29 February 2020

Duels for second knockout stage

After three consecutive nights of exciting Europa league games, the European football organization today performed the draw for the last 16 stage. All eight games are going to be known in under 5 hours time (with each four divided in first and second kickoff times) on 12 March with the first 90 minutes, while the return duels are seven nights later. Pairs for second elimination stage looks like this:

Basaksehir - Kobenhavn.
Olympiacos - Wolverhampton.
Glasgow rangers - Bayer 04 Leverkusen.
Wolfsburg - Shakhtar Donetsk.
Inter - Getafe.
Sevilla - Roma.
Eintracht Frankfurt - Basel.
LASK - Manchester united.

Remaining traveler for last 16

Europa league, round of 32 (knockout stage 1), leg 2:

Red bull Salzburg - Eintracht Frankfurt 2:2

Scorers: 1:0 09 (09.18) Andreas Ulmer
              1:1 30 (29.33) Andre Silva
              2:1 71 (70.56) Jerome Onguene
              2:2 82 (82.09) Andre Silva

- With a 3:6 aggregate win Eintracht Frankfurt is into the last 16 best clubs of the competition.

28 February 2020

One duel needed additional time, while one did not even start

Europa league, round of 32 (knockout stage 1), leg 2:

LASK - AZ 2:0

Scorers: 1:0 43 (43.05) Marko Raguz
              2:0 50 (49.45) Marko Raguz

- From 88 (87.21) the home team played with 10 men because Philipp Wiesinger received his second yellow card.

Porto - Bayer 04 Leverkusen 1:3


Scorers: 0:1 10 (09.59) Lucas Alario

              0:2 50 (49.55) Kerem Demirbay
              0:3 57 (56.56) Kai Havertz
              1:3 65 (64.57) Moussa Marega

- A direct red card received Francisco Soares (Porto) for a dangerous play (using an elbow) at 85 (84.25). 

Basaksehir - Sporting 3:1, after extra time 4:1

Scorers: 1:0 31 (30.23) Martin Skrtel
              2:0 45 (44.36) Danijel Aleksic
              2:1 67 (67.07) Luciano Vietto
              3:1 90+1 (91.00) Edin Visca
              4:1 118-pen (118.12) Edin Visca

Gent - Roma 1:1

Scorers: 1:0 24 (24.18) Jonathan David
              1:1 29 (28.40) Justin Kluivert

Basel - APOEL 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 38-pen (37.40) Fabian Frei

- On 74 (73.44) the visiting attacker Tomas de Vincenti humiliate himself when he missed the whole goal from 11 metres.

Espanyol - Wolverhampton 3:2

Scorers: 1:0 15 (14.59) Jonathan Calleri
              1:1 21 (21.05) Adama Traore
              2:1 56-pen (56.10) Jonathan Calleri
              2:2 79 (78.58) Matt Doherty
              3:2 90 (90.18) Jonathan Calleri

Malmo - Wolfsburg 0:3

Scorers: 0:1 41 (40.34) Josip Brekalo
              0:2 65 (64.53) Yannick Gerhardt
              0:3 69 (68.52) Joao Victor Santos sa

Sevilla - Cluj 0:0

Celtic - Kobenhavn 1:3

Scorers: 0:1 51 (50.42) Michael Santos
              1:1 82-pen (82.16) Odsonne Edouard
              1:2 85 (84.25) Pep Biel
              1:3 88 (87.35) Dame N'Doye

Inter - Ludogorets 2:1

Scorers: 0:1 25 (25.13) Cauly Oliveira-Souza
              1:1 31 (30.58) Cristiano Biraghi
              2:1 45+3 (48.09) Romelu Lukaku

Ajax - Getafe 2:1

Scorers: 0:1 05 (04.38) Jaime Mata
              1:1 10 (09.41) Danilo da Silva
              2:1 63-own goal Mathias Olivera Miramontes

Benfica - Shakhtar Donetsk 3:3

Scorers: 1:0 09 (08.50) Luis Miguel Afonso Fernandes (better known as Pizzi)
              1:1 12-own goal (11.25) Ruben Dias
              2:1 36 (35.55) Ruben Dias
              3:1 47 (46.39) Rafel Silva
              3:2 49 (48.39) Taras Stepanenko
              3:3 71 (70.22) Alan Patrick

