Europa league second round results

Astana - Young Boys 0:0

Qabala - Mainz 2:3

Scorers: 0:1 41 Yoshinori Muto
              1:1 57-pen Ruslan Gurbanov
              2:1 62 Sergei Zenjov
              2:2 68 Jhon Cordoba
              2:3 78 Levin Oztunali

Ajax - Standard Liege 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 28 Kasper Dolberg

Celta Vigo - Panathinaikos 2:0

Scorers: 1:0 84 John Guidetti
              2:0 88 Daniel Wass

Fiorentina - Qarabag 5:1

Scorers: 1:0 39 Khouma Babacar
              2:0 43 Nikola Kalinic
              3:0 45+1 Khouma Babacar
              4:0 63 Mauro Zarate
              5:0 78 Mauro Zarate
              5:1 90+1 Dino Ndlovu

Gent - Konyaspor 2:0

Scorers: 1:0 16 Kenny Saief
              2:0 33 Renato Neto

Hapoel Beer Sheva - Southampton 0:0

Krasnodar - Nice 5:2

Scorers: 1:0 22 Fedor Smolov
              2:0 33 Joaozinho
              2:1 43 Mario Baloteli
              3:1 65-pen Joaozinho
              3:2 71 Wylan Cyprien
              4:2 86 Ari
              5:2 90+3 Ari

Schalke - Red Bull Salzburg 3:1

Scorers: 1:0 15 Leon Goretzka
              2:0 47-own goal Duje Caleta-car
              3:0 58 Benedikt Howedes
              3:1 72 Jonathan Soriano

Shakhtar Donetsk - Braga 2:0

Scorers: 1:0 05 Taras Stepanenko
              2:0 55 Viktor Kovalenko

Slovan Liberec - PAOK 1:2

Scorers: 1:0 01 Nikolay Komlichenko
              1:1 10-pen Stefanos Athanasiadis
              1:2 82 Stefanos Athanasiadis

Sparta Prague - Inter 3:1

Scorers: 1:0 06 Vaclav Kadelc
              2:0 24 Vaclav Kadlec
              2:1 71 Rodrigo Palacio
              3:1 76 Mario Holek

Steaua - Villarreal 1:1

Scorers: 0:1 09 Rafael Santos Borre
              1:1 20 Sulley Muniru

Zurich - Osmanlispor 2:1

Scorers: 1:0 45 Marco Schonbachler
              1:1 72 Adam Maher
              2:1 79 Dzengis Cavusevic

Athletic Bilbao - Rapid Vienna 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 59 Benat

Austria Vienna - Viktoria Plzen 0:0

Dundalk - Maccabi Tel Aviv 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 72 Ciaran Kilduff

Fenerbahce - Feyenoord 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 17 Emmanuel Emenike

Genk - Sassuolo 3:1

Scorers: 1:0 08 Nikolaos Karelis
              2:0 25 Leon Bailey
              3:0 61 Thomas Buffel
              3:1 65 Matteo Politano

Manchester United - Zorya Luhansk 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 69 Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Olympiakos - APOEL Nicosia 0:1

Scorer: 0:1 09 Pieros Soteriou

St. Etienne - Anderlecht 1:1

Scorers: 0:1 61-pen Youri Tielemans
              1:1 90+4 Nolan Roux

Zenit St. Peterburg - AZ Alkmaar 5:0

Scorers: 1:0 26 Aleksandr Kokorin
              2:0 48 Giuliano
              3:0 58 Aleksandr Kokorin
              4:0 66-pen Domenico Criscito
              5:0 80 Oleg Shatov

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Remarkable goals from Moussa Dembele

Arsenal - Basel 2:0

Scorer: 1:0 07 Theo Walcott
            2:0 26 Theo Walcott

Atletico Madrid - Bayern Munich 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 35 Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco

Besiktas - Dynamo Kyiv 1:1

Scorers: 1:0 28 Ricardo Quaresma
              2:0 65 Viktor Tsygankov

Borussia Moenchengladbach - Barcelona 1:2

Scorers: 1:0 34 Thorgan Hazard
              1:1 65 Arda Turan
              1:2 73 Gerard Pique

Celtic - Manchester City 3:3

Scorers: 1:0 03 Moussa Dembele
              1:1 12 Fernandinho
              2:1 20-own goal Raheem Sterling
              2:2 28 Raheem Sterling
              3:2 46 Moussa Dembele
              3:3 55 Duran Nolito

FC Rostov - PSV Eindhoven 2:2

Scorers: 1:0 08 Dmitri Poloz
              1:1 13 Davy Propper
              2:1 37 Dmitri Poloz
              2:2 45+1 Luuk de Jong

Ludogorets Razgrad - PSG 1:3

Scorers: 1:0 15 Natanael Pimienta
              1:1 41 Blaise Matuidi
              1:2 56 Edinson Cavani
              1:3 60 Edinson Cavani

Napoli - Benfica 4:2

Scorers: 1:0 20 Marek Hamsik
              2:0 51 Dries Mertens
              3:0 54-pen Arkadiusz Milik
              4:0 58 Dries Mertens
              4:1 70 Goncalo Guedes
              4:2 86 Eduardo Salvio

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Closure of round two

From 8 matches tonight, 2 teams are going to have 'the easiest' opponents while other 6 pairs will be very open. With these games it will complete matchday two in the Champions league group phase.

