Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2024 i World Soccer

World Soccer Presents As Messi mania swept football, we were there every step of the way to track Leo’s epic journey. Digital format only This special edition showcases some of the biggest rivalries in football from across the globe. A collection of interviews including Kaka, Ronaldo, Cruyff, Sacchi, Xavi, Pele, Klinsmann and Wenger. Digital format only Coinciding with its 60th anniversary, we chronicled the history of the Euros – from 1960 to 2020. The greatest coach of all time or a flawed genius? You decide after reading this dedication to Pep. Digital format only We assess the most famous teams the world has ever seen, and explain what made them so iconic. Digital format only CR7’s incredible journey from young starlet to all-time top scorer in men’s international football. Celebrating…

“We have reached a point where we cannot discount any action. We will always try to exhaust all diplomatic avenues…but unfortunately time is against us”PFA chief executive Maheta Molango warns players may be forced to strike over the congested football calendar SPAIN Mbappe completes ‘dream’ move to Real Madrid France captain Kylian Mbappe described his long-awaited move to Real Madrid as a “dream come true” after the transfer was confirmed in June. The deal, worth a reported €15 million a season in salary plus a €150m signing-on bonus to be paid over five years, brings to an end one of the longest-running transfer sagas in recent football history; Mbappe had been linked with a move to the Spanish capital ever since bursting onto the scene with Monaco in 2015-16. “Nobody…

BRING ME THAT HORIZON By Miguel Lourenco Pereira (Pitch Publishing, £14.99) Bring Me That Horizon is a fascinating quest into the heart and soul of Portuguese football, tracing a route north to south, island to island, without forgetting the profound connection with Africa and Brazil. From Eusebio’s glorious career to Candido de Oliveira’s adventures as a British intelligence agent, it reveals there’s much more to Portugal’s football heritage than Ronaldo and Mourinho. TOO GOOD TO BE FORGOTTEN By Ben Dobson (Pitch Publishing, £18.99) This book revisits the ten-year golden era from1975 to1985 when the hegemony of the major big-city clubs in England was challenged and, at times, usurped. Three wise men of the North East – Brian Clough, Bobby Robson and Lawrie McMenemy – delivered success on the pitch for…

“Normally a coach is loved after victories. In this case I feel that I am loved before the victories…I promise you from this moment, I belong to your family. This shirt is my skin”Jose Mourinho announces his arrival as manager of Istanbul giants Fenerbahce EUROPE ENZO MARESCA A former assistant to Pep Guardiola, the Italian left Leicester City to take charge at Chelsea. FABIAN HURZELER After steering St Pauli to the 2.Bundesliga title, the 31-year-old left Germany for Brighton. WAYNE ROONEY After an unsuccessful spell at Birmingham City, Rooney returned to the EFL with Plymouth. VINCENT KOMPANY The Belgian manager left relegated Burnley to take charge of German giants Bayern Munich. ANTONIO CONTE The former Italy, Juventus, Chelsea, Inter and Tottenham manager was hired by Napoli. MARCO BARONI The coach…

All across Europe, the 2023-24 campaign has been defined by the rise of the underdog, yet few sides boast a story as remarkable as Bundesliga outfit Stuttgart and their star striker Serhou Guirassy. Bayer Leverkusen have rightly received plenty of credit for their unbeaten domestic season and run to the final of the Europa League, but it is the Swabians who had to work from a lower base. Last season, Stuttgart battled relegation, escaping by the very skin of their teeth via the promotion-relegation play-off. A year on, they have not only qualified for football’s premier club competition, but did so by finishing ahead of Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga. Since winning their third Bundesliga crown in 2006-07, it has been a tale of woe and underachievement for the Reds.…

“Today, dust and sweat!” The chant rings out across the stadium with flares lighting up the night sky as thousands of fans taunt their city rivals. These scenes would be expected in huge footballing cities like Glasgow, Madrid, Buenos Aires or Rio de Janeiro. Instead, it is the humid equatorial air of Dar es Salaam that is lit up by the supporters of Young Africans SC as they celebrate a title-winning victory over their fierce rivals Simba SC in the Kariakoo Derby. It’s not just the 40,000-plus Yanga fans that celebrate as they leave the Benjamin Mkapa National Stadium; half of Tanzania will have been erupting in celebration, from the tightly packed streets of Dar es Salaam to the sleepy villages on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro. That is how…

It should have been an exciting end to a curse-breaking season for Hajduk Split and their19-year quest for domestic glory. The outcome, however, turned into a nightmare for big-name January signings Ivan Perisic, Josip Brekalo and co, as the finale to the Croatian league season saw arch-rivals Dinamo Zagreb claim yet another title. Hajduk, table-toppers at the winter break, would eventually crash to third, mainly due to a springtime slump that saw them fall to four successive league defeats, including1-0 losses to both Dinamo and fellow title rivals Rijeka. The dynamics in which the glossy team of stars failed to even finish runners-up summarised the nature of the title race. Ultimately Dinamo’s experience – sealing a seventh title in a row – made the difference, ahead of brimming youth in…

