31 December 2021

Year of increased prizes

Despite financing local tournaments with 1 million dollars (885.754 euros) next year to every member association on the South American continent, the confederation has announced another increase: this time the focus was on the international ones.
On 20 December (at the draw for the following two events) it was disclosed that in 2022 the winner of Copa Libertadores will be awarded with 16 million dollars (14.2 million euros). Prize for the second tournament in significance also is going to be increased: the Copa Sudamericana champion will be rich for 5 million dollars (4.4 million euros). Just in comparison: winners of the same competitions this year got 1 million dollars (885.754 euros) less.
That team who will lift the trophy of Recopa Sudamericana (encounter between Sudamericana and Libertadores winners of 2021 or in this case Athletico Paranaense - Palmeiras) will receive additional 1.6 million dollars (1.4 million euros), while half of this amount goes to the losers (711.909 euros).

30 December 2021

Registered victory for the visitors

At the debut appearance as a competition the Conference league had its first match that was completely called-off.
On 09 December Tottenham and Rennais were scheduled to play the last game of the group stage in the event where nights before first it was postponed, and two days later was announced that this duel will never be played. Since then, the organizer had time until 31 December to find a replacement date, however that was not done as the English club had 13 positive virus cases. Last Monday this saga finally has ended when the European football organization officially registered this pair 0:3 or a clear win for the visitors.
Not taking it seriously from the start, fooling around in the first five rounds and wanted to seek a passage right on the last (sixth), the home club was just furious about this decision of the affiliation to forfeit the duel and award the victory to their rivals. With a (possible) win the home team would have competed in the first knockout phase that will resume in spring, but because there is a new epidemic rule that applies for everyone, they only have themselves to blame.

29 December 2021

Kick-offs and matches have been verified

The situation at the most interesting qualifying region for the World Cup next year tells that in South America only four rounds remained to be played until the group end. Divided at two and two, the first couple of phases (number 15 and 16) are scheduled for 27 January and 01 February 2022. Last Tuesday these 10 pairs together with kick-offs were confirmed by the confederation, and the layout can be seen or download on their website.

28 December 2021

Judges for regional tournament selected

The African football championship is looming very fast and little by little all the unknown things are announced to the public. Latest is those who will lead each of the 52 games played in Cameroon from 09 January up until 06 February 2022: on the list are 63 referees which are further divided in 24 main ones, 31 assistants together with 8 who are going to be locked up in the room to monitor every suspicious activity from above. Out of this total number organizers have included four women to be among the officials plus one 'outsider' or man in blue that is coming from another continent. All names can be seen on the regional website from 21 December.

27 December 2021

Final plan approved

At 18 October it was the presentation, while two months later this huge complex was finally authorized from its members.
Seven nights ago on the club referendum was voted 'yes' for the expensive future project: 87.8 percent got supportive of this financial plan. The completely new look for the reconstructed new home of Barcelona will cost one billion and a half euros, and Goldman sachs would loan this amount (something is already taken) for a period of 35 years.
In it is going to be built: the extension of Camp nou (that is going to be completed in 2025) plus the whole residence (hotel, offices, basketball venue, urban regeneration and other helping facilities) will all end at 2027 would grow on the terrain famously known as 'Espai Barca' (The space of Barca).

26 December 2021

Project of happiness

An always active Asian confederation continues to announce new and exciting things.
Eight days ago throughout the region was introduced 'Emotions in football'. The main point of this online project were to educate coaches and players of how to behave themselves on the pitch (after the goal scored), control their emotions and improving performances (during the whole game).
It is revealed that Japan and Qatar member associations was among the first to execute this experimental trial plan.

25 December 2021

Agents business on the rise

Being an agent of a player is probably the best business of the future.
According to the numbers from the world football organization from 15 December, persons from every corner of the globe that represents footballers on their behalf in 2021 have earned 444.6 million euros from transfers. In comparison with last year this number is higher for 0.7 percent where transfers were in stagnation because of the epidemic situation. Divided by countries: agents in England have earned 118.3 million, at Germany 74.5 million euros, followed by Italy 65.7, 