The sports industry is massive, and where sports stars go their money tends to follow. Billions of dollars is spent each year by the world’s sporting superstars on everything from furniture to Fois Gras. Basketball, rugby, soccer and baseball stars all have one thing in common: luxury is the only way to go. The sporting
The scene is the Santiago Bernabeu stadium. It is the 5th minute, and the blushes of all in connection with Manchester United are saved by a man who is the subject of daily witch hunts by his adopted country’s media. David De Gea continued to make world-class saves throughout the night, and but for Ronaldo’s
The greatest football managers are often interesting characters bordering on the eccentric and have great self-belief which is no great surprise as you must need skin like elephant hide to survive the barrage of criticism and abuse that football bosses inevitably suffer. Mancini may have thought that working in England would be less pressurised than
It’s hard to fathom that many football fans would have known about Dante Bonfim Costa Santos before this season. Aged 29, the workmanlike centre back made his international debut in a full strength Brazil side that went down 2-1 to England on 6th February after nine years of plying his trade happily under the radar
The Allianz Arena co-landlords are on a roll at the moment. 2013 has been flawless for them. Every match in all competitions has been won and dominated. Many goals have been scored and only a few conceded. Former player, Lukas Podolski, was the first player to score against the Bavarians in 2013 and that was
Many Arsenal fans are already categorizing this season as one of the team’s biggest flops yet as the red side of London has just recently been knocked out of the FA Cup by Championship side Blackburn and are seemingly glaring at a last 16 exit out of the UEFA Champions league - but Arsene Wenger
From the outside everything about Spanish football is dominated by Barcelona and Real Madrid. This fact is backed up by the Championship records over the years, but followers of the game in Spain are only too well aware of the other quality teams in the league. It is almost ten years since Valencia dared to
Los Merengues face a season defining week starting from tonight. Three very important matches today, on Saturday and next week Tuesday are must wins if they stand any chance of claiming at least one title this campaign. One could argue that the Spanish League is a foregone conclusion given Barcelona’s healthy lead over their most
There was a feeling after the final whistle went on the stalemate Milan derby in the San Siro on Sunday night that it was AC who secured the moral victory. A dominant display, only bearing the fruit of Stephen El Shaarawy’s first half strike, that was repelled only by a string of good saves by
Despite speculation about his future hitting an all time high this week, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has come out fighting, saying that the thought of quitting has post has never entered his mind. It has been well documented that Arsenal have had a poor week of course. They lost to Blackburn Rovers in the FA
The Barclays Premier League returned this weekend after some exciting F.A. Cup ties last week. Liverpool secured a 5-0 win over Swansea in what was the only league game last week. Congratulations to the Swans for securing a 5-0 win themselves in the Capital One Cup Final, too. Top Three Games Manchester City
Carlo Ancelotti is perhaps the luckiest manager in the world. The squad he has at PSG is one any manager would give an arm for. The array of talent at his disposal is frightening in all ramifications. To add class and elegance to quality and talent, David Beckham otherwise known as ‘Golden Balls’ joined the
It hasn’t been the easiest of seasons for Borussia Monchengladbach. After their superb efforts of last season which saw them finish fourth in the Bundesliga to qualify for the Europa League, The Foals lost their two best players, centre-half Dante and the gifted young attacking midfielder Marco Reus, to Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund respectively.
It is possibly the greatest crosstown derby in the World. Although the Derby della Mole (Turin derby-Juve v Torino), the Derby della Lanterna (Genoa-Samp) and the Derby della Cupolone (Roma-Lazio) will argue against this. But the Milan derby arguably draws the most crowd outside of Italy. The duel contested by the two Milanese clubs INTER
Getting the nation fit and active is a huge challenge. Sports leagues are a great way to do this, and one of the most popular sports is, unsurprisingly, football. Football is the worlds most popular sport with an enormous worldwide audience, as a result there’s a huge amount of money in the beautiful game. But
No soccer team can ever dream of doing well without a reliable goalkeeper. The goalkeeper forms the last line of a team’s defense. It is such a key position that it plays a crucial role in determining the result of a match. For instance, a team that is doing poorly in defense and is not
It is ten years since Real Sociedad missed out on La Liga by two points as the potent strike-force of Nihat Kavheci and Darko Kovacevic hit a combined tally of 43 goals to lead them to a runners-up spot. Xabi Alonso, the World Cup winner now with Real Madrid, won the Don Balon for 2003
For Swindon Town, a Premier League club of just fifteen years ago who have been beset by two administrations and a series of HMRC wind-up orders as they spent their time yo-yoing between the second and third tier, a rise back up to the Championship was never going to be smooth. In fact, with Paolo
10-12 years ago, no one, not even the most pessimistic fan would have uttered the phrase ‘Time Up Arsene’. The French man affectionately called Le Professeur was having the time of his managerial career winning League titles and domestic cups. The fans were happy, the critics reluctantly applauding. The French contingent of Robert Pires, Thierry
While the aftermath of Arsenal’s dismantling by Bayern Munich on Tuesday night will centre around Arsene Wenger’s future and his evolutionary odyssey that continues to edge ever close to an end, it cannot be overlooked that the side who left north London victorious had just made a genuine case that this could be the year