Swiss football has seen a rather dramatic changing of the guard in recent years. Between 2002 and 2017, FC Basel won12 of the16 top-flight league titles, including a run of eight in a row. Since then, the club have endured a barren run, with Young Boys winning six of the last seven trophies having not won it prior to that since 1986. Basel’s fifth-place finish in 2022-23 was their lowest since 2000-01 – but things were about to get worse. When the Swiss Super League, as part of a re-format, was split into the championship and relegation groups back in April, Basel and Grasshoppers, Switzerland’s two most successful clubs, were in the bottom half. Grasshoppers, who won the last of their record 27 titles back in 2002-03, have struggled for…

Wisla Krakow became sensational winners of the Polish Cup in 2023-24, but supporters’ euphoria was quickly followed by heartbreak. With13 league titles and five domestic cups, Wisla are one of the most decorated clubs in Poland but have endured some difficult recent years. On the verge of bankruptcy in 2019, the club was rescued by Jaroslaw Krolewski, an IT industry entrepreneur, academic and philanthropist. With the help of Wisla player Jakub Blaszczykowski, who returned to Krakow after many years abroad with Borussia Dortmund, Fiorentina and Wolfsburg, Krolewski set about rebuilding the team. Yet, after a huge turnover of players as the club sought to get back on its feet, Wisla suffered relegation to the second tier in 2022. They made it to the play-offs in their first attempt at promotion…

Over half a century after hosting the sailing regatta at the1972 Olympics, the German coastal city of Kiel has another sporting claim to fame – as the home to Holstein Kiel, who will shortly become the 58th club to compete in the Bundesliga. One of the most prominent amateur sides in the north of the country in the pre-Bundesliga period, Holstein had genuine top-flight pretensions twice before in recent times, losing in the play-offs to Wolfsburg in 2017-18 and Cologne in 2020-21. But literally no one thought they had a chance of a divisional upgrade this season, after the departure of no fewer than16 players last summer, including influential skipper and centre-back Hauke Wahl and brilliant winger Fabian Reese. It says everything about the calibre of the decision-makers at the…

Twenty years on from winning an Austrian Bundesliga and cup double, Grazer AK returned to the country’s top flight. Having heartbreakingly thrown away the title to Blau-Weiss Linz on the final day of last term, GAK bounced back to go one better this time around. Sitting top of the second tier since mid-September, GAK ended ten points ahead of closest challengers Ried to mark the end of a tumultuous journey. The supporter-owned club were forced to restart in Austria’s lowest division and have had to record seven promotions to re-reach the top flight they last graced 17 years ago. Promotion will also see the top-flight renewal of the Graz derby. The city’s two clubs met in this season’s cup, with Sturm Graz prevailing 3-2, but haven’t played in the top…

Romanian giants FCSB have endured a difficult time in recent years. Off the pitch, a legal dispute forced them to change their name from Steaua Bucharest, and on it, the Red and Blues finished runners-up an excruciating seven times in eight seasons since their last league title in 2014-15. That run was finally brought to an end this year, as they sealed their 27th title with three games to spare. Maccabi Tel Aviv didn’t have to wait quite so long to win the Israel Premier League – for a record 25th time – but were still relieved to end a sequence of three titles in a row for arch-rivals and15-time champions Maccabi Haifa, who finished in second place, 11 points adrift. Meanwhile in the Czech Republic, Sparta Prague defended the…

CARLO ANCELOTTI (Real Madrid coach) “I never get used to this, because it was very difficult, more than expected. In the first half, we were a bit lazy and they played the way they wanted. In the second half, we were better, more balanced. A final is always like this. It seems a dream but it is reality. These wins are all about the history and tradition of the club and, of course, the quality of the players. The club is a family, we work altogether without problems and the atmosphere in the dressing room is really good. No big egos, everyone really humble. It was not difficult to manage the squad this season.” DANI CARVAJAL (Real Madrid goalscorer) “After the first half we didn’t deserve to go into the…

Is there anything left to write about Manchester City that has not already been said? Yes, Pep Guardiola is a genius; yes, their squad is littered with talent and has been superbly constructed with excellent recruitment; yes, they have accrued and maintained a huge advantage over their rivals thanks to the wealth of their Abu Dhabi owners; and yes, the115 charges from the Premier League continue to hang over their heads. Their fourth consecutive league title – an unprecedented achievement in the history of English football – was greeted in some quarters with begrudging respect, in others with indifference. That quickly turned to anger when the club’s hierarchy celebrated another title by taking the Premier League to court over Associated Party Transactions, which, they say, discriminate against the club’s owners.…

Monday, April 22, 2024 was a day that many Internazionale supporters had written into their diaries months ahead of time. As Inter’s triumphant cavalcade towards a 20th Serie A title picked up seemingly irresistible momentum through the springtime, it became clear that not only would April 22 be the day when Inter could mathematically wrap up the title, they could do so against their long-time city rivals Milan. So it proved to be. Inter’s 2-1 victory at the San Siro saw them seal the title with five games to spare on a cold and wet evening when the inclement conditions did little to dampen Inter enthusiasm. To some extent, Inter’s march to victory recalled that of Napoli a year earlier. It was not so much a matter of if they…