Manchester united - Club Brugge 5:0

Scorers: 1:0 26-pen (26.06) Bruno Fernandes
              2:0 34 (33.54) Odion Ighalo
              3:0 41 (40.33) Scott McTominay
              4:0 81 (81.07) Frederico Rodrigues Santos
              5:0 90+3 (92.25) Frederico Rodrigues Santos

- Defender Simon Deli is not a goalkeeper for Club Brugge, but on 22 (21.50) he deliberately used a hand in its penalty box to stop the ball entering into the net, and that means a deserved direct red card.

Red bull Salzburg - Eintracht Frankfurt CANCELLED due to severe storm. New time: Friday, 28 February at 18.00 CET.

- Travelers in last 16 are the following clubs: LASK, Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Basaksehir, Roma, Basel, Wolverhampton, Wolfsburg, Sevilla, Kobenhavn, Inter, Getafe, Shakhtar Donetsk and Manchester united.

27 February 2020

Scottish club is the first who progressed through into next elimination stage

Europa league, round of 32 (knockout stage 1), leg 2:

Braga - Glasgow rangers 0:1

Scorer: 0:1 60 (60.11) Ryan Kent

- An 11 metre shot from Ianis Hagi (Glasgow rangers) was perfectly saved on 45+1 (45.39). 
- Glasgow rangers is the first team to qualify for the next knockout stage with a 4:2 aggregate victory.

Champions league, round of 16 (knockout phase 1), leg 1:

Real Madrid - Manchester city 1:2


Scorers: 1:0 59 (59.04) Francisco Alarcon (better known as Isco)

              1:1 77 (77.13) Gabriel Jesus
              1:2 83-pen (82.21) Kevin de Bruyne

- The captain of Real Madrid Sergio Ramos on 86 (85.21) did a terrible foul and deservedly received a direct red card. 

26 February 2020

Ninety plus minutes, two goals, one red card - but without winner

Champions league, round of 16 (knockout phase 1), leg 1:

Napoli - Barcelona 1:1

Scorers: 1:0 29 (29.03) Dries Mertens
              1:1 57 (56.45) Antoine Griezmann

- The visiting team finished this duel with 10 men, because (in a matter of one second) Arturo Vidal received two yellow cards on 88 (88.12).

25 February 2020

Joint disease which is a threat on couple of continents

Unfortunately, more and more countries are reporting the epidemic with new cases everyday. When continents are concerned currently it is present on four: North America, Africa, Asia and Europe. However, from a football perspective, in the following three stories it will be mentioned the last two.
When everyone are trying to escape from People's Republic of China (even foreigners), one brave 31-year-old player will go in there, and nevertheless, he chose to go even to the epicentre of this virus. Everybody thought that the defender would stay in the club, when five days ago it was reported (out of the blue and as a shock) that Daniel Carrico from Sevilla will transfer to Wuhan zall. The Portuguese player simply could not refuse a good financial offer from the Chinese club, and this news was unusual and even hard to believe, because everybody knows that Wuhan is the city when this disease started to spread from December 2019 to the whole world.
Sport is impossible to play in People's Republic of China at the moment, and so does football. The World Cup 2022 plus Asian Cup 2023 qualifiers would go as planned, but on a neutral venue for the country. In times of travel bans, last Friday Thailand has agreed to pose as a host to Chinese players where they will meet Maldives on 26 March, and with Guam five days later.
Just 24 hours has passed and it happened the first and official sport cancellation event in Europe. In a short period of time and because of very high infectees in Italy, Ascoli and Cremonese did not play their match from Serie B (second division). Due to precaution this duel was called off just one hour before kick-off, where full bus of spectators was expected in the stadium from Cremona, the north region of Lombardy when it was reported even 30 new cases that day. After that, a third division (Serie C) game was cancelled (Piacenza - Sambenedettese) plus some junior and amateur matches from the same area, while yesterday four games from Serie A (first division) did not even start because of the same reason.

