Changing Dominance In The Champions League

The Wikipedia article entitled “European Cup and UEFA Champions League history” addresses periods of dominance by countries or clubs.  What it doesn’t address is how the advent in 1997 of having more than one club qualify from certain countries has influenced which countries dominate the competition.  The dominant footballing nations of European club football, Italy, Spain, England and Germany, have benefitted.

Last Eight To Finals Of The League Cup, 2012-2013

The 2013 League Cup Final on 24 February 2013 between Swansea City and Bradford City has been notable for the following:

• Swansea City are the first Welsh club to win the League Cup.
• This is only the second occasion that a Welsh club has won either of the two major domestic cup competitions in England.  The previous occasion was in 1927, when Cardiff City defeated Arsenal in the FA Cup Final.   The only other occasions a Welsh club has reached the final of either cup competition were in 1925, 2008 and 2012, with Cardiff City losing on each occasion – 1925 FA Cup Final 0-1 to Sheffield United, 2008 FA Cup 0-1 to Portsmouth and 2012 League Cup Final on penalties to Liverpool after a 2-2 draw.
• Bradford City are only second fourth tier club to reach the final of either of the two major domestic cup competitions in England.  The first Rochdale, who also reached the League Cup Final, in 1962, losing over two legs to Norwich City 0-4 on aggregate.

The Language Of Transfer Speculation

For Thursday:

Change FIFA? Change The World

In reply to:

So what happens now, FIFA is rotten to the core, ….

Andrew Jennings has been saying that for years. Unfortunately, it is only after England, Australia and the USA fail in their bids to host the World Cup that the English-speaking world has followed suit.

The Farce That Is FIFA

Blatter has been cleared by the Ethics Committee.

Bin Hammam not only withdraws his candidacy, but he has been suspended by the Ethics Committee. Jack Warner is also suspended.

Blatter is now unopposed.

A Broader European Pyramid

My views about re-shaping the European pyramid have been criticized on this blog and elsewhere.

The details of the proposed structure are set out in several earlier posts, dating back to May 2008:

• Transnational European Leagues
• Proposals For A European League
• A British League
• Atlantic League
• How The Game Has Changed
• British League – An Outline
• Building A Pyramid

The Future Of Football – What’s Really At Stake

I responded with several posts on a thread on Tony’s Non-League Forum about recent high profile refereeing errors in England.  I’m collating them here.

Competition Faced By European Leagues

UEFA adopted financial fair play rules last May. As reported at that time in the Guardian:

“Uefa has approved plans to force clubs in European competition to spend only what they earn. The financial fair play rules will require clubs to break even over a rolling three-year period if they want to play in the Champions League or Europa League.”

The Potential For Discord In World Football

As FIFA basks in the publicity, if not the financial success, of the 2010 World Cup Finals, it is easy to ignore the potential discord that lies ahead for world football.

Rich Benefactors – The End Of History

In response to:

53. At 1:56pm on 29 May 2010, Cynical_Joe MUFC OK wrote:

Man United, Barca, AC Milan, Real Madrid. etc have large revenue streams that took decades of on-field success, trophy wins, stadium reconstruction and global marketing to produce.

Yes, I think it is fair to say these clubs did EARN that money and they have every right to spend a proportion of that annually on transfers and wages.

What is ludicrous is Chelsea, and particularly Man City, both clubs who have far smaller revenue streams and are run at losses every year, spending £100s of millions on transfer spending and wages. Only to have this debt ‘written off’ at the end of every year.