PSV head coach Peter Bosz has many admirers, including the late Johan Cruyff, due to his attack-minded and attractive football. But for every fan, there is also a critic. Before this season, his style of play had never led to collecting silverware at the highest level. Not that he hadn’t been given the opportunity; Bosz had been at the helm at Ajax (with whom he lost the 2017 Europa League final to Manchester United andJose Mourinho, a coach in every sense his opposite), Borussia Dortmund and Lyon – not exactly clubs hopeless at gaining prizes. But this campaign, the 60-year-old finally silenced the doubters after leading PSV to their 25th Eredivisie title – and he did so in style. At the start, there was no indication that things would be…

There was never really much doubt but, in front of 50,827 mostly Blaugrana fans in Bilbao, Barcelona’s women confirmed that this is their era. The 2-0 Champions League final triumph over Lyon was Barca’s third in four years and, significantly, their first against Lyon in three finals. The baton has passed over the Pyrenees. Aitana Bonmati and Alexia Putellas, the two most garlanded of their players, scored the goals but for once neither dominated. Instead, the key performers were winger Caroline Graham Hansen – especially in the first half – Patri Guijarro and, as Lyon threw crosses into the box late on, Lucy Bronze. Which goes a long way to explaining the success of this team: there are so many match-winners, so many players who can be relied upon to…

The Cayman Islands were the unexpected story of the opening games in the second round of 2026 World Cup qualifying in the CONCACAF region, as events on and off the pitch led to joy and disappointment in equal measure for the British Overseas Territory. All teams involved will have a long time to dwell on these results, as the next set of games won’t be played until June 2025. The Cayman Islands will have more to ponder than most after an eventful international window for the Caribbean islands, who went into this qualifying phase as one of the lowest-ranked teams in the region (197th). A dramatic 91st-minute goal from 18-year-old Joshwa Campbell, against the second-highest-ranked nation in Group A, Antigua & Barbuda, gave the Cayman Islands a late1-0 victory and…

The Clausura 2024 was one of the most evenly matched and controversial tournaments in Mexican football in recent years. But, when the dust settled, the champions were the same as the previous edition: America, who solidified themselves as the team with the most titles in LigaMX history, boasting15, to the joy of half the country and the fury of the other half. America are like the Bayern Munich of Mexican football: traditionally the country’s most powerful team but also the most polarising. A few years ago, they released a television commercial with the slogan “Odiame mas” (“hate me more”) and their fans have since adopted it as a battle cry. Fans of other teams, especially of America’s rivals in the so-called Big Four – Guadalajara, Cruz Azul and Pumas UNAM…

Al Wasl may have won the United Arab Emirates league title by some distance, but the headlines were more focused on what happened at the other end of the table as Andres Iniesta was relegated with Emirates. It wasn’t even that close in the end as the club looked doomed for some time. The Barcelona legend surprised many by heading to the Middle East last summer after five years in Japan with Vissel Kobe who, ironically, went on to clinch their first-ever J. League title four months after Iniesta’s exit. Emirates struggled from the get-go and won just four games out of 26 in the season. Iniesta played most of them and contributed a decent return of five goals. There has been talk of the club offering him a coaching…

The tiny island of Palau is one of only a handful of officially recognised countries still languishing outside of FIFA, but there are signs that organised football could be resurrected later this year. Located in the North Pacific, south east of the Philippines, Palau is comprised of an archipelago of half a dozen island groups comprising more than 300 islands. What football activity there has been has come out of Koror, where around half of the 22,000 population live. Palau sent a football side to the Micronesian Games with some success, finishing third in1998 and 2018 and runners up in 2014, but this year’s games in the Marshall Islands will not include football. Football’s inclusion at the Games might have provided some impetus for Palau, where the local football association…

Milan 4 Barcelona 0 1994 Champions League final, Athens The Montenegrin player lived up to his nickname of “The Genius” when it mattered most… “Although 30 years have passed by, I remember everything about that game – maybe also because of the many interviews I have given about it over the years! Everybody considered Barcelona clear favourites. Of course, we were not so happy about that, but I guess it motivated us even more – especially after Barcelona managerJohan Cruyff said that his team was more complete and more competitive, that our game was based on defending while they always attack. He also said: “Just look at Romario – he’s scored more goals than the whole Milan team.” One of the main reasons Barcelona were favourites was because we were…

Six times in the past11 years, Real Madrid have won the Champions League. With most serial winners or multiple champions, there is a sense that they have moved the game on tactically in some way. The Italian winners of the1960s gave us catenaccio. Ajax gave us Total Football. The English champions of the late ’70s and early ’80s a robust pressing game. More recently, Arrigo Sacchi’s Milan and Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona took football in a new direction. What have this Real Madrid done? They’ve won football matches, often by producing a moment of individual magic just when it was needed. This season’s campaign was not quite like that of two years ago, when in every round they looked out only to somehow turn the tie around: three goals in the…