24 February 2020

Two club events will play on consecutive nights

For the last midweek of this month is scheduled the first and second legs of European Cup tournaments. Unusually for knockout phases, three different kick-off times awaits us in the next four nights.

Like a 'speedy' turtle, Champions league at last is going to finish the first 90 minutes of round of 16. First eight clubs did their job, and now the remaining eight are going to introduce to the public for the first time (to finally end leg one).

Tuesday, 25 February at 21.00 CET: Chelsea - Bayern Munich.
Tuesday, 25 February at 21.00 CET: Napoli - Barcelona.

Wednesday, 26 February at 21.00 CET: Olympique lyonnais - Juventus.
Wednesday, 26 February at 21.00 CET: Real Madrid - Manchester city.

Unlike the previous event, for the following one there is no rest. Europa league immediately plays second matches of last 32, and for the first time will begin in two successive nights.

Wednesday, 26 February at 18.00 CET: Braga - Glasgow rangers.

Thursday, 27 February at 18.55 CET: Basaksehir - Sporting.
Thursday, 27 February at 18.55 CET: Basel - APOEL.
Thursday, 27 February at 18.55 CET: Espanyol - Wolverhampton.
Thursday, 27 February at 18.55 CET: Gent - Roma.
Thursday, 27 February at 18.55 CET: LASK - AZ.
Thursday, 27 February at 18.55 CET: Malmo - Wolfsburg.
Thursday, 27 February at 18.55 CET: Porto - Bayer 04 Leverkusen.
Thursday, 27 February at 21.00 CET: Ajax - Getafe.
Thursday, 27 February at 21.00 CET: Arsenal - Olympiacos.
Thursday, 27 February at 21.00 CET: Benfica - Shakhtar Donetsk.
Thursday, 27 February at 21.00 CET: Celtic - Kobenhavn.
Thursday, 27 February at 21.00 CET: Inter - Ludogorets.
Thursday, 27 February at 21.00 CET: Manchester united - Club Brugge.
Thursday, 27 February at 21.00 CET: Red bull Salzburg - Eintracht Frankfurt.
Thursday, 27 February at 21.00 CET: Sevilla - Cluj.

23 February 2020

Not a single team is privileged

If you do not like to cooperate with the European football organization, then you will not play its club tournaments in the future, no matter how famous your name is.
Eight days ago (almost) all media with disbelief reported that Manchester city is thrown out from the European Cups events on two years. They are accused of high inflow of sponsorship in their business books, falsifying documents with 'serious breach of rules from 2012 until 2016' and refused to collaborate with the investigation in the ongoing process. On top of that, the English champions also had to say goodbye to 30 million euros announcing that this (unfair treatment) will be appealed to the highest sporting court. Considering that the club is banned from competing at 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons, they are free to start playing knockout stage at the Champions league from next Wednesday.

22 February 2020

Former goalkeeper wants to be a president

One of the best goalkeeper of all time (unfortunately) has retired from this sport couple of days ago, while at the beginning of the week confirmed that he is planning to run for the top function in his country.
(With absolute right) Iker Casillas want to lead the Spanish football association where the new president according to regulations have to be elected at the second half of the year or after the Olympic games in Tokyo this summer. But the league leaders wants to rush with the proceedings and they are proposing to have the election before the European championship (which is scheduled for 12 June).

21 February 2020

Unfortunate player have scored in both nets

Europa league, round of 32 (knockout stage 1), leg 1:

Getafe - Ajax 2:0

Scorers: 1:0 36 (36.06) Deyverson Acosta
              2:0 90+3 (92.43) Robert Kenedy

Club Brugge - Manchester united 1:1

Scorers: 1:0 15 (14.36) Emmanuel Bonaventure Dennis
              1:1 35 (35.09) Anthony Martial

Sporting - Basaksehir 3:1

Scorers: 1:0 02 (02.04) Sebastian Coates
              2:0 44 (43.31) Andraz Sporar
              3:0 51 (50.45) Luciano Vietto
              3:1 76-pen (76.18) Edin Visca

Eintracht Frankfurt - Red bull Salzburg 4:1

Scorers: 1:0 12 (11.31) Daichi Kamada

              2:0 42 (42.15) Daichi Kamada
              3:0 53 (52.19) Daichi Kamada
              4:0 56 (55.35) Filip Kostic
              4:1 84-pen (84.20) Hwang Hee-Chan

Shakhtar Donetsk - Benfica 2:1

Scorers: 1:0 55 (55.08) Alan Patrick

              1:1 66-pen (65.59) Luis Miguel Afonso Fernandes (also known as Pizzi)
              2:1 72 (71.41) Viktor Kovalenko

Kobenhavn - Celtic 1:1

Scorers: 0:1 14 (13.41) Odsonne Edouard

              1:1 52 (51.45) Dame N'Doye

- The home team could even won this match, but the penalty from Jens Stage on 79 (78.30) hit the post.

Cluj - Sevilla 1:1

Scorers: 1:0 58-pen (58.03) Ciprian Ioan Deac
              1:1 82 (81.35) Youssef en-Nesyri

Ludogorets - Inter 0:2

Scorers: 0:1 70 (70.10) Christian Eriksen
              0:2 90+4-pen (94.03) Romelu Lukaku

APOEL - Basel 0:3

Scorers: 0:1 15 (15.06) Raoul Petretta
              0:2 53 (52.49) Valentin Stocker
              0:3 65 (65.24) Arthur Cabral

AZ - LASK 1:1

Scorers: 0:1 25 (25.23) Marko Raguz
              1:1 86-pen (85.54) Teun Koopmeiners

Glasgow rangers - Braga 3:2

Scorers: 0:1 10 (10.17) Fransergio Rodrigues Barbosa
              0:2 59 (58.39) Abel Ruiz
              1:2 67 (66.29) Ianis Hagi
              2:2 74 (74.13) Joe Aribo
              3:2 81 (81.14) Ianis Hagi

Wolfsburg - Malmo 2:1

Scorers: 0:1 47-pen (46.39) Isaac Kiese Thelin
              1:1 49 (48.42) Josip Brekalo
              2:1 62-own goal (61.56) Isaac Kiese Thelin

Bayer 04 Leverkusen - Porto 2:1

Scorers: 1:0 29 (28.34) Lucas Alario
              2:0 56-pen (56.06) Kai Havertz
              2:1 72 (72.22) Marulanda Fernando Luis Diaz

Roma - Gent 1:0 

Scorer: 1:0 12 (12.03) Carles Perez

Wolverhampton - Espanyol 4:0

Scorers: 1:0 15 (14.33) Diogo Jose Teixeira da Silva (known as Diogo Jota)
              2:0 52 (51.41) Ruben Neves
              3:0 67 (66.40) Diogo Jose Teixeira da Silva (known as Diogo Jota)
              4:0 81 (80.39) Diogo Jose Teixeira da Silva (known as Diogo Jota)

20 February 2020

Home team got a big advantage

Champions league, round of 16 (knockout phase 1), leg 1:

Atalanta - Valencia 4:1

Scorers: 1:0 15 (15.08) Hans Hateboer
              2:0 41 (41.02) Josip Ilicic
              3:0 57 (56.53) Remo Freuler
              4:0 62 (61.57) Hans Hateboer
              4:1 66 (65.49) Denis Cheryshev

19 February 2020

Lesson for the European title defenders with a single goal

Champions league, round of 16 (knockout phase 1), leg 1:

Atletico Madrid - Liverpool 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 04 (03.46) Saul Niguez

18 February 2020

Partnership between confederations

More and more regions are joining forces together just to develop this sport on their continent. The North American, Central and Caribbean association together with the Asian organization is a well known agreement, while five days ago was renewed one more collaboration (and also can be said just in time before major competitions that will be played in regions this summer).
So far there was not any sign of helping each other when the contract was first signed in 2012. Eight years later, South American (CONMEBOL) and European associations have to provide assistant and support in: education and training of referees, promotion of this sport and marketing. According to the new signed agreement these two confederations will have the exchange program of 'men in blue' to officiate matches in: at the four main club events (Copa Libertadores / Champions league jointly with Copa Sudamericana / Europa league) plus referees from CONMEBOL may lead duels in the European championship or vice versa at Copa America (where both these tournaments are starting and ending on the same date in June / July period).

