Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2025 i World Soccer

It’s that time of year again: World Soccer awards season, when we recognise the players, teams and coaches that defined 2024. A big thank you to our panel of experts who voted in this year’s awards. This year, there was an undeniable theme to the award winners and the contenders–although we’ll let you discover what that is for yourself on page 28. It’s also the time of year when many competitions come to a close. Congratulations to the new champions of South American football, Botafogo, and to all the teams that came out on top in Europe’s various summer leagues.…

Kenneth Wolstenholme was much more than the man whose commentary spontaneity delivered one of the most enduring clichés in modern English language in the closing seconds of the1966 World Cup final. Wolstenholme, who died in 2002, had been the voice of what little TV football coverage there was in the 1950s and in launching Match of the Day on August 22,1964. He achieved much more in his life than a footnote to broadcasting trivia. Wolstenholme was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) after flying more than100 missions as a bomber pilot in the Second World War; later he led an RAF pilot instruction team when his No.2 was Nicholas Winton, renowned now for his work on the Kindertransport out of Czechoslovakia. Television was then in its infancy and the BBC…

“Joining San Diego FC as a partner is an exciting opportunity to help build something truly special in a city and league that are experiencing incredible growth”Ex-Spain midfielder Juan Mata announces that he will join the ownership group of MLS’s newest club San Diego FC MARCELO Almost exactly a year after winning the Copa Libertadores, the former Real Madrid and Brazil left-back had his Fluminense contract terminated by mutual consent. Javier MASCHERANO Following the departure of Gerardo Martino after Inter Miami’s failure to progress through the MLS playoffs, Mascherano left Argentina’s Under-20s to take the role. Age HAREIDE The 71-year-old Norwegian stepped down from his role as head coach of Iceland and announced his retirement from football after a 39-year managerial career. Claudio RANIERI The 73-year-old came out of retirement…

Since the first World Soccer awards back in1982, only four men have been named World Manager of the Year more than once: Sir Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho, Pep Guardiola and now, Carlo Ancelotti. Ferguson had to wait five years between his first two awards, Mourinho’s came in back-to-back years, while Pep won his first two in the space of three years. For Ancelotti, the wait has been 21 years. His first came in 2003 after he’d won the Champions League for the first time; his second came after he’d lifted the trophy for the fifth time. It is difficult to explain why he has been overlooked so often, but mostly it is an issue of timing. His best seasons have been overshadowed by bigger and better storylines. When he won…

Like so many of football’s rags to riches stories, the rise of Shelbourne to their first League of Ireland title since 2006 owes much to their manager. Former Republic of Ireland winger Damien Duff, who was appointed back in November 2021, said helping Shelbourne win the LOI Premier Division surpassed the two Premier League titles he won with Chelsea or his100 international caps. “It has been the greatest three years of my life,” said the 45-year-old. “I spent 20 years as a footballer, but I have enjoyed these past three years more. It’s tiring, but also gratifying. Football was easy for me, what I had been doing since I was a child. Managing is the hardest thing I have done in my whole life and I guess that’s why it’s…

The 2024 Kazakhstan Premier League season will live long in the memory thanks to an epic title race that went right down to the wire. With just a few games to play, more than half the league had a chance of being crowned champions. Ultimately, Kairat emerged victorious to claim their first league title in four years while record seven-time champions Astana narrowly missed out. The fact that no team managed to average even two points per game should illustrate what a topsy-turvy campaign this was. At the midway stage of the season, defending champions Ordabasy had built up a decent lead. Fresh from winning their very first top-flight title in 2023, they lost just one of their first13 league matches to go five points clear of five-time champions Aktobe.…

Red Star Belgrade have won seven league titles in a row–can anyone stop their dominance? It would be nice if more clubs were able to compete for the league title to make the competition more attractive and more exciting for supporters, but in Serbia the chances of this happening are practically zero. The only club that has any chance of stopping Red Star’s dominance are city rivals Partizan. It won’t be this campaign as Red Star are already runaway leaders, but next season it’s possible that Partizan could give Red Star a run for their money. Latest events in and around the club indicate that Partizan could soon bounce back. Namely, their chairman Milorad Vucelic and chief executive Milos Vazura were forced to resign, replaced by a (for now provisional)…

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL EIGHT TAKES EARLY SHAPE With two rounds still to play at the time of writing, seven of the eight quarter-final places in the Champions League were known with only the Group A runners-up spot still to be decided. Lyon had secured their last-eight place for the tenth season in a row by winning their first four games, which included beating both Roma and Wolfsburg, who were contesting the remaining qualifying place. Chelsea and Real Madrid had sewn up Group B ahead of Twente and Celtic. This is Real’s second qualification after reaching the last eight in 2021-22. In Group C, Bayern Munich were held 1-1 by Valerenga but qualified along with Arsenal, who secured their spot with home-and-away wins over Juventus. Manchester City, helped by their…

