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Yearly Archives: 2016

Portrait of an iconic manager – Sir Matt Busby

Sir Matt Busby is regarded among the greatest managers of all time courtesy of his 24-year stint at Old Trafford during which he made the club one of the most respected and feared outfits in world football. And he did it all despite the unfortunate plane crash in February 1958 that killed several members of his young team, including the ...

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Ballon d’Or betting: Who will win the 2016 Ballon d’Or?

The Ballon d’Or voting will soon kick into gear as the award is presented to the world’s best player in January next year. And just like the past decade or so there are a couple of names expected to be the leading contenders: Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Ronaldo has very strong credentials for landing his fourth Ballon d’Or trophy ...

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Portrait of an iconic manager – Carlos Bianchi

Carlos Bianchi started his professional career at Velez Sarsfield in the Argentine top division in 1967. He was a gifted goalscorer and went on to score a remarkable 121 goals from 165 league appearances during his first six years at the club before moving to Stade de Reims in France. The goals kept coming from Bianchi’s boots in Ligue 1 ...

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2016 Football Review: Five Great Players who retired

Juan Carlos Valeron Valeron is revered as one of the greatest Spanish midfielders of all time. His best football came at Deportivo La Coruna with who he stayed from 2000 until 2013 when he moved to Las Palmas – the club where he had started his professional career. One of his most memorable games in Europe came in the 2003/04 ...

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2016 Football Review: Most memorable moments

Leicester City become English champions It is hard to recall a fairytale like the one Leicester City scripted in the 2015/16 Premier League campaign. It came from a team that barely managed to stave off relegation in the previous season, was embroiled in issues off the pitch during pre-season and proceeded to sack their manager Nigel Pearson. However, the well-travelled ...

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Five father-son duos who played for the same club

Zinedine and Enzo Zidane (Real Madrid) In Real Madrid’s Copa del Rey fixture against Cultural Leonesa last weekend, Los Blancos boss Zinedine Zidane introduced Enzo Zidane as a second half substitute in place of Isco, giving the 21-year-old his senior debut for the club. In the process, Enzo followed in his father’s footsteps to become the second Zidane to play ...

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Football’s Rising Stars – Max Meyer

Max Meyer started his football career very young and moved to Gelsenkirchen giants Schalke in 2009 before progressing to the club’s first team in 2013. He has been one of the hottest prospects in German football. Playing style Meyer is an attacking midfielder with fantastic movement. He is able to drop a little deep to support attacking moves, move to ...

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5 goals that didn’t make the FIFA Puskas list

Kevin-Prince Boateng (Las Palmas) vs Villarreal, La Liga – October 23, 2016 Boateng scored a goal of immense beauty for Las Palmas in their league fixture against Villarreal. And it was not just the finishing touch but the whole build up to it is a thing of beauty. The assist for the goal was an exquisite back heel volley and ...

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Portrait of an iconic manager – Nereo Rocco

Whenever catenaccio is talked about Helenio Herrera’s name automatically springs into conversation for the Argentine is regarded – by many – as the inventor of the defensive playing system. However, there was Nereo Rocco before Herrera, employing catenaccio at Triestina and Padova before he took the system to AC Milan, and with great success. Rocco was a midfielder during his ...

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Football’s Rising Stars – Yannick Ferreira Carrasco

Yannick Ferreira Carrasco moved to Monaco of the French league in 2010 from his native Belgium and became part of the principality outfit’s second team. Two years later he was playing for the club’s first team and made a name for himself with his skills on the wing. Carrasco’s performances saw Atletico Madrid sign him in the summer of 2015 ...

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