17 February 2020

Enough with rest - now is time for knockout stages

Winter break finally ends and now the elimination process begins. After qualifying and group games calculations are now over and from next week the real football is starting at the European Cups competitions: knockout stages. In total we will have two different elimination rounds with the same kick-off times where the first 90 minutes will be played.

In the Champions league the completion of last 16 is going to torture us for less than one month. From now, on and for better television coverage, each midweek at couple of consecutive nights are going to be played two matches from this event.

Tuesday, 18 February at 21.00 CET: Atletico Madrid - Liverpool.
Tuesday, 18 February at 21.00 CET: Borussia Dortmund - PSG.

Wednesday, 19 February at 21.00 CET: Atalanta - Valencia.
Wednesday, 19 February at 21.00 CET: Tottenham - Rasenballsport Leipzig.

The following 16 duels is from the most interesting Europa league competition. From the first 2 parts of the event 32 clubs have survived, and the first hurdle is going to be finished (as always) on one single night.

Thursday, 20 February at 18.55 CET: Club Brugge - Manchester united.
Thursday, 20 February at 18.55 CET: Cluj - Sevilla.
Thursday, 20 February at 18.55 CET: Eintracht Frankfurt - Red bull Salzburg.
Thursday, 20 February at 18.55 CET: Getafe - Ajax.
Thursday, 20 February at 18.55 CET: Kobenhavn - Celtic.
Thursday, 20 February at 18.55 CET: Ludogorets - Inter.
Thursday, 20 February at 18.55 CET: Shakhtar Donetsk - Benfica.
Thursday, 20 February at 18.55 CET: Sporting - Basaksehir.
Thursday, 20 February at 21.00 CET: APOEL - Basel.
Thursday, 20 February at 21.00 CET: AZ - LASK.
Thursday, 20 February at 21.00 CET: Bayer 04 Leverkusen - Porto.
Thursday, 20 February at 21.00 CET: Glasgow rangers - Braga.
Thursday, 20 February at 21.00 CET: Olympiacos - Arsenal.
Thursday, 20 February at 21.00 CET: Roma - Gent.
Thursday, 20 February at 21.00 CET: Wolfsburg - Malmo.
Thursday, 20 February at 21.00 CET: Wolverhampton - Espanyol.

Known which clubs are best at Asia in last decade

This Monday began the new group stages at the Asian club tournaments, while one day before that we learned who were the best two teams from the last 10 years. A very interesting idea came from the Asian confederation who on its website asked all spectators to vote for their favorite club of the confederation for the above mentioned period.
With 81.303 registered votes 80 percent went to Johor darul ta'zim, who at 2015 the Malaysian side were winners of the AFC Cup. Fans have visited the Champions league page 137.336 times where the majority of votes (87 percent) went to the Saudi Arabian club Al-Hilal where last year took the title of the competition.

16 February 2020

Referee with a really bad temper

We are often seeing how players are sometimes a little bit exaggerating when they are abandoning the pitch due to red card shown from referees, but this time is the other way around. Kung fu moves are way beyond words of what Antonio Martiniello did to the poor player (which is even for jail term).
The match between the regional teams Borgo mogliano madal and Montottone grottese was played on 01 February from the eight division tier (Seconda categoria, girone G) in Italy. Matteo Ciccioli was sent off during the duel who just calmly waited for the end to ask him why. When the game was finished, the home goalkeeper asked the 'man in blue', and his answer was...head-butting in the head of the footballer. So instead of hearing an explanation, he was rushed to the hospital with injuries.
Due to this shameful act the 'violent referee' this Tuesday received an (only) one year punishment for leading any games plus is banned from entering all stadia in the country.

15 February 2020

Who shrunk the rectangular area?

An unbelievable and a very rare scene was seen last Thursday night at the Brazilian Cup between Uniao esport clube and Atletico Goianiense.
Just before the game even began the stadium worker used a green color to paint the vertical line of the penalty box. But when it started, players from both teams protested to referee Alisson Furtado who were confused which line to follow (either green or white) plus he noticed how it is smaller than usual: instead of 16.5 the green line was at 14 metres. Accordingly to the rules, this duel was interrupted for several minutes to mark and strengthen the proper line.

