Russian Premier League Milestone - Week 29

It's back to being a two horse race.

Zenit and CSKA have restored the gap at the tpo of the table with similar wins in the latest round of games. While Zenit saw off Volga 3-0 in St. Petersburg with goals from Viktor Faizulin, Alexander Bukharov and Danko Lazovic; CSKA were no less destructive in a 4-0 hammering of visiting Spartak Nalchik with Seydou Doumbia notching another hat-trick after Vagner Love's opener.

Brazilian Serie A Week 32

It's a dead heat at the top.

With Corinthians and Vasco reversing their results from last week, the 2011 Brazilian Serie A lead is now shared by two teams tied on points and goal difference.

English Championship Week 14

Southampton remain ahead of the pack.

The top of the table clash between the league leaders and Middlesbrough ended in a convincing win for the Saints, as the south coast side romped to a 3-0 victory. A double from Guillherme and a late marker from David Connolly paced S'oton as they remained three points clear at the top.

Brazilian Serie A Week 31

Vasco surge back to the top.

In one of the last games before the final run in, slip ups by seven of the top eight allowed Copa Do Brasil winner Vasco Da Gama to reclaim the summit.

English Championship Weeks 12 and 13

With 46 games on tap this season, the English Championship kicked it up a notch this past week, reaching the frenetic pace it is both reviled and respected for.

2011-12 European Football Wrap - Episode IX

Bayern and Chelsea lose, Barcelona are held and Manchester United are crushed. Manchester City and Levante are atop their respective leads as the new season takes on a surreal look.

Europhiles Notebook - Unusual Suspects

Meet some of Europe's lesser lights, who are lighting up pitches around Europe. Never heard of them ? Well, if it weren't for this post, you probably never would.


Europe's Unusual Suspects:

Sebastian Giovinco - Parma - Sent out from Juventus first on loan and then on a permanent move to the one time Serie A giants, he was expected to struggle during a relegation fight. However, his goal a game form sees a surprising return to the top half on a .500 team. Juventus made a mistake in letting him go. Five goals in six games.

2011-12 UEFA Champions' League Matchday III Wrap

Tuesday October 18th and Wednesday October 19th:

And it continues with arguably the first of the two most crucial fixtures in the group stages. This is when some groups start to develop some definite shape while some teams start to worry. Matchday Three is all about separating the men from the boys and whittle down the 32 teams to an elite sixteen, followed by a commendable eight. This is where it starts to get serious.

The 2011-12 UEFA Champions League rolls on. Watch all the highlights here.

We continue to recap the action by breaking down the results by type, style and function.

Brazilian Serie A Week 30

It's relentless at the top.

The top five teams all won, for a change, as the pace at the top of the table continues to be ruthless and manic.

2011-12 European Football Wrap - Episode VIII

After the dreaded International break in October, we return to frenetic club action with all the leagues in action and plenty of goals.

Normal service returns for four of Europe's giants while another two heavyweights ground out an interesting draw. We have a new leader in England, a continuing surprise in Spain and three teams who extended their good starts in Holland while one of the country's biggest clubs absolutely crushed the other one in Belgium.

Come this way for the latest helping of the Euro Football Wrap.

France:

Kevin Gameiro's hat-trick paced PSG atop the Ligue 1 table as the three title favourites all won by identical margins, 3-1. While PSG saw off promoted Ajaccio in Corsica, Lyon beat rock bottom Nancy at home. Michel Bastos scored twice either side of a Bafetimbi Gomis strike to polish off the visitors from Lorraine, who got a late consolation from Jo-Gook Jung.

English Championship Week 11

Leeds and Crystal Palace impress, Nottingham Forest continue to fail.

Leeds United made a surge up the table on Friday night with a comfortable 3-0 defeat of Doncaster as Ross McCormack with his ninth, Danny Pugh, for the second game running and Tom Lees are scored. Fifth on Friday, they settled in seventh place at the end of the round, just hovering outside the playoff places.

North Atlantic League Wrap Episode II

We continue to bring you action from the other top leagues around the continent, with action from the four national leagues around the North Atlantic.

Scotland:

Celtic and Rangers were both held in Scotland as Motherwell put some distance between themselves and Celtic in third.

Brazilian Serie A Week 29

Now, this is a title race !

After the typical inversion of results and form, in a way unique to the Brazilian Serie A - did somebody say parity - we have one helluva league run in on tap for the final stretch. Round 29 had its usual set of thrills and spills with the gap between first and sixth now just four points. Leaders Corinthians lost at Botafogo, who move back up to third, while Fluminense beat Coritiba 3-1 to ensure they stay in the hunt, albeit in sixth spot.