King Kane Bayern Munich frontman Harry Kane has clinched the European Golden Shoe after scoring 36 league goals in the 2023-24 campaign. In doing so, he becomes only the second English winner of the coveted prize after Sunderland striker Kevin Phillips in 1999-2000 (more on page 70). Kane’s tally equals that of last year’s winner Erling Haaland, and it means the Bundesliga has now provided the ESM Golden Shoe winner in three of the past four seasons (Robert Lewandowski won it in 2020-21 and 2021-22 also with Bayern). As in former years, the award winner is decided on points using the UEFA coefficient ranking system, which rewards players in the most competitive leagues. Hence marksmen from England, France, Germany, Spain and Italy benefit from a points multiplier of two. The…

It was May 13, when a courier delivered an application from the Greenland Football Association (KAK) to the Miami headquarters of CONCACAF directly addressed to general secretary, Philippe Moggio, formerly requesting membership of the North, Central American and Caribbean federation. The move came after years of prevarication on behalf of KAK, which inevitably came to the conclusion that despite cultural and political links with Europe – Greenland is an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark – UEFA membership would never happen. Greenland’s national team head coach Morten Rutkjaer said: “We are convinced that membership in CONCACAF is the right opportunity and development for Greenlandic football. It will provide an attractive platform where clubs and national teams will play more international matches and tournaments. “This is an incredibly exciting time…

The 2023-24 season was a crash, bang, wallop of a rollercoaster ride in Greek football. On the pitch, four teams were locked in an oscillating title race until the last, while a Greek club won a senior men’s UEFA competition for the first time ever. Off the pitch, however, it was the same old sad story, with fan violence continuing to steal the headlines and even leading to the death of a Greek police officer. At the centre of all the madness were Olympiacos. Despite finishing third in the league for the second year in a row – missing out on a top-two spot in consecutive seasons for the first time in 30 years to end a period of unparalleled domestic dominance stretching all the way back to1997 – the…

A rock-solid backline proved the key building block as Galatasaray successfully defended their Super Lig title. In 38 top-flight fixtures, the Cimbom only conceded 26 goals, with long-serving Uruguayan goalkeeper Fernando Muslera amassing a remarkable17 clean sheets. Gala, under the astute stewardship of head coach Okan Buruk, fully deserved to claim their 24th league crown. Led by Argentine striker Mauro Icardi, who scooped the Golden Boot with 25 goals, they set new standards at the top of the table, finishing with a record-breaking points tally of102, winning 33 games (another Turkish top-flight record), and especially productive in the second half of the season, winning17 games in a row between January and May – a record that has every chance of standing the test of time. Despite such impressive numbers, Galatasaray…

By winning their seventh league title in a row, Red Star Belgrade continued their utter domination of the Serbian SuperLiga. A look at the final table and an 18-point cushion over rivals Partizan suggests that it was a smooth journey, but that doesn’t tell the full story. After a 2-1 win in December’s Eternal Derby, Partizan went into the winter break top of the league, one point ahead of their Belgrade rivals. This proved to be the last game of Red Star’s Israeli coach Barak Bakhar, who arrived at the Belgrade Marakana last summer. He was replaced by the returning Vladan Milojevic, who had guided Red Star to back-to-back titles in his first spell in charge. When the season resumed in February, Red Star, without the distraction of Champions League…

After a decade of dominance by Red Bull Salzburg, Austria has a new champion following the success of Sturm Graz. Sturm’s first league title since 2011 – and fourth overall – came through a combination of stellar performances and an uncharacteristic wobble by Salzburg’s energy drink-backed behemoth. Despite not being able to go toe-to-toe with Red Bull financially, Sturm have smartly recruited several of their key players from Salzburg, including star midfielder Alexander Prass and defensive pair David Affengruber andJusuf Gazibegovic. Heading into the championship group after 22 regular games, when each team’s points tally is halved, Sturm sat two points behind Salzburg. Arguably, the most important result in the title run-in didn’t even come in the league: a 4-3 victory in Salzburg in early April in the Austrian Cup…

In Roman times, Via Egnatia was the name of the road that, as a continuation of the Via Appia, connected the port of Durres, on the Adriatic Sea, to Byzantium, the modern Istanbul. That road gives the name to Egnatia, the side that won the Albanian top flight for the first time in 2023-24, pipping the holders and17-time champions Partizani in the table and then the final. “Our president was able to take Egnatia from the third division to win two cups and now the league in just three years of top flight”, said goalkeeper Alen Sherri, who celebrated the victory of the Albanian Cup, with the club thus completing the domestic double, by proposing to his girlfriend on the pitch after the final whistle. The victory of the league…