EUROPE 2024-25 UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Matchday 5 Nov 26–Prague Sparta Prague (Cze) 0 Atletico Madrid (Spa) 6 (Alvarez15, 59, Llorente 43, Griezmann 70, Correa 85, 89) Nov 26–Bratislava Slovan Bratislava (Svk) 2 (Barseghyan 24, Marcelli 88) Milan (Ita) 3 (Pulisic 21, Leao 68, Abraham 71) Nov 26–Leverkusen Bayer Leverkusen (Ger) 5 (Wirtz 8 pen, 30, Grimaldo11, Schick 61, Garcia 72) Red Bull Salzburg (Aut) 0 Nov 26–Bern Young Boys (Sui)1 (Ganvoula11) Atalanta (Ita) 6 (Retegui 9, 39, De Ketelaere 28, 56, Kolasinac 32, Samardzic 90) Nov 26–Barcelona Barcelona (Spa) 3 (Lewandowski10 pen, 90+2, Olmo 66) Brest (Fra) 0 Nov 26–Munich Bayern Munich (Ger)1 (Kim Min-jae 38) Paris Saint-Germain (Fra) 0 Nov 26–Milan Internazionale (Ita)1 (Lukeba 27 og) RB Leipzig (Ger) 0 Nov 26–Manchester Manchester City (Eng) 3 (Haaland 44 pen,…

Delivery available in every country Don’t miss our New Year Sale! • Pay only £15 for your first 6 issues of World Soccer • Never miss an issue with delivery direct to your door • Big savings–save £37 in your first 6 months* • You’ll also receive the World Soccer e-newsletter STAY INFORMED STAY INSPIRED. 3 EASY WAYS TO SUBSCRIBE: 1 VISIT shop.kelsey.co.uk/NY25WS  2 CALL 01959 543 747 QUOTE CODE NY25WS 3 SCAN THE QR CODE Calls charged at your standard network rate. Lines are open 8.30am-5pm Monday to Friday. Terms & Conditions: *Savings are based on the standard cover price of £5.99 plus postage and packaging for your first 6 months. You will pay £15 for your first 6 issues, then continue to pay £29.99 every 6 months thereafter. Overseas…

VIVA COLOMBIA By Mark Biram (Pitch Publishing, £18.99) Viva Colombia offers a social history of Colombian football through 15 distinct episodes and15 national team players–from the joie de vivre of the Colombian style, best personified by Carlos Valderrama, to the travails of Colombian society illustrated by the tragic murder of Andres Escobar. From Colombia’s first World Cup appearance in 1962 through to the present day, it considers what some of the most emblematic players to wear the shirt tells us about the South American nation. WORK & PLAY By Dave Proudlove (Pitch Publishing, £16.99) Work and Play: The Industrial Roots of English Football is a fascinating examination of the roots of some of English football’s most famous clubs, and how the relationship between industrial communities and football clubs still survives…

“Edoardo [Bove] is doing well, he is recovering and we are happy”Fiorentina confirm that midfielder Edoardo Bove is out of intensive care after the 22-year-old collapsed on the pitch during the Serie A clash with Internazionale 4 The number of co-hosting nations of Euro 2028–England, Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland–after Northern Ireland formally withdrew, with plans to refurbish their proposed stadium Casement Park now shelved. 40 Age of LAFC striker Kei Kamara when he came out of international retirement to play for Sierra Leona in their penultimate AFCON 2025 qualifier versus Chad in November. 67 Years since the last player to net a hat-trick of penalties in the English top flight before Bournemouth’s Dutch forward Justin Kluivert achieved the feat in their Premier League clash against Wolves. 58…

Cajoled into conducting a touchline broadcast interview, in English, after Spain’s defeat in the Olympics bronze medal match against Germany in the summer, Aitana Bonmati was not happy; a fourth-place finish on Spain’s Olympic debut was not good enough. Her team, she said, deserved their fate, they made too many mistakes, and fourth was “a bad result for us”. For anyone who has watched the Netflix documentary Acerca de #SeAcabó (English title: It’s All Over) it was no surprise that Spain looked jaded, exhausted after a traumatic year of struggle with their own federation. Which makes the continued excellence of Bonmati, who retains her World Soccer Women’s World Player of the Year crown, and Barcelona, who replace the national side as Women’s World Team of the Year, all the more…