14 February 2020

Young racist made himself an unwanted person

He thought it was so cool to yell dumb and disgusting words from the visiting venue where at the end he only got the well deserved punishment.
A young Bournemouth supporter insulted Tottenham players when the two teams played in November 2019. The London court issued a decision of banning him coming to the stadiums in the next three years, however last Thursday his favorite club was even more adamant: the 17-year-old English fan was declared persona non grata where he cannot enter in their playing place for the rest of his life.

13 February 2020

Figures in museum are only rising

Eight days ago it was announced that the football museum in Zurich (Switzerland) last year has reached a new high: 161.700 people have passed to see the exhibits in the building. Two thousand and nineteen was also the second consecutive year that the visitors have broken the record, where the (magical) guest number 500.000 has also appeared as well. Since its opening on 28 February 2016 until 31 December 2019, 655.600 people have visited the FIFA world football museum who were interested in either exhibitions or events.

12 February 2020

Together is much much better

Every mother cares for her child, and so does the world football association for one confederation. After being at the meeting of executive committee with the African representatives on 02 February in Rabat (Morocco), one day later the president Gianni Infantino in Budapest (Hungary) has announced a massive financial injection to the continent. In the next four years the African football confederation will receive 1.5 billion euros, who are going to be used in development at this sport. This investment is going to be divided in four focused areas: infrastructure, competition system, strengthening on the referee organization and women football.

11 February 2020

Guilty because continental final was forcefully played on another continent

In an almost impossible attempt to play the second leg final of Copa Libertadores at home in 2018, the South American association decided (for the first time) to move the duel to the Spanish capital Madrid. Everyone accused River plate (who later lifted the trophy after extra time), as their spectators has attacked the bus of their city rivals Boca juniors.
Because of this chaos in Buenos Aires that time, 14 months later a decision has been made by the highest sporting court. Last Tuesday the Court of arbitration for sport punished the 2018 winner with playing the next two home games behind closed doors in the same competition. Qualifying matches of the Copa Libertadores 2020 edition are currently underway, thus the Argentine club will first appear in the group stages (where is situated in group D), and the above mentioned penalties are going to be processed next month.

10 February 2020

Bases chosen for first 20 participants

One of the dumbest decision in 2012 was to award the European championship (special edition) in 12 cities across the continent this summer. Four teams are yet to qualify for the event at the end of next month, while the first 20 participants who are in the finals have already decided where their camp will be situated.
Last Monday it was the final deadline of giving the list, and most teams (like it or not) are going to travel back-and-forth during the group stages. Those who are 'hosts' at home will stay there, but those who are nowhere near it have picked the nearest countries / cities or in between. All twenty bases with their names are available at the website of the organization.

09 February 2020

No mercy for manipulators

They just thought they would never get caught, however the reality is something else. After one year of investigation at the Kenyan Premier league, this Tuesday the world football organization has punished four African footballers who all of them (at that time) played for the same team Kakamega homeboyz. One penalty is (very) severe, while the other three were 'light'.
Out of the four, to George Mandela went the worst as the Ugandan player was removed from this sport for life. His teammates were local footballers (from Kenya) who has been banned with 'only' four years: Moses Chikati, Festo Omukoto and Festus Okiring.

08 February 2020

Virus who is causing plenty of problems

Unfortunately, at People's Republic of China lots and lots of people are infected with the 2019-nCoV (novel coronavirus / official name) or for the wide public known as coronavirus, where numbers are only rising day by day. Scientist are trying to find the cure for this epidemic to stop the eventual spread, but until that is done, it is (almost) impossible to hold any sport events in the country.
All football activities were cancelled indefinitely last Thursday, which means the local championship (Super league) will not start on time either (scheduled for 22 February). On an international level Asian club competitions (whose group stages are commencing on Monday) are affected as well because some nearby nations were forced to impose travel bans. Therefore all games concerning Chinese teams are postponed until April and May.