Rarely mentioned in the same breath as Liverpool’s stunning comebacks against Milan and Barcelona, or the latter’s astonishing remontada against Paris Saint-Germain, Deportivo La Coruna’s 5-4 aggregate win over Milan in the 2003-04 Champions League quarter-finals (a 4-1 away defeat followed by a 4-0 home win) is still among the competition’s most wondrous turnarounds. However, the word comeback has taken on a different meaning at Depor since 2020. Until recently, La Liga’s 1999-2000 winners – then boasting stars like Dutch striker Roy Makaay, Spanish playmaker Fran and Brazilian quartet Mauro Silva, Djalminha, Donato and Flavio Conceicao – were battling to escape Spain’s semi-professional third tier, a black hole of102 regional names when they joined the mix. Poor finances and a lack of direction had provided the backdrop to the Galicians’…

As Bayern Munich and Red Bull Salzburg both saw their eras of domestic dominance end at11 and ten consecutive league titles respectively, Ludogorets established themselves as by far the most dominant league team in Europe after winning the Bulgarian league title for the 13th season in a row. If they retain it again in 2024-25, they will match the all-time European record, jointly held by Skonto Riga (Latvia) and Lincoln Red Imps (Gibraltar). At one stage, Azerbaijan’s Qarabag also had that record in mind and, if it wasn’t for a 90th-minute defeat on the final day of the 2020-21 season, they would now be celebrating their11th title in a row. That won’t trouble them though as they celebrate their third consecutive league crown and tenth in11 years, 25 points ahead…

Several European leagues were settled in dramatic circumstances. First, to Russia, where three teams had a shot at the title on the final day of the season, and two of them – Krasnodar and Dynamo Moscow – went head-to-head. Starting the day top, Dynamo knew that victory would give them their first-ever Russian Premier League crown, and first league title since1976. But instead, a goal from Colombia strikerJhon Cordoba put Krasnodar in the driving seat, giving the16-year-old club their shot at a first-ever trophy. All they needed was for Zenit to drop points at home to Rostov and, with 84 minutes on the clock, the score was1-1. But the defending champions were rescued by a goalkeeping howler, as Artur’s shot squirmed past the Rostov keeper, sparking wild celebrations and bringing…

Bayer Leverkusen were the heavy favourites and main event for many heading into this Europa League final. Their former nickname of “Neverkusen”, borne out of the club’s habit of missing out on silverware, had evolved into “Neverlusen” after a run of 51 games unbeaten. Just two finals separated Xabi Alonso’s side from an entire season undefeated: Atalanta in the Europa League and second-tier Kaiserslautern in the German Cup. Perhaps it’s fitting that Atalanta are nicknamed La Dea – the Goddess – as many felt that they would need divine intervention to overcome this challenge. Their only major trophy had been the Coppa Italia in1962-63, but that very competition had caused plenty of recent heartbreak with three final defeats in the last six seasons. The most recent of those had come…

Jude Bellingham had just helped Real Madrid clinch their sixth Champions League trophy in11 years with an assist for their second goal against Borussia Dortmund in the final at Wembley, but it was what he did after the game that left some fans speechless. Put on the spot by Real Madrid TV, he conducted his first interview solely in Spanish, and to an impressive level too given his short time in the country – a feat that might have had David Beckham and Gareth Bale blushing. Perhaps it’s a marker of the consistently brilliant season he had that, by the end of it, his off-field talents would actually astonish more than his on-pitch display; fans have simply grown accustomed to his ability with a ball at his feet. What it…

“The star is the collective,” proclaimed club president Nasser Al Khelaifi as Paris Saint-Germain wrapped up their third-successive Ligue1 title, underlined their dominance by winning the two remaining domestic trophies, and reached a Champions League semi-final for the first time in three years. This season, branded as “transitional” by the club’s hierarchy, will of course be remembered as the epilogue of Kylian Mbappe’s seven-year stay at PSG – a chapter that was almost never written, and the official end of the unyielding “bling-bling” era. Left out of the pre-season tour and the first game of the Ligue1 campaign, the France captain was then re-integrated into the first-team set-up, “saved” by Luis Campos and Luis Enrique, as he himself described it. He would go on to score 27 Ligue 1 goals,…

“Why did you decide to take the job as head coach of the Philippines national team after your success with Gambia? Many people saw it as a strange move going to the Philippines. I was in Gambia for five and a half years, improving our FIFA ranking by 56 positions and qualifying twice for AFCON, reaching the quarter-finals in 2021. I felt I needed a new challenge. Despite talking to big African countries like Ghana and Cameroon, the Philippines’ new and ambitious board approached me professionally. They have potential and clear plans. My desire to prove myself and open doors in Asia made me take this step. What is the current state of football in the Philippines? The Philippines has a complex situation. The domestic league recently expanded from five…

There will be no Endrick, the global game’s newest breakout star, and no third-consecutive gold medal for Brazil at the Olympic Games in Paris after the defending champions failed to qualify. From the penalty spot, Neymar sent Brazilian fans at the Maracana at the 2016 Olympic Games into a delirium, as the “futebol nation” at long last claimed the elusive Olympic title. Five years later, Brazil defended their crown. Yet, behind closed doors in Tokyo because of the global health crisis, football was once again relegated to an afterthought in the Olympics cosmos. Not everyone shared that sentiment though. On the back of playing the Copa America that summer, Richarlison flew to Japan and in draining conditions steered Brazil to the final as the South Americans were taken to extra-time…