- Arsenal - Basel. Although Basel can be dangerous as visitors, this evening they are playing very tough opponent. Arsenal should have no problems to brake the resistant Swiss team and it would be a real miracle if they drop all points at home.
- Atletico Madrid - Bayern Munich. Clash of two excellent teams. As Atletico Madrid's form is improving from game to game and Bayern is playing superb football away, we can say that this is the only derby of the evening. The home side are considered as slight favorites over the mighty Germans, but both are playing excellent football a draw is the only solution.
- Besiktas - Dynamo Kyiv. Good Besiktas form at home should give the Turkish side advantage for first three points in group B. Inconvenient Dynamo Kyiv knows to record victories away, but the victory should stay at home.
- Borussia Moenchengladbach - Barcelona. Powerful Barcelona simply crashes every team on their way and next is Borussia Moencengladbach, which playing skills are improving from game to game. If the Germans wants to be joyful the Catalans have to have a bad night, but we cannot see if that is (even) possible.
- Celtic - Manchester City. Will Celtic is going to suffer another humiliation in the group phase, only the players can answer that. In this 'friendly' Champions league match Scots are continuing to play awful, although their home form is improving. On the other side Manchester City is absolute favorite, and no matter how hard Celtic try, there is no objection of who is the strongest team in this match.
- Rostov - PSV Eindhoven. Home form is excellent for Rostov, but the opponent tonight is also tough. PSV Eindhoven records only victories away while the Russians are unbeatable on their stadium. There is no doubt that these two will attack victory, but both will share one point.
- Ludogorets Razgrad - PSG. First real test for the Bulgarian champions. PSG is absolute favorites to take the game, but lately they are not so confident. Ludogorets Razgrad will fire everything at them and the team is capable of scoring goals. On the other hand the French, as experienced team, should have no problem stealing the away victory.
- Napoli - Benfica. Convincing Napoli awaits experienced Benfica team, who can be also inconvenient. Meetings between these two are always decided by a minimal win, tonight it can be the same for any one, but sharing points is inevitable.

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Couple of stunning goals in Denmark

Borussia Dortmund - Real Madrid 2:2

Scorers: 0:1 16 Cristiano Ronaldo
              1:1 43 Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
              1:2 68 Raphael Varane
              2:2 87 Andre Schurrle

CSKA Moscow - Tottenham 0:1

Scorer: 0:1 71 Son Heung-Min

FC Copenhagen - Club Brugge 4:0

Scorers: 1:0 53-own goal Stefano Denswil
              2:0 64 Thomas Delaney
              3:0 69 Federico Santander
              4:0 90+2 Mathias Jorgensen

Leicester - Porto 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 25 Islam Slimani

Sevilla - Olympique Lyon 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 52 Wissam Ben Yedder

Sporting - Legia 2:0

Scorers: 1:0 28 Bryan Ruiz
              2:0 37 Bas Dost

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(Un)interesting Champions matches

In reverse order, games from groups E to H are scheduled for tonight. Out of all, which are starting at the same time, there is not a match which we can call a true derby.

- Borussia Dortmund - Real Madrid. Lately, the defending champions are playing very sloppy. As they barely winning games, Real Madrid is not convincing team at the moment. The hosts have to take advantage of that as they are playing very confident at home. Because not even plenty of stars are helping the Spaniards, Borussia Dortmund should beat them even with a goal difference.
- CSKA Moscow - Tottenham. Since this is their first ever meeting between these two, neither side have the advantage to become a winner. CSKA Moscow seems to cannot win games against tough opposition appart from Tottenham who is struggling to record a victory. This may look like a visiting victory, but a draw is inevitable.
- FC Copenhagen - Club Brugge. Leaders of Danish Superliga at the moment, should have no problem recording first three points. Club Brugge plays some mixed results, so a hard victory for the Danes is coming up.
- Leicester - Porto. First ever meeting meeting between these two clubs. After the first win in the group phase, Leicester hope to continue tonight against a inconvenient opponent. Porto knows to surprise their rivals and will try to steal the three points away.
- Sevilla - Olympique Lyon. Lyon's is playing some awful football as visitors. That should make Sevilla happy, who will no miss this opportunity to write first three points in the season. The visitors will surely try to stall them, but three points will surely stay in Spain.
- Sporting - Legia. From all matches, Sporting looks to have an easiest rival tonight. 'Strayed team' in this phase Legia should not pose a threat to the hosts. The only question will be with how many goal difference this match will end for the Portuguese.

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Charged for sex attack

Last weekend, Chris Killen has been accused of sexual attack in Manchester. The 34 year old, who played mostly his football career in United Kingdom and an ex-New Zealand international, committed the crime two weeks ago, but he was arrested earlier last week in his home near Macclesfield. According to Manchester police 'Shortly before 05.50am on 17 September a man entered in a house in Prestwich and sexually assaulted a 37 year old woman'. Killen was released on bail, but has to appear in court on 21 October.

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Return of the Eurocups

At the last working week in September it is scheduled to resume the European cup competitions. Forty matches will be played in three days from round two.

In the Champions league group stage phase, equal games are played over two days. All 16 matches are beginning at the same time - 20.45 CET.

Tuesday, 27 September: Borussia Dortmund - Real Madrid.
Tuesday, 27 September: CSKA Moscow - Tottenham.
Tuesday, 27 September: Dinamo Zagreb - Juventus.
Tuesday, 27 September: FC Copenhagen - Club Brugge.
Tuesday, 27 September: Leicester - Porto.
Tuesday, 27 September: Monaco - Bayer Leverkusen.
Tuesday, 27 September: Sevilla - Olympique Lyon.
Tuesday, 27 September: Sporting - Legia.

Wednesday, 28 September: Arsenal - Basel.
Wednesday, 28 September: Atletico Madrid - Bayern Munich.
Wednesday, 28 September: Besiktas - Dynamo Kyiv.
Wednesday, 28 September: Borussia Moenchengladbach - Barcelona.
Wednesday, 28 September: Celtic - Manchester City.
Wednesday, 28 September: Rostov - PSV Eindhoven.
Wednesday, 28 September: Ludogorets Razgrad - PSG.
Wednesday, 28 September: Napoli- Benfica.