Winter comes once again to Norway’s fjord-riddled shores to signal the conclusion of another dramatic Eliteserien season. For only the second time in the last decade, the title race was decided on the final day of a thrilling campaign, as Kjetil Knutsen’s impressive Bodo/Glimt side sealed their fourth title in five years. In contrast to previous seasons where Bodo have tended to wrap up the title with games to spare, they were pushed all the way by SK Brann, who ended up with the silver medal for the second consecutive season since their promotion. Impressive, certainly, but this will feel like an opportunity missed. A seven-game winning streak between September and November–including a 4-1 hammering of Bodo–had taken them to the summit of the table with just two games to…

Belarus does not often make global football headlines. Rare examples include when Diego Maradona was appointed chairman of Dynamo Brest in 2018, or when the league became one of only four worldwide–along with Burundi, Nicaragua and Tajikistan–to continue at the height of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. More recently, in May 2023, it was announced that three top-flight clubs would be sanctioned for their roles in a match-fixing scandal. Energetik-BGU Minsk and Belshina Bobruisk were hit both with sanctions, but it was reigning champions Shakhtyor Soligorsk who drew the harshest punishment. The 2020 and 2021 title winners were stripped of their 2022 crown, fined heavily and hit with an eye-watering points deduction: 35 points in that season and a further 20 points for the 2024 campaign. They immediately dropped…

Andrija MAKSIMOVIC (Red Star Belgrade) 2024 was a great year for the 17-year-old attacking midfielder. First, he helped Serbia reach the Under-17 European Championship semi-finals, then he broke into Red Star’s first team and even made his Champions League debut where he impressed in a 4-0 defeat to Internazionale at the San Siro. A couple of weeks later his international debut followed in the UEFA Nations League against Switzerland. His calmness on the ball and sweet left foot quickly put him on the radar of big European clubs and it’s almost certain that he will leave Belgrade next summer. In November, he scored an amazing free-kick against Vojvodina.…

SAN MARINO MAKE HISTORY WITH UNLIKELY UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE PROMOTION San Marino scored goals in their narrow defeats to Denmark, Kazakhstan and Finland at the tail end of 2023–the first time they had ever netted in three consecutive matches. But when their charismatic coach Fabrizio Costantini left last December and their top two goalkeepers quit on consecutive days in February, the prospects that the micro-state would ever end their world-record winless run–140 games over a 20-year period–looked very bleak indeed. But the Sammarinese defied the odds and beat Liechtenstein1-0 in September thanks to a strike by19-year-old Nicko Sensoli. After then drawing1-1 with Gibraltar in their penultimate UEFA Nations League D match in November thanks to a stoppage-time penalty by Nicola Nanni, they went into the return fixture against Liechtenstein three…

With a place at the 2002 World Cup on the line, Republic of Ireland midfielderJason McAteer delivered for his country against the Netherlands in a memorable clash in Dublin When the World Cup qualification group was announced and we were drawn alongside Portugal and the Netherlands, they were the firm favourites–but we were ready to qualify. Mick McCarthy had taken over an ageing squad fromJack Charlton and evolved it with a successful youth team, with Robbie Keane, Damien Duff and Richard Dunne. We were at our peak as a group. It was a settled team, with arguably the best midfielder in the world in Roy Keane. We started the campaign in Amsterdam. We went 2-0 up against a very good Dutch team. One of the most poignant moments was when…

Rodri. It had to be Rodri. Just look at Manchester City’s prowess with him and their problems without him. They’re a constellation of stars and Rodri is the one who makes them shine brightest. No wonder they miss him. Look at how important he was for Spain in becoming European champions. It’s why I voted for Rodri ahead of Vinicius Junior in the Ballon d’Or and World Soccer awards. A very simple message was contained in the angry reaction of Vinicius Junior and Real Madrid to the Brazilian not winning the Ballon d’Or. The message was how much the award for best men’s player in the world mattered to them, not how little. If Vinicius and Real had just shrugged, and posted congratulations to Rodri, it would have suggested eyes…

When Chelsea won the Premier League under Antonio Conte in 2016-17, they became the first team since Everton in 1962-63 to win the English league title while using a back three as a default. As tactics have become more flexible, there have been champions since who have used a back three in certain games or in certain parts of certain games, but no side with a regular back three has won the league. Which is intriguing in itself, but of particular relevance in relation to Manchester United’s appointment of Ruben Amorim. Amorim, both at Braga and at Sporting, has favoured a 3-4-3 system. He has two basic ways of playing it. At times, he has used two holding players protecting the three defenders, with wing-backs supplying the width and what…