When Cameroon broke new ground for African football by reaching the World Cup quarter-finals in1990, they were coming off strife-filled preparations with in-fighting among the players, a coach who could only speak Russian and a diet of only club matches in the old Yugoslavia to tune-up. Not ideal preparation by modern, or any standards for that matter, but in adversity the Indomitable Lions triumphed. That has proven true again some 34 years on as the players shrugged off round after round of posturing and power plays between the country’s sports ministry and football federation over control of the national team – one of the country’s most valued assets – that threatened to scupper their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign. Cameroon’s soccer body long ago entered into an agreement that government…

You only have to go back four years to see a very bleak picture for the Central Coast Mariners. After finishing bottom of the A-League in 2019-20 for the third year in a row, there were calls in some quarters for them to be evicted from a competition with no automatic promotion or relegation. Fast-forward to 2023-24, and the Mariners are the toast of the game Down Under, having completed a remarkable treble of Premiership, Championship and AFC Cup (to be known as the AFC Champions League Two from 2024-25 onwards) – almost certainly the best-ever season by an Australian club. Their achievements were made all the more praiseworthy by the fact that they lost half of their team from last year’s title success, as well as their inspirational coach,…

Fears that the Copa Libertadores has already become a glorified version of the Brazilian Cup were thoroughly confirmed by the group phase of this year’s competition. All seven Brazilian clubs made it through to the last16 for the knockout rounds. Botafogo and Gremio even lost their opening two matches but still made the cut with a game to spare. Flamengo had to dig themselves out of a hole after picking up just one point from their three away games, yet did so with ease, while Sao Paulo shrugged off an awkward start to make it safely through. Perhaps the clearest example of Brazilian dominance came from reigning champions Fluminense, who were rarely convincing in any of their group games but still came through unbeaten and in considerable comfort. Atletico Mineiro…

Internationals 2026 WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS AFRICA Section • 9 direct slots available, plus 1 play-off slot First Round Group A Jun 5 – ElJadida Sierra Leone 2 (Davies12, Kargbo 51) Djibouti1 (Dadzie 35 pen) Jun 6 – Cairo Egypt 2 (Trezeguet 3, 8) Burkina Faso1 (L. Traore 57) Jun 6 – Bissau Guinea-Bissau 0 Ethiopia 0 Jun 9 – ElJadida Djibouti1 (Dadzie 29) Ethiopia1 (Wondimu 31) Jun 10 – Bissau Guinea-Bissau1 (Balde 42) Egypt1 (Salah 70) Jun 10 – Bamako Burkina Faso 2 (Ouattara 41, L. Traore 45+2 pen) Sierra Leone 2 (Kargbo 58, Bakayoko 88) Group B Jun 5 – Lome Togo 1 (Narey 61) South Sudan1 (Aholou 68 og) Jun 6 – Nouakchott Mauritania 0 Sudan 2 (Teiri15, Abeid 29 og) Jun 6 – Diamniadio Senegal1 (I. Sarr…

World Soccer’s August 2024 special souvenir edition is the complete record of this summer’s European Championship. We provide you with a comprehensive overview of the tournament through stunning photos, incisive team analysis, detailed match reports, in-depth Euro squad lists and hard-hitting opinions from our team of respected writers, including Henry Winter, who joins World Soccer ahead of the 2024-25 season, inheriting our Voice of Football column previously written by the legendary Brian Glanville. Plus, don’t miss the full story from the 2024 Copa America and OFC Nations Cup, and dispatches from the United States, Antigua and Nepal. Print £5.99 | Digital £4.99 ORDER NOW shop.kelsey.co.uk/WSC24 Or Call: 01959 543 747 You may have missed… April 2024 May 2024 Euro 2024 Special June 2024 SAVE 10% when you spend £25 or more…

“Chaos reigns at Olympiacos”, ran the headline of World Soccer’s review of the 2022-23 Greek season, as Nick Bidwell described a campaign of “wall-to-wall chaos” at the Piraeus outfit. Compare and contrast that verdict with the scenes in Athens at the end of May, as Ayoub El Kaabi’s goal helped them become the first Greek team to win a European trophy – a victory made all the sweeter by doing so at the home of their arch-rivals, AEK. They say a week is a long time in politics; a year in football must be an absolute eternity. The last 12 months have certainly delivered on the pitch and, in this issue, we’ve attempted to tell the full story of the 2023-24 European season; from Bayer Leverkusen’s shock Bundesliga triumph to…

The words were specific from a man who not only knew his football but could boast a place in its history: “I fear intensely for our game of football. Only money matters today and the game will eventually end up being suffocated to death by its own golden collar.” Maybe soon the top sports lawyers will enjoy a high-profile popular status to match the footballers Was this one of these doom and gloom merchants prophesising a collapse into chaos after the Bosman ruling? Or fear of the influence of television riches, the explosion in number and size of international competitions, or Manchester City’s challenge to the Premier League? Not at all. The man so depressed by his gaze into the future was Vittorio Pozzo, the only manager to win two…