07 February 2020

Meeting held for main South American championship

On the last Monday in January in the Colombian capital Bogota was held the first interinstitutional coordination meeting in order for Copa America to be staged without any problems this summer. All spheres were covered in terms of international relations, medical, security, public transportation and marketing. In this encounter were present the delegation of the South American association (CONMEBOL), the sport minister of the Colombian government and the governor, who specified to focus more on the revenue of the country during the tournament, large number of spectators who will watch the event, security, tourism, health and logistics.
As the CONMEBOL delegation in all of its areas began to inspect the four cities in the country, the same job is expected to commence at the other host of the competition, Argentina, in the following weeks.

06 February 2020

Schedule and venues confirmed for first qualifying phase

Twelve teams will fight for four places which are left to enter the main North, Central American and Caribbean championship, widely known as the Gold Cup (who will start next summer). Based on the participation from another tournament (2019-20 CONCACAF Nations league) these 12 are going to play two further qualifying rounds with an elimination process.
First 4 qualifying duels from the first stage are going to begin at the end of March, and the whole thing will be over in a space of five nights. Eight national teams are going to have a fierce battle on the pitch just to get into the second and last qualifying round. Before we go to that phase (that will be played in June), seven days ago are confirmed all the time tables and stadia from leg one and two on the website of the confederation.

05 February 2020

In search of best club for the last ten years

An interesting idea came from the Asian football confederation who yesterday commenced an online poll on its website asking all football lovers to vote for the best club of the decade for its two major club competitions. For each of the two, Champions league and AFC Cup were given five teams which spectators can choose from, who were very successful in the past 10 years. Voting ends midday Malaysian time on Sunday, just one day before the start of the group stage for both events.

04 February 2020

Wonder woman became a world record holder

On 29 January 2020 Christine Sinclair officially became a world record holder in this sport by giving most goals on an international team level. The Canadian football captain have ripped off the opposing nets 185 times from 290 appearances, which also even surpass any male football player. Her best year so far is 2012, when she pushed the ball 23 times behind the goal-line from 22 performances for the national team. As it looks like, this record will stay for a long time as the 36-year old striker have a chance to improve it well, so that it becomes unreachable.
Just in comparison: the legendary Ali Daei is at the top of the list from the men side, where in 13 years gave 109 goals playing 149 times for Islamic Republic of Iran.

03 February 2020

Attack on a presidential house

Unsatisfied how their favorite club is currently playing nowadays, this Wednesday a group of masked hooligans attacked the presidential home of Manchester united Edward Woodward. Not understanding that this is only a game, very angrily, these idiots have tried to burned the front door, who also yelled death threats towards the boss. Local media reported that the family was not in the house when this disgrace happened. Police are trying to identify the trouble makers, while the team released a statement saying that if these violent fans are established who they really are, (s)he will be removed for life from Old trafford.

02 February 2020

Prevention from match fixing

Sportradar is a global company for analyzing and delivering sports data to bookmakers. Because of these important and sensitive information this firm has, it renewed the existing deal with the Asian football confederation right through the main continental event in 2023. Working together from 2013, eight days ago these two continued the partnership with only one purpose: to stop any possible match fixing throughout the region.

01 February 2020

Channels who have signed new agreements

Couple of television channels (one new and one known) have signed deals with their confederations to bring to the viewers the best football tournaments of the continent.
A complete debutant on the market is CJ ENM (CJ E and M, CJ Entertainment and media) who with the Asian football confederation have sealed an agreement to transmit exclusive football content from 2021 to 2024. Two days ago the South Korean broadcaster has secured to show in their program qualifying games from the Asian region for the World Cup 2022 and Asian Cup 2023, plus the final matches from the major continental competition who will be staged in three years time, together with the youth 23 finals in 2022 and 2024. On a club level, CJ group will present on its channels the Champions league of the region starting from 2021.
On the other part of the world, the North, Central America and Caribbean association just renewed their partnership with the television network Fox sports for the next three years this Monday. Among the major competitions for the English version only are: showing the Gold Cup tournaments at 2021 and 2023, the Scotiabank (continental) Champions league until 2022 and Olympic qualifying events for Tokyo 2020 which are underway at the moment (for men and women category).