Unlike the first round, in day two also we are going to have three time slots for the interesting Europa league. All 24 games will be played in one day.

Thursday, 29 September at 17.00 CET: Astana - Young Boys.
Thursday, 29 September at 17.00 CET: Qabala - Mainz.

Thursday, 29 September at 19.00 CET: Ajax - Standard Liege.
Thursday, 29 September at 19.00 CET: Celta Vigo - Panathinaikos.
Thursday, 29 September at 19.00 CET: Fiorentina - Qarabag.
Thursday, 29 September at 19.00 CET: Gent - Konyaspor.
Thursday, 29 September at 19.00 CET: Hapoel Beer Sheva - Southampton.
Thursday, 29 September at 19.00 CET: Krasnodar - Nice.
Thursday, 29 September at 19.00 CET: Schalke - Red Bull Salzburg.
Thursday, 29 September at 19.00 CET: Shakhtar Donetsk - Braga.
Thursday, 29 September at 19.00 CET: Slovan Liberec - PAOK.
Thursday, 29 September at 19.00 CET: Sparta Prague - Inter.
Thursday, 29 September at 19.00 CET: Steaua - Villarreal.
Thursday, 29 September at 19.00 CET: Zurich - Osmanlispor.

Thursday, 29 September at 21.00 CET: Athletic Bilbao - Rapid Vienna.
Thursday, 29 September at 21.00 CET: Austria Vienna - Viktoria Plzen.
Thursday, 29 September at 21.00 CET: Dundalk - Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Thursday, 29 September at 21.00 CET: Fenerbahce - Feyenoord.
Thursday, 29 September at 21.00 CET: Genk - Sassuolo.
Thursday, 29 September at 21.00 CET: Manchester United - Zorya Luhansk.
Thursday, 29 September at 21.00 CET: Olympiakos - APOEL Nicosia.
Thursday, 29 September at 21.00 CET: Roma - Astra Giurgiu.
Thursday, 29 September at 21.00 CET: St. Etienne - Anderlecht.
Thursday, 29 September at 21.00 CET: Zenit St. Peterburg - AZ Alkmaar.

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Latest FIFA employee

Next week the world football organization will have new, familiar name who will work for them. Yesterday, FIFA appointed Dutch football international Marco van Basten as chief officer for technical development. Covering football technical areas, he will deal from technology innovation to refereeing.

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Case against Neymar Jr. reopened

Neymar Jr. will be prosecuted (again) because yesterday the Madrid court re-opened his transfer case from Brazilian Santos to Barcelona. The court found evidence of committing frauds with suspicion of parallel contracts.
DIS, which owned 40 percent from the player, received 'only' 6.8 million euros. This company claims that it should have received double figure, from 10 to 30 million euros, and that hidden fee went off to his father (Neymar Sr.).
At first Barcelona said that it has payed 57.1 million euros transfer fee, only to mention higher amount later on for the Brazilian.

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New Ballon d'Or rules from this year

As the contract between FIFA and France football magazine is now history after five years, from now on new rules will apply on choosing the world best footballer on an annual level.
Coaches and team captains were voting in the past, but from this year group of international journalist will decide who is the best player. Instead of 23, for the prize will battle a list of 30 players while known three finalists at the end will no longer be available.

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Campaign for the World Cup mascot

Russian fans can choose their own mascot for the next main football event in their country. At this final stage, candidates are: a cat, a tiger and a wolf. This campaign started from May 2015 as 51.000 Russian youngsters submitted their innovative creations on an online survey and the trio was presented today at 20.18 LT (19.18 CET) at the Circle of light Moscow international festival.
The winner will represent the official mascot of the World Cup 2018 in Russia on 21 October in a live TV broadcast.

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'Mocking' bet

We all know that Celtic and Glasgow Rangers supporters cannot stand each other, but that 'hate' now has been transferred onto the players in a way of bad result towards the other club.
Scottish FA has opened an investigation on Glasgow Rangers midfielder Joey Barton. Allegedly he was gambling on Celtic's humiliating defeat (7:0) from Barcelona in the first round of the Champions league. The association has strict rule that players and officials are forbidding to place bets on football games.
To add more 'misery' to the 34 year old, Barton was suspended by the club after a training disagreement last week.

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Tragic loss for Spanish FA president

Angel Maria Villar, president of the Spanish FA, suffered a family loss this week. His niece was found dead in Mexico after she was abducted by gangs in Toluca on 13 September. Maria Villar Galaz was found dead last Thursday, but she was not identified until this Tuesday. Kidnappers took her from an unlicensed taxi and forced her to withdraw money from cash machine. The body was discovered near the village of Mirasol where she lived and worked for computer company IBM. It is believed that the hijackers demanded from Maria Villar 200.000 pesos (9.082 euros).

The 36 year old has been working in Mexico City for the last 3 years.

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European championship logo revealed

New UEFA president Aleksandar Ceferin revealed the logo of EURO 2020.
It is showing multicolored silhouettes of fans how they stand on both sides of the trophy on the green bridge, which shows connection between hosting countries. For the first time the European championship will be played in multiple countries as its marking the sixtieth anniversary of the event. In total 13 cities will share the hosting: Amsterdam (Netherlands), Baku (Azerbaijan), Bilbao (Spain), Brussels (Belgium), Bucharest (Romania), Budapest (Hungary), Copenhagen (Denmark), Dublin (Republic of Ireland), Glasgow (Scotland), Munich (Germany), Rome (Italy) and St. Petersburg (Russia). Semifinals and final matches will be played in London's (England) Wembley stadium.
As there will be no automatic qualifying places, all 55 European member nations will start from square one i.e. playing elimination games, fighting to enter last 24 teams for the finals. The (longest) qualifying battle will begin in 2018 and will last 2 years.