On the RADAR 2024 European Under-17 Championship talents Wayne Rooney, Cesc Fabregas, Toni Kroos, Mario Gotze: four of the players to have been named the European Under-17 Championship Player of the Tournament. Now, Camarda has added his name to that illustrious list. The 16-year-old had already generated plenty of excitement after making his debut for Milan at the age of15 last November, becoming the youngest player in Serie A history in the process. A marauding centre-forward, Camarda was particularly effective in the final, running the Portugal defence ragged with a display packed with powerful dribbling, clever movement and devastating finishing, scoring twice in a 3-1 win. Having recently signed his first professional contract, the forward is expected to blossom under Milan’s new head coach Paulo Fonseca. Rodrigo MORA (Porto & Portugal)…

It has been a long time coming but, at the age of 31, Ayoub El Kaabi is finally fulfilling the potential he first demonstrated as a 24-year-old at the 2018 Africa Nations Championship (CHAN). That it took the Morocco international striker that long to gain everyone’s attention owes to a humble upbringing that forced him to park not only his education, but his interest in football. Until the age of 21, El Kaabi earned a living for himself and his family as a carpenter on the streets of Mediouna, near Casablanca. Thankfully, the cream of his talent rose to the top: at the urging of friends, he took up playing for local club ES Lalla Mariam, before catching the eye of Casablancan side RAC in the second division. His star…

Few top-flight leagues do grandstand finishes quite like the Belgians. Last year, Toby Alderweireld’s stoppage-time strike on the very last day of the season crowned Antwerp champions. This May, the denouement was almost as spectacular: Club Brugge simply needed a draw to top the table, but went1-0 down to crosstown rivals Cercle Brugge with eight minutes of the season left. Cue drama and a VAR intervention. The ref chalked off the goal for offside in the build-up play and Club Brugge, with new manager Nicky Hayen, won their19th league crown. For the third season in a row, Union Saint-Gilloise missed out on the title by a whisker. The Brussels-based club lost their first four matches in the play-offs after finishing the regular season top, nine points ahead of Club Brugge…

There was a time when Bologna were the most important team in Italy – even more so than Juventus, Milan or Inter. In the1930s and 1940s, the Rossoblu won the Scudetto four times (1935-36, 1936-37, 1938-39 and 1940-41) and two Mitropa Cups (1932 and1934), the forerunner of today’s Champions League. They had a second golden age, between 1961 and1964, winning the last of their seven league titles and a third Mitropa Cup, with the likes of legendary Italy midfielder Giacomo Bulgarelli and the Danish striker Harald Nielsen. Now, 60 years after their last participation in the top continental competition, Bologna have qualified for the 2024-25 Champions League. In the intervening decades they experienced almost everything: two Italian Cups in the1970s, a double-relegation down to Serie C in the1980s, and a…

Red Bull Salzburg weren’t the only side to see a long title-winning streak come to an end in 2023-24. In Moldova, Sheriff Tiraspol’s run of eight Super Liga titles in a row was brought to an abrupt halt by first-time champions Petrocub Hincesti, who also won the cup to become the only Moldovan side other than Sheriff to do the double in the 21st century. Sheriff, of course, had previously garnered international attention in 2021-22, famously beating Real Madrid at the Bernabeu in the Champions League group stage. This surprising outcome can be partly explained by the unique format of the Moldovan league, which meant that Sheriff had no advantage at the turn of the year despite finishing six points clear at the top of the regular season. The eight-team…

Falkirk went the entire League One season unbeaten to return to the Scottish Championship after five seasons away. A stellar return of 27 wins and nine draws ensuredJohn McGlynn’s Bairns wrote their names into Scottish football history, becoming the first invincible side over a 36+ game season outside the Old Firm. Having scored 96 goals across the campaign, the 2022-23 Scottish Cup semi-finalists sealed the title with five games to spare, celebrating by thrashing Montrose 7-1 away from home at the end of March. In May, McGlynn was named PFA Scotland Manager of the Year ahead of Celtic’s double-winning Brendan Rodgers (more on page 46), while 24-year-old winger Callumn Morrison won League One Player of the Season after topping the scoring charts with 23 goals. After outplaying Championship winners Dundee…

One famous club, Parma, and another famous city, Como, will make welcome returns to Serie A next season as the dominant winners and runners-up of this year’s Serie B. In front by December, Parma won the title with two games to spare, three points ahead of Como. Coached by former Napoli and Juventus player Fabio Pecchia, Parma are yet another famous Italian name to have been rescued by US capital, having been bought by the American tycoon Kevin Krause in 2020. Currently, Milan, Roma and Bologna are also controlled by North American trust funds or corporations. Parma’s return to Serie A, three years after they were last relegated, represents a major success for Krause, a businessman with Italian roots who appears to have enthusiastically embraced the Parma cause. A younger…