Big Match Weekend - Week 4

The Weekend's Biggest Games:

Friday

Bremen v Dortmund - Germany

2nd v 6th

Defending Champions v third best team in the division over the past decade

Claudio Pizarro v Mario Gotze

Reward Success not Legacy

Liverpool are leading the charge for the last healthy revenue stream available to European football clubs in general and the Premiership in particular. While domestic gate receipts appear to have been tapped to the limit, sponsorship notoriously variable, while already having been negotiated several years into the future; the lure of foreign fans, fanatic about their club and more than willing to fork over precious lucre to be part of the experience; is becoming more appealing to clubs in England.

Euro 2012 Qualifiers - Final Round Preview

The biggest games from the last round of Euro 2012 Qualifiers to be played on Tuesday, October 11, 2011. Previewing the matches while getting my Mourinho on and predicting the starting lineups:

Brazilian Serie A Week 28

Vasco stumble as Corinthians reclaim the summit.

A summary 3-0 thrashing at Internacional halted Vasco works as they finally lost a game after an excellent run of form and fall off the summit. Their defeat in Porto Allegre was just their second in 13 games and it allows Corinthians, who led the league through most of June and July, to take over.

Europhiles Notebook - Promotion Report

We run the rule over the promoted clubs form the top leagues in Europe this season. Find out how each club is doing after having made the step up over the summer. We grade them from A-D base on their performances so far.

English Championship Week 10

Nottingham Forest lost more than their manager on Sunday

With their latest setback, a fourth defeat in five games, at home to Birmingham City 3-1, the former two time European Champions drop to 21st, just one spot outside the bottom three. As a result of this continuing atrophy, manifested in their complete inability to build anything resembling a promotion challenge, manager Steve McClaren resigned. Like the club he is leaving, McClaren too has experience at the highest level and has won a title with Twente in Holland. However he has long been considered suspect and his departure may be no bad thing for Forest.

Brazilian Serie A Week 27

Vasco and Corinthians are the big winners.

Despite only drawing 2-2 in their top of the table clash, losses suffered by 3rd placed Sao Paulo and 4th placed Botafogo, ensured the leading duo remain clear of the scrap below them in the table.

Sunday's big game saw the two title contenders go head to head and deliver just as the occasion demanded. Defender Dede, fresh off his national team call-ups for Brazil in their home and away matches against Argentina, got things started for Vasco, only for Alex to level things on 21 minutes. While Fagner then scored a goal at the start of the second half, midfielder Danilo returned the favour in the 67th minute to ensure that the game finished all square. With the point, Vasco improve to 50 points, two clear of Corinthians, who are on 48.

2011-12 European Football Wrap - Episode VII

A look around Europe at the continent's top leagues. Lots of goals in West London, a couple of derbies elsewhere in England. Some trepidation at the top in Germany, a surprise team at the top in Spain, an unlikely one at the top in Italy and a top of the table clash in France between the league's most titled team and its new financial giant.

We're off !

France:

Lorient and Sochaux were big winners on Saturday as the remaining five games ended in draws. After Costa Rican striker, Joel Campbell, on loan from Arsenal, and Yoann Jouffre had given Lorient the points against visiting Valenciennes, Sochaux scored an empthatic 3-0 victory over high flying Toulouse. Modibo Maiga with a double and Cedric Bakambu gave Sochaux the points at home to inflict a first loss for Toulouse in five games while moving the home side into the top half of the table for the first time.

North Atlantic League Wrap Episode I

Introduction:

At the turn of the century, an idea was mooted to improve the competitiveness of the Belgian, Portuguese and Scottish Leagues by creating a multinational league comprised of clubs from these three (and at the time Dutch league) together.

While on their own, each league had little going for them, with two or three giants dominating every year, this combined league had some good features. A competition that saw the likes of Porto, Benfica, Sporting, Celtic, Rangers, Standard Liege, Anderlecht, Ajax and PSV going head to head every week was seen as an attractive proposition. Not only would it give the bigger teams more practice and better games, it would increase the depth of the middle ranked teams and cannon fodder. Moreover, it would offer a chance to market an attractive product for television audiences who were tired of watching the same old domination.

Europhiles Notebook - Europe's Financial Elite

With so many clubs in Europe now owned or directly under the control of foreign multi-billionaires, the phenomena of sugar daddies owning clubs are not as rare as they once were. While foreign ownership is fast becoming the norm in leagues such as the English Premiership, there are now those teams which are a level above.

Having been bought by the financial elite, these clubs are playthings for stratospherically mega-rich owners for whom breaking the financial ceiling of transfer records while doling out astronomical wages is the rule rather than the exception. We review the performances and standing of some of Europe's richest clubs and see how they are doing with their monetary advantage.