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Who is playing best club football?

The world football organization today organized a draw for the last competition of the year. Schedule for the Club World Cup was partly known, as the host (Japanese league winners) will play with the OFC representative Auckland City in Yokohama on 08 December. Teams that did not know its position finally have learned their fate today who, at the same time, are the last three clubs that are known so far: Asian, African and CONCACAF champion (Club America). The Asian and CONCACAF winners will face each other while African champions will entertain the winner from the opening game of the tournament. Both matches are treated as quarter finals and will be played in Osaka. Apart from the opener, Yokohama will host the final game as well which is on 18 December.
International tickets for the event are going on sale 23 September while local supporters will have to wait until the beginning of next month - 01 October.

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New main sponsor in AFC

With the new week the Asian Football Confederation has new main sponsor. Throughout Asia, Abu Dhabi airports company has agreed to sign new deal supporting national teams and club competitions. The new name will be visible from next World Cup qualifiers - Asian zone, the AFC Asian Cup in UAE 2019, AFC Champions league and AFC Cup.
The agreement was signed between presidents of AFC sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa and Abu Dhabi airports company Ali Majed al-Mansoori.

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Racist comment

It was supposed to be a joke, but at the end he was being penalized just like that - out of nothing.
In a one man show in Wolverhampton, England former international Paul Gascoigne did a terrible mistake, which later cost him dearly - 2.600 pounds (3.029 euros). On a stage and in front of more than 1.000 people, the 49 year old humiliated a black bodyguard, Errol Rowe, who was standing in the shadows, by saying 'Can you smile so I can see you?'. The victim left upset and angry, went home and cried.
In talks with the police Gazza said that he immediately apologized and did not try to insult anyone, but it was way too late for that, and the damage has already been done. As all those apologies did not help him, he had to pay 1.000 pounds (1.165 euros) fine, another 1.000 pounds to Rowe (1.165 euros) and 600 pounds (699 euros) for court costs.

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Draw for the last official tournament of the year

Next week FIFA will conduct the draw for the last official competition in 2016. The Alibaba E-Auto FIFA Club World Cup schedule will be known on Wednesday, 21 September with live coverage on its web-site from Zurich at 11.00 CET.
As always in the competition participate 6 continental club champions plus one team from the hosting country. So far, four teams are known for this year's edition: Auckland City from New Zealand, Club America of Mexico, Real Madrid from Spain and Atletico Nacional of Colombia. Three clubs are still missing from the party: African and Asian representative with the host country, which will give us the last team at the beginning of December.
The thirteenth edition will be played in Japan from 08 through 18 December. Host cities will be Yokohama and Osaka.

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Football festivity in eastern Europe

We all know that the main sporting event will start 14 June 2018 with Russia hosting twenty first edition of the World Cup. Entering in the finals, 32 teams will give us an unforgettable football for exactly one month. Eighteen days earlier another football event will entertain us for only one night, and that will happen in the neighboring country. But this time in the main role will be two best European clubs.
Towards the end of the week UEFA has decided that in two years time the Champions league final will be played in Kiev. Ukrainian capital will host the sixty third final which will be played on Saturday, 26 May at the Olympic stadium, where also EURO 2012 final was played. Due to political reasons there maybe problems issuing visas for Russian officials and guests from the Champion league main sponsor Gazprom, but we hope that the issues will be settled by then.
Lyon is closer on hosting the Europa league competition, who is yet to be confirmed, as it needs to provide tax and security issues first. And last, both tournament winners from previous season will clash each other at Lillekula stadium in Tallinn, Estonia for the UEFA Super Cup on 18 August 2018.

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Europa league's rapid goal

Some fantastic, surprised and historic results gave us the Europa league last night. Who would have thought that Feyenoord achieved an amazing win, Zenit St. Petersburg with stunning comeback for a marvelous away victory at the end and Hapoel Beer Sheva complete the trio with the unforgettable famous win as visitors. All these (mentioned) clubs accomplished stunning victories against renowned rivals in world football (well...except the Russian team's opponent deviates from all that). But before these games, a tournament record happened right from the start.
The 2016/17 group stage season began perfectly. In its first attack at the opening game, Jan Sykora from Slovan Liberec scored the quickest goal in the competition to date. The leading goal was scored (officially) at 10.69 i.e. 11 seconds. Up until yesterday, Vitolo was the owner of the fastest goal in the competition from 2015 with 13.21 seconds, but the Czech player stole the glory by 2 seconds. How long will it last we just have to wait and see.