SEASON RANKINGS Cumulative votes through the season NOVEMBER 2024 GOALKEEPERS Caoimhin Kelleher (Liverpool) 3 Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa) 3 Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich) 3 David Raya (Arsenal) 3 David De Gea (Fiorentina) 2 Michele Di Gregorio (Juventus) 2 Peter Gulacsi (RB Leipzig) 2 Franco Israel (Sporting) 2 Jan Oblak (Atletico Madrid) 2 Inaki Pena (Barcelona) 2 Matz Sels (Nottingham Forest) 2 Yann Sommer (Internazionale) 2 Alisson (Liverpool) 1 Marco Carnesecchi (Atalanta) 1 Mike Maignan (Milan) 1 Alex Meret (Napoli) 1 Vanja Milinkovic-Savic (Torino) 1 DEFENDERS Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool) 15 Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli) 9 Willi Orban (RB Leipzig) 6 Federico Dimarco (Internazionale) 5 Gabriel (Arsenal) 5 Bremer (Juventus) 4 Josko Gvardiol (Manchester City) 4 Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich) 4 Ibrahima Konate (Liverpool) 4 William Saliba (Arsenal) 4 Trent Alexander-Arnold…

Gently stirring his thick black coffee in the stuffy back-room office of his funeral parlour, Mario Galeano’s pinched eyes quiver as his memory wanders back to the phone call he believes helped turn Jhon Jader Duran’s life. “I told his mother this could be everything, or this could be nothing,” Galeano, Duran’s former coach, recalls, “but that we had to give it a go; he had to leave Zaragoza and go to Medellin.” With his mother’s blessing, the next day Galeano and Duran left Zaragoza, a rugged rural gold-mining town where the 11-year-old had spent his entire life, on the six-hour drive to Medellin. There, flitting across Colombia’s second city from trial to trial, Galeano and Duran would spend the next month chasing a dream that held no guarantee of…

On the evening of Wednesday, May1, it appeared that Emma Hayes’ magic touch had finally deserted her. In the space of 32 days, the departing Chelsea head coach had seen her team lose the League Cup final, fail in their defence of the FA Cup and then surrender a first-leg lead against Barcelona by losing 2-0 at home to crash out of the Champions League. To cap it all, her team had just lost 4-3 to Liverpool with the winning goal struck in the dying moments by Gemma Bonner–a player that Hayes had sold in her first season at Chelsea in 2012. “I don’t think the title will be heading to us this year,” said Hayes, effectively conceding the championship that night. Hayes had already agreed to leave Chelsea at…

Few countries across Europe will witness a more thrilling conclusion to this season’s title race than Iceland. Second-placed Breidablik went into the final round trailing opponents Vikingur Reykjavik on goal difference and needing an away win to overtake the league leaders and become national champions for the third time in their history. Breidablik ultimately made it look easy, running out 3-0 victors and dethroning their archrivals in dramatic fashion–but that only told half the story. Tensions on the final day were heightened by Breidablik supporters reportedly breaking into the match venue in Reykjavik the night before in protest at their meagre allocation of away tickets. Between 250 and 300 wooden pallets–which had been brought in to temporarily boost capacity for the title showdown–were spray-painted in Breidablik green and caused an…

In the 100th year of the Allsvenskan, the top flight of Sweden, it was highly appropriate that the country’s most successful domestic club, Malmo (27 league titles), enjoyed the honour of topping the pile in 2024. The Sky Blues, who finished an impressive11 points ahead of runners-up Hammarby to claim their fourth title in five seasons, had two driving forces: ever-reliable former Leeds United centre-back Pontus Jansson and the flamboyant midfielder Sebastian Nanasi, who earned himself a move to Ligue1 Strasbourg in August. Like Malmo, Latvian outfit Riga FS had the immense satisfaction of claiming back-to-back titles. RFS, who won their first national crown as recently as 2021, had to grit their teeth to prevail, pushed all the way by capital city rivals FC Riga and left short of numbers…

One of the ironies of the NWSL using a play-off system to decide the winner is that, of all the major women’s leagues, it is the one that least needs such a system. With five different champions in as many years, the regular season NWSL Shield is far more competitive than the leagues in England, Spain, France and Germany, who have only mustered six title winners between them in that time. The league’s competitiveness was underlined when Orlando Pride went from seventh in 2023 to first in 2024. They started the campaign with a 23-match unbeaten run and ended it with a series of wins too, to become only the third team (after North Carolina Courage in 2018 and 2019) to win both the Shield and Championship in the same…