In Poland, a year after Rakow Czestochowa won their first-ever league title, Jagiellonia Bialystok did exactly the same thing, pipping Slask Wroclaw to the crown on head-to-head goal difference. There were first-time champions also in Luxembourg – where Differdange 03 finally got the their hands on the title after years of knocking on the door – and Montenegro. In the latter, FK Decic finished top just four years after winning promotion from the second tier. It was also the first season in Montenegrin history that neither of the traditional giants Buducnost or Sutjeska finished in the top two. Larne proved that they are here to stay as the dominant club of Northern Ireland by retaining the league title, continuing a meteoric rise that began with a takeover by millionaire Kenny…

Who needs a super league? Real Madrid claimed membership for themselves alone by extending their haul of European crowns to15. History was too powerful an opponent for a Borussia Dortmund wrecked emotionally and technically by those always-inevitable late goals. Dani Carvajal, smallest man on the Wembley pitch, headed the first to spark the Dortmund implosion which presented ViniciusJunior with Madrid’s second. Goalscorers grab the headlines and their achievements are written in the record books, but equally significant here was the defiance of goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois. The Belgian, fit too late to make his country’s Euro 2024 squad, laid the foundations for glory with a sequence of fine saves before and after the interval. Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo and Sir Alex Ferguson were among the admiring high-profile spectators who witnessed Madrid’s…

Watching the joyous post-match scenes in Athens, it was hard to escape the fact that, for all their faults, UEFA’s decision-makers do get some things right, and the introduction of the Europa Conference League is certainly one of those things. The victors celebrating an historic night was not a one-off. This is the third season in a row that the Conference League winners have thoroughly enjoyed a rare evening in the spotlight. In becoming the first Greek side to win a senior men’s UEFA club tournament, Olympiacos followed fellow history-makers West Ham United, who won their first trophy in over 40 years in 2023, and long-suffering Roma winning the inaugural trophy in 2022. The wider impact on Greek football cannot be understated. Discussions of coefficients and league rankings may not…

It is difficult to say which was the most impressive aspect of Bayer Leverkusen’s title win. Flawless in their pre-match analysis and war-gaming, breathtaking in their capacity for collective and individual execution, and blessed with the steeliest of team mindsets, Xabi Alonso’s side achieved immortality in 2023-24, not only securing their first-ever German league title, but going undefeated throughout, the only invincible side in 60 years of Bundesliga history. After11 seasons of Bayern Munich dominance, it was always going to take something special to knock the Bavarians off their elevated perch, and the Werkself certainly produced the stuff of dreams, so masterly that they managed to win no fewer than 28 of their 34 fixtures. Incredible to think that prior to his arrival at the BayArena in October 2022, Alonso…

Sporting won their second Portuguese championship title in four seasons at a canter, finishing ten and18 points ahead of rivals Benfica and Porto respectively. The triumph consolidates the standing of Ruben Amorim as the most exciting young Portuguese manager sinceJose Mourinho burst onto the scene two decades ago. Under Amorim, the Lisbon club have won as many league titles in four seasons as they did in the previous 38. While the 2020-21 victory was based on a watertight defence and narrow wins, this Sporting team has evolved and flourished into an unstoppable multi-faceted attacking outfit. “This is the team that plays the best football since I’ve been here,” said Amorim. “It has different facets that makes it a more unpredictable side. It’s the most complete in all phases of play.”…

FIFA was ready to have a party on the final matchday of Asia’s second qualifying round for the 2026 World Cup in June. For a while it looked as if China, India and Indonesia were all going to make it through to the final18 that would compete for Asia’s eight automatic qualifying spots, meaning that around three billion people would still be in with a chance of making it to North America. In the end, Indonesia made it comfortably, India missed out and Chinese fans were on tenterhooks right until the end. In Group C, at the start of play on June11, China needed a point from their trip to South Korea to take second place, with the top two from each of the nine groups of four progressing. Few…

Mexico’s dominance of CONCACAF club football continued as LigaMX side Pachuca recorded a convincing 3-0 win against Columbus Crew of MLS in the 2024 Champions Cup final. This was the first Champions Cup in its new, expanded format, creating the potential for interesting results in the early rounds involving teams from all corners of the region. One such moment came when Nicaraguan side Real Esteli defeated Mexican giants Club America 2-1 in the first leg of their first-round game, although America eventually progressed with a narrow aggregate win. MLS side Inter Miami, the team boasting Lionel Messi, were expected to challenge, looking to book their and Messi’s place in the expanded 2025 FIFA Club World Cup. Head coach Tata Martino described the Champions Cup as “possibly the most important tournament…

In the end, the Saudi Pro League season didn’t quite live up to the excitement that fans felt last summer when a host of world famous names arrived. Neymar, Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kante, Roberto Firmino, Riyad Mahrez, Ruben Neves, Kalidou Koulibaly, Sadio Mane and others all joined Cristiano Ronaldo in the Kingdom, but it soon became apparent that there wasn’t going to be much of a title race. Al Hilal were already a winning machine with18 league titles and four Asian Championships – both records – and quickly hit their stride. In the Riyadh derby in early December, it was first v second but when Hilal ran out 3-0 victors over Al Nassr, it was clear where the trophy was going. In the end, the Blues, led by Portuguese coach…