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Fastest goal and drama in Tel Aviv marked Europa league's group phase first round

Qarabag - Slovan Liberec 2:2

Scorers: 0:1 11 seconds Jan Sykora
              1:1 07 Miguel Marcos Madeira-Michel
              1:2 68 Milan Baros
              2:2 90+3 Rashad Farhad Sadiqov

AZ Alkmaar - Dundalk 1:1

Scorers: 1:0 60 Stijn Wuytens
              1:1 88 Ciaran Kilduff

Anderlecht - Qabala 3:1

Scorers: 1:0 14 Lukasz Teodorczyk
              1:1 19 Bagaly Dabo
              2:1 41-own goal Rafael Santos
              3:1 77 Diego Capel

APOEL Nicosia - FC Astana 2:1

Scorers: 0:1 45 Nemanja Maksimovic
              1:1 74 Vinicius
              2:1 86 Igor de Camargo

Astra Giurgiu - Austria Vienna 2:3

Scorers: 0:1 16-pen Raphael Holzhauser
              1:1 18 Denis Alibec
              1:2 32 Kevin Friesenbichler
              1:3 58 Alexander Grunwald
              2:3 74 Cristian Sapunaru

Feyenoord - Manchester United 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 78 Tonny Vilhena

Maccabi Tel Aviv - Zenit St. Petersburg 3:4

Scorers: 1:0 26 Haris Medunjanin
              2:0 49 Vidar Oern Kjartansson
              3:0 70 Haris Medunjanin
              3:1 76 Aleksandr Kokorin
              3:2 83 Robert Mak
              3:3 85 Giuliano
              3:4 90+1 Luka Djordjevic

Viktoria Plzen - Roma 1:1

Scorers: 0:1 04-pen Diego Perotti
              1:1 10 Marek Bakos

Rapid Vienna - Genk 3:2

Scorers: 0:1 28 Leon Bailey
              1:1 50 Stefan Schwab
              2:1 59 Joelinton
              3:1 60-own goal Omar Colley
              3:2 89-pen Leon Bailey

Sassuolo - Athletic Bilbao 3:0

Scorers: 1:0 60 Pol Lirola
              2:0 74 Gregoire Defrel
              3:0 82 Matteo Politano

Young Boys - Olympiakos 0:1

Scorer: 0:1 42 Esteban Cambiasso

Zorya Luhansk - Fenerbahce 1:1

Scorers: 1:0 52 Dmytro Grechyshkin
              1:1 90+5 Simon Kjaer

Sporting Braga - Gent 1:1

Scorers: 0:1 05 Danijel Milicevic
              1:1 24 Andre Pinto

Inter - Hapoel Beer Sheva 0:2

Scorers: 0:1 53 Miguel Vitor
              0:2 69 Maor Bar Buzaglo

Konyaspor - Shakhtar Donetsk 0:1

Scorer: 0:1 75 Facundo Ferreyra

Osmanlispor - Steaua 2:0

Scorers: 1:0 64-pen Cheick Diabate
              2:0 74 Aminu Umar

Panathinaikos - Ajax 1:2

Scorers: 1:0 06 Marcus Berg
              1:1 34 Bertrand Traore
              1:2 67 Jairo Riedewald

Red Bull Salzburg - Krasnodar 0:1

Scorer: 0:1 37 Joaozinho

Southampton - Sparta Prague 3:0

Scorers: 1:0 06-pen Charlie Austin
              2:0 27 Charlie Austin
              3:0 90+2 Jay Rodriguez

Standard Liege - Celta Vigo 1:1

Scorers: 1:0 03 Mathieu Dossevi
              1:1 13 Giuseppe Rossi

Villarreal - Zurich 2:1

Scorers: 0:1 01 Armando Sadiku
              1:1 28 Alexandre Pato
              2:1 45 Jonathan dos Santos

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UEFA has new president

Main news of the day is that Europe finally has a new president. The 55 member nations have decided, and as expected, Slovenian FA leader Aleksander Ceferin beat Dutch FA counterpart to become ruler in UEFA. The 48 year old lawyer won the election race against Michael van Praag by 42:13 at the congress in Athens, Greece. Ceferin, who is the seventh boss at the European football organization, will have its mandate until 2019.

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Champions escaped humiliation in the dying seconds

Club Brugge - Leicester 0:3

Scorers: 0:1 05 Marc Albrighton
              0:2 29 Riyad Mahrez
              0:3 61-pen Riyad Mahrez

Juventus - Sevilla 0:0

Bayer Leverkusen - CSKA Moscow 2:2

Scorers: 1:0 09 Admir Mehmedi
              2:0 15 Hakan Calhanoglu
              2:1 36 Alan Dzagoev
              2:2 38 Roman Eremenko

Porto - FC Copenhagen 1:1

Scorers: 1:0 13 Otavio
              1:1 51 Andreas Cornelius

Real Madrid - Sporting 2:1

Scorers: 0:1 47 Bruno Cesar
              1:1 88 Cristiano Ronaldo
              2:1 90+4 Alvaro Morata

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End of matchday one

Every one wants a repeat from last night when we saw 12 thumping goals from just 2 games. Unfortunately, it is less likely, that 'record' cannot be 'copied' again at the remaining matches for the Champions league, first round. One newcomers from England will make its debut tonight in this tournament.

- Club Brugge - Leicester. These two are not big names in world football and yet they are playing in the 'strongest' cup competition. Leicester continues to play dreadful as visitors, unlike Club Brugge who are not very confident at home. Since this is their first meeting sharing points is imminent.
- Juventus - Sevilla. Sevilla is also awful as visitors while their rivals are more and more confident at home. Juventus are writing only victories, so the unstoppable Italians will write first three points on their tally.
- Bayer Leverkusen - CSKA Moscow. From day to day Bayer Leverkusen is becoming a strong team as their play is on a high level. CSKA Moscow should not pose any problems for the Germans, who will write a tough victory after all. 
- Porto - FC Copenhagen. Porto's confident play at home may spoil FC Copenhagen, who are 'masters' for stalemates. Despite the Portuguese fight, the visitors will make sure they will not leave Estadio do Dragao undefeated.
- Real Madrid - Sporting. The champions of the competition is registering first play of the new season. Famous Real Madrid should have no problems by winning another famous Portuguese club Sporting. As two famous, and strong, teams are clashing each other a first thing that comes to mind is draw. But the visitors are playing awfully at the moment, so that should leave (convincing) victory for the Spaniards.

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Catalans first open the scoring in this year's Champions league group stage

Barcelona - Celtic 7:0

Scorers: 1:0 03 Lionel Messi
              2:0 27 Lionel Messi
              3:0 50 Neymar Jr.
              4:0 59 Andres Iniesta
              5:0 60 Lionel Messi
              6:0 75 Luis Suarez
              7:0 88 Luis Suarez

Basel - Ludogorets Razgrad 1:1

Scorers: 0:1 45 Jonathan Cafu
              1:1 79 Renato Steffen

Bayern - Rostov 5:0

Scorers: 1:0 28-pen Robert Lewandowski
              2:0 45+2 Thomas Muller
              3:0 53 Joshua Kimmich
              4:0 60 Joshua Kimmich
              5:0 90 Juan Bernat

Benfica - Besiktas 1:1

Scorers: 1:0 12 Franco Emanuel Cervi
              1:1 90+3 Anderson Talisca

Dynamo Kyiv - Napoli 1:2

Scorers: 1:0 26 Denys Garmash
              1:1 36 Arkadiusz Milik
              1:2 45+2 Arkadiusz Milik

PSV Eindhoven - Atletico Madrid 0:1

Scorer: 0:1 42 Saul Niguez

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Champions league start

Around middle of September usually starts the two famous cup competitions, and tonight is that night with first matches playing in the Champions league. We are beginning with order, from groups A to D with all games starting at the same time.

- Barcelona - Celtic. Despite a surprise home loss last weekend in the championship, Barcelona still is considering favorites for the game. On the other hand, Celtic played awful away games up until last month. In this new month that play may change this evening, but Catalans are way too strong.
- Basel - Ludogorets Razgrad. Basel's good form as hosts may continue even tonight and easily get first three points. But Bulgarian champions might spoil the surprise as they are very difficult team to beat. Ludogorets will certainly not give up without a fight and make sure they do not lose this one.
- Bayern - Rostov. In its schedule, debut team Rostov has a really tough battle at the opening matchday in Germany. It is no doubt that the newcomers will score (at least) a goal, but they cannot oppose mighty Bayern who will collect all points.
- Benfica - Besiktas. From the look of the names, this match can easily be called a little derby. Besiktas can really surprise Benfica, who have an excellent home form. Fierce battle is expected from these two, but Estadio da Luz will see no winner.
- Dynamo Kyiv - Napoli. Napoli could end Dynamo Kyiv excellent home run of winning games. As another good fight will be ahead of us, the Italians are slight favorites to steal away the victory here.
- PSV Eindhoven - Atletico Madrd. PSV Eindhoven lately has lost its good form of winning home games, so Atletico could see this as good opportunity to go back to Spain with full prey. The visitors are also struggling to record a victory, but at the end they will succeed it.

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Fascist salutes

Italy may have won the opening World Cup qualifying game 3:1 in Israel, but will they be punished for their fans' behavior? The hosts are claiming that it has photo evidence of how minority of Italian supporters are saluting in a fascist way. Israelis now wants those five fans to be banned from further matches in order not to 'spread their twisted ideas' elsewhere. The evidence will be sent to the Italian FA.

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Suspended Webb

Former CONCACAF, Cayman Islands FA president and FIFA vice president Jeffrey Webb has been given a lifetime sentence from the sport. The world football organization's ethics committee has explained that the 51 year old is being dismissed because of bribe. This official also pleaded guilty of corruption, racketeering and money laundering. Banned for life with immediate effect, Webb also has to pay 890.000 euros.

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Official opening next week

After worldwide international thrills we are back to club excitements next week. Its regular national championships are played this weekend and next midweek it will be time to open round one of the European cup competitions. In total we will be seeing 80 clubs, who will entertain us right through December. In both competitions we will see some newcomers.

As always, Champions league is the first tournament to start. Four groups are divided into two days, and from this round 20.45 CET will be the kick-off time for everyone.

Tuesday, 13 September: Barcelona - Celtic.
Tuesday, 13 September: Basel - Ludogorets Razgrad.
Tuesday, 13 September: Bayern - Rostov.
Tuesday, 13 September: Benfica - Besiktas.
Tuesday, 13 September: Dynamo Kyiv -  Napoli.
Tuesday, 13 September: Manchester City - Borussia Moenchengladbach.
Tuesday, 13 September: PSG - Arsenal.
Tuesday, 13 September: PSV Eindhoven - Atletico Madrid.

Wednesday, 14 September: Club Brugge - Leicester.
Wednesday, 14 September: Juventus - Sevilla.
Wednesday, 14 September: Legia - Borussia Dortmund.
Wednesday, 14 September: Bayer Leverkusen - CSKA Moscow.
Wednesday, 14 September: Olympique Lyon - Dinamo Zagreb.
Wednesday, 14 September: Porto - FC Copenhagen.
Wednesday, 14 September: Real Madrid - Sporting.
Wednesday, 14 September: Tottenham - Monaco.

One game will breakaway at the opening round of the most exciting tournament. At the penultimate workday, the Europa league will start with three different times for round one.

Thursday, 15 September at 17.00 CET: Qarabag - Slovan Liberec.

Thursday, 15 September at 19.00 CET: AZ Alkmaar - Dundalk.
Thursday, 15 September at 19.00 CET: Anderlecht - Qabala.
Thursday, 15 September at 19.00 CET: APOEL Nicosia - FC Astana.
Thursday, 15 September at 19.00 CET: Astra Giurgiu - Austria Vienna.
Thursday, 15 September at 19.00 CET: Feyenoord - Manchester United.
Thursday, 15 September at 19.00 CET: Maccabi Tel Aviv - Zenit St. Petersburg.
Thursday, 15 September at 19.00 CET: Mainz - St. Etienne.
Thursday, 15 September at 19.00 CET: Viktoria Plzen - Roma.
Thursday, 15 September at 19.00 CET: Rapid Vienna - Genk.
Thursday, 15 September at 19.00 CET: Sassuolo - Athletic Bilbao.
Thursday, 15 September at 19.00 CET: Young Boys - Olympiakos.
Thursday, 15 September at 19.00 CET: Zorya Luhansk - Fenerbahce.

Thursday, 15 September at 21.05 CET: Sporting Braga - Gent.
Thursday, 15 September at 21.05 CET: Inter - Hapoel Beer Sheva.
Thursday, 15 September at 21.05 CET: Konyaspor - Shakhtar Donetsk.
Thursday, 15 September at 21.05 CET: Nice - Schalke.
Thursday, 15 September at 21.05 CET: Osmanlispor - Steaua.
Thursday, 15 September at 21.05 CET: Panathinaikos - Ajax.
Thursday, 15 September at 21.05 CET: PAOK - Fiorentina.
Thursday, 15 September at 21.05 CET: Red Bull Salzburg - Krasnodar.
Thursday, 15 September at 21.05 CET: Southampton - Sparta Prague.
Thursday, 15 September at 21.05 CET: Standard Liege - Celta Vigo.
Thursday, 15 September at 21.05 CET: Villarreal - Zurich.

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Catch the president

One of the biggest cancer in every society is corruption. If you illegally make money you will get caught, no matter who you are (well...in some cases that is true).
Top three officials in Sierra Leone's football association spent a night in jail where the following day were released on bail. The 'famous' trio: secretary general Christopher Kamara, vice president Brima Mazola Kamara and president Isha Johansen, were all caught after a domestic cup match on Wednesday. The detainees immediately denied any wrongdoing in the case against them.
Johansen is also the only female president of an football association on African continent.

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Changes of time

At the beginning of the month UEFA has announced big changes to the main European cup competition. And one of those changes is the playing time from the group stages onwards. Since the start of this idea Champions league matches always began from 20.45 CET, but from 2018 games will be divided in two time slots: 19.00 and 21.00 CET. These times are already known as they are exactly like the Europa league (except for the second one which is five minutes short).
So far Europa league give us plenty of thrills, entertainment and lots of goals, unlike its predecessor which matches happens to be boring, with not so fun party on the pitch. Will the teams adapt to the new time slots and raise level of football to perfect quality (as the name suggest for itself - Champions league) we have to wait and see in two years time.

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Football club owner charged

Incredible 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro are maybe over, but nowadays they are again in the news. For ticketing fraud and marketing conspiracy are accused nine people. And one of them is the Ipswich Town owner Marcus Evans. All are denying any wrongdoing in the case.

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Punishments will remain

If you did something wrong, no matter how famous you are, you will be penalized for your actions. And on top of that you will pay (hefty) fine. You can complain all you want to, but there is (always) a chance that your appeal will be rejected.

And that is exactly what happened with two big football names from Spain. Two Madrid La Liga clubs have lost to FIFA over signing newcomers. Atletico and Real Madrid are barred for signing new players for the next two transfer windows. This means that these clubs will have to play with what they have until January 2018. The giants are also amerce financially: fines from 900.000 and 360.000 Swiss francs has remained in place. Plus they were rebuked for 90 days in order to regulate all minor's signing contracts.

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Spanish withdrawal

Currently Europe is the only continental region which is without a president, and one week before the election process Angel Maria Villar withdrew its bid. The main reason for his announcement was not given after he shocked everyone with this news on Tuesday. Villar was favorite to win at the presidential UEFA election next week in Athens, but now that he is gone this title belongs to Aleksander Ceferin. The Slovenian lawyer and Michael van Praag from Holland are the only two contenders for the post. The winner will take over Michel Platini's mandate and will run the European football organization until 2019.
Villar was once fined by FIFA's ethic committee with 25.000 Swiss francs who refused to cooperate with the instigation of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

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Known teams for the next stage

After sixth leg matches played this morning, all six teams are finally known who will participate at the fifth round for the World Cup qualifiers, CONCACAF zone: Mexico and Honduras from group A, Costa Rica and Panama from group B, United States of America and Trinidad and Tobago from group C.
New set of qualifiers for the hexagonal event will start this November and will last until October next year. As this will be the final round in this region, top three teams will travel automatically to Russia while the fourth is going to have two more additional games through play off with an Asian representative.

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Twelve goals in a match

Guatemala - St. Vincent and the Grenadines 9:3

Scorers: 0:1 10 Oalex Anderson
              1:1 13 Gerson Tinoco
              2:1 19 carlos Ruiz
              3:1 27 Carlos Ruiz
              3:2 30 Oalex Anderson
              4:2 37 Carlos Ruiz
              5:2 56 Jairo Arreola
              6:2 58 Carlos Ruiz
              7:2 60 Carlos Ruiz
              8:2 79 Rafael Morales
              9:2 83 Jean Marquez
              9:3 90 Nazir Obain McBurnette

United States of America - Trinidad and Tobago 4:0

Scorers: 1:0 44 Sacha Kljestan
              2:0 59 Jozy Altidore
              3:0 64 Jozy Altidore
              4:0 72 Paul Arriola

Costa Rica - Panama 3:1

Scorers: 1:0 19 Christian Bolanos
              2:0 80 Christian Bolanos
              3:0 85 Ronald Matarrita
              3:1 90+2-pen Luis Tejada

