Vienna 1-0 thanks to a Garry O’Connor goal in the 58th minute.

A few European top scorers 2006-7

• England: Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast), Chelsea
• France: Pauleta (Portugal), Paris Saint-Germain
• Germany: Theofanis Gekas (Greece), Bochum
• Holland: Afonso Alves (Brazil), SC Heerenveen
• Italy: Francesco Totti (Italy), AS Roma
• Portugal: Simão Sabrosa (Portugal), Benfica
• Spain: Ruud van Nistelrooy (Holland), Real Madrid (2 games remain)

Football News Monday 28-5-2007

• English Championship Play-off: Derby beat West Brom 1-0 thanks to Person goal in the 61st minute. Derby will join Sunderland and Birmingham in the Premier League next season. A crowd of 74,993 saw the mondays’ play-off.

Football News Sunday 27-5-2007

• English League One Play-off: Blackpool promoted to the Championship after a 2-0 victory over Yeovil at Wembley.
• Spanish La Liga: Third placed Sevilla win 3-1 at home against Real Zaragoza.

The Fagin of the penalty area; the arch pickpocket of goals

Jimmy Greaves is the greatest goalscorer in the history of English football! Here’s the evidenence:

• He holds the record for the most goals scored in English top level football. 357 goals in 516 games for Chelsea, Tottenham and West Ham.
• He has scored the most goals in a single season for both Chelsea and Tottenham. 41 goals in 40 games for Chelsea in 1960-61 and 37 goals in 41 games for Tottenham in 1962-63.
• He was top scorer in the First Division in six seasons. 1958-59 and 1960-61 for Chelsea. 1962-63, 1963-64, 1964-65 and 1968-69 for Tottenham.
• He was sold from Chelsea to AC Milan in June 1961 for £80,000 and returned to English football later the same year when Tottenham signed him for £99,999.
• He scored on his debut for Chelsea, England U-23, England, AC Milan, Tottenham and West Ham.
• He is the youngest player to have scored 100 goals at the top level in English football (20 years and 290 days).
• He is third highest scorer for England with 44 goals in 57 internationals behind Gary Lineker (48 goals in 80 internationals) and Bobby Charlton (49 goals in 106 internationals).
• He holds the record for the most hat-tricks for England – six.
• He scored two goals in Tottenhams’ 5-1 victory over Atletico Madrid in the 1963 Cup Winner’s-cup final. The first victory for an English club in Europe.

Sources:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Greaves
• http://www.spursodyssey.com/articles/greaves.html
• http://www.spursodyssey.com/articles/greaves2.html
• http://www.thefa.com/England/SeniorTeam/NewsAndFeatures/Postings/2005
  /03/EnglandLegends_JimmyGreaves.htm

The title is a quote from Geoffrey Green from The Cassell Soccer Companion by David Pickering, 1997.

Copa Libertadores

While the rest of the world have their Champions League competitions in South America the top teams compete for the Copa Libertadores.

The South American Club Championship was held for first time in 1948. Teams representing seven South American countries met in Chile to compete for the first title. Vasco da Gama the Brazilian club from Rio de Janeiro won the initial tournament.

The competition was changed in 1960 to rival the European cup that was established in 1955. The competition was now called Copa Libertadores.

The most successful teams in the competitions history are Independiente of Argentina with seven victories including four successive titles between 1972 and 1975. Boca Juniors also from Argentina and Peñarol from Uruguay have both won five titles.

The previous 5 winners have been:

• 2006 Internacional (Brazil)
• 2005 São Paulo FC (Brazil)
• 2004 Once Caldas (Colombia)
• 2003 Boca Juniors (Argentina)
• 2002 Olimpia (Paraguay)

This year’s competition has come to the semi-final stage. The quarter-finals played over two legs had these four winners:

• Santos FC (Brazil) 2 América (Mexico) 1
• Cúcuta Deportivo (Colombia) 4 Nacional (Uruguay) 2
• Grêmio (Brazil) 2 Defensor (Uruguay) 2 (4-2 on Penalties)
• Boca Juniors (Argentina) 3 Libertad (Paraguay) 1

The semi-finals are to be played 30th and 31st May and 6th and 7th June.

Sources:

• http://www.latinamericanfootball.com/CopaLibertadores/copalib.htm
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copa_Libertadores_2007
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copa_Libertadores

Champions League – A global round-up

AC Milan beat Liverpool in the European Champions League Final earlier this week. Here is a status report over the rest of the world:

• AFC (Asian Football Federation): The current competition is not finished. In 2006 Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors from South Korea beat Al Karama from Syria 3-2 in the final.
• CAF (Confederation of African Football): The current competition is not finished. In 2006 Al-Ahly from Egypt beat Club Sportif Sfaxien from Tunisia over two legs 1-1 and 1-0.
• CONCACAF (North America, Central America, and the Caribbean): CF Pachuca from Mexico beat Chivas de Guadalajara also from Mexico. The results in the two-legged final where 2-2 and 0-0 before CF Pachuca won 7-6 on penalties.
• OFC (Oceania Football Confederation): Waitakere United from New Zealand defeated 4R Electrical Ba from Fiji on away goals after the two-legged final ended 1-2 and 1-0.

Football News Saturday 26-5-2007

• Scottish Cup Final: Celtic win 1-0 over Dunfermline at Hampden. Jean-Joel Perrier Doumbe scored the only goal of the game.
• German Cup Final: Danish Jan Kristiansen scored in the second period of extra time to give Nürnberg a 3-2 victory over Stuttgart in front of a crowd of 74,400 at the Olympiastadion in Berlin.
• Spanish La Liga: Barcelona and Real Madrid win their home games. Barcelona won 1-o over Getafe through a second minute goal by Ronaldinho who was sent off at the end of the first half. Real Madrid won 3-1 over Deportivo La Coruna. Real’s goals where scored by Ramos, Raul and van Nistelrooy. Fourth placed Valencia lost 2-3 at home to Villarreal.
• English League Two Play-off Final: Bristol Rovers promoted after a 3-1 win over Shrewsbury in front of 61,589 at Wembley. Walsall, Hartlepool and Swindon where automatically promoted.