Jamaica - Haiti 0:2

Scorers: 0:1 68 Kevin Piere Lafrance
              0:2 88 Duckens Nazon

Canada - El Salvador 3:1

Scorers: 1:0 11 Cyle Larin
              2:0 53 Nicolas Ledgerwood
              2:1 78 Nelson Bonilla
              3:1 90+2 David Edgar

Mexico - Honduras 0:0

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Plenty of excitement on day eight

Uruguay - Paraguay 4:0

Scorers: 1:0 18 Edinson Cavani
              2:0 42 Luis Suarez
              3:0 45+1 Luis Suarez
              4:0 54 Edinson Cavani

Chile - Bolivia 0:0

Venezuela - Argentina 2:2

Scorers: 1:0 35 Juanpi
              2:0 53 Josef Martinez
              2:1 58 Lucas Pratto
              2:2 82 Nicolas Otamendi

Brazil - Colombia 2:1

Scorers: 1:0 02 Miranda
              1:1 36-own goal Marquinhos
              2:1 74 Neymar Jr.

Peru - Ecuador 2:1

Scorers: 1:0 19-pen Christian Cueva
              1:1 30 Gabriel Achilier
              2:1 77 Renato Tapia

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Warm up before the hexagonal

More or less all six teams are known for the next stage. But for conformation we need to wait until this leg is over and then the party can officially begin. And all games at this last day are playing at the same times from their respective groups.

- Guatemala - St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The worst team from all 12 in this round is St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The real question is will Guatemala let them to record their first win or the will lose all six successive games. If the hosts are distracted or not interested then the real miracle could happen, but that is (only) in theory.
- United States of America - Trinidad and Tobago. In every game so far, when these two sides met, USA are the winners. It can be really difficult to achieve that again because they are playing group's leaders Trinidad and Tobago, who never lost a game in previous 5 matches. The hosts are still not playing at their best with a convincing form, so they need to do it fast as final round is approaching. As for the game itself this may be another draw between these two.
- Costa Rica - Panama. As both teams have qualified for the next stage, we expect this one to be a good game. Costa Rica are favorites to take the match, but Panama also are playing confident as visitors. However the hosts will end up this round with new three points on their account.
- Jamaica - Haiti. Both Jamaica and Haiti are really bad, make many mistakes and receive number of goals. And wherever is situation like this no one will have full prize and they will share the points.
- Canada - El Salvador. Playing dreadfully as visitors El Salvador would like to say goodbye with at least three points or goal scored. Knowing that that would not be possible Canada should step up and claim their second win after three successive losses in the group.
- Mexico - Honduras. Mexico will not lose this opportunity to have 6 out of 6 at the end. Second placed Honduras will certainly not give up without a fight, but it will be too difficult as the opposing side has 5:0 of goals scored at home.

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Overlapping matches

Leg number eight this morning for South American countries. We salute these qualifiers until next month with a cracking penultimate game.

- Uruguay - Paraguay. Second placed Uruguay has a very strong defence as they did not receive a goal at home. Paraguay's away matches are mainly losses and this morning another one will end up on their account.
- Chile - Bolivia. Bolivia is playing as the previous (guest) team and we are sure that will receive another loss. No matter how much players they have called in for these two games Bolivia simply do not have strength to oppose mighty Chile. With a new win the hosts will be around the play off position.
- Venezuela - Argentina. When last versus first is on the schedule its always a tricky encounter. Since the start of the campaign, 'poor' Venezuela did not record any victory in seven matches. They do know to impose trouble on Argentina and, on some occasions Venezuela has even won against the Gauchos, who with this victory, will only strengthen their leadership.
- Brazil - Colombia. By just looking at the current form this can be said that this is a 'clash of the titans' derby this morning. Not always the top five encounters gives us entertaining matches, but nevertheless, seeing the names on the field the excitement is guaranteed. But, at the end of 90+ minutes no one will claim victory.
- Peru - Ecuador. Both teams were playing bad football up until the summer, but now its time to be serious. Penultimate Peru, if it wants to chase the pack, need to start winning from this game onward. On the other hand, Ecuador an relax a little as are in the qualifying place. However this can change by next month and after two consecutive losses, it is time to get back on the winning track. But this morning no one will find it.

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Terrible start from the EURO 2016 finalists

Andorra - Latvia 0:1

Scorer: 0:1 48 Valerijs Sabala

Bosnia and Herzegovina - Estonia 5:0

Scorers: 1:0 07 Emir Spahic
              2:0 23-pen Edin Dzeko
              3:0 71 Haris Medunajin
              4:0 83 Vedad Ibisevic
              5:0 90+2 Emir Spahic

Belarus - France 0:0

Bulgaria - Luxembourg 4:3

Scorers: 1:0 16 Dimitar Rangelov
              1:1 60 Aurelien Joachim
              1:2 62 Aurelien Joachim
              2:2 65 Marcelinho
              3:2 79 Ivelin Popov
              3:3 90+1 Florian Bohnert
              4:3 90+2 Aleksandar Tonev

Cyprus - Belgium 0:3

Scorers: 0:1 13 Romelu Lukaku
              0:2 61 Romelu Lukaku
              0:3 81 Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco

Faroe Islands - Hungary 0:0

Gibraltar - Greece 1:4

Scorers: 0:1 10 Konstantinos Mitroglou
              1:1 26 Liam Walker
              1:2 44-own goal Scott Wiseman 
              1:3 45 Konstantinos Fortounis
              1:4 45+2 Vasilios Torosidis

Sweden - Netherlands 1:1

Scorers: 1:0 43 Marcus Berg
              1:1 66 Wesley Sneijder

Switzerland - Portugal 2:0

Scorers: 1:0 24 Breel Embolo
              2:0 30 Admir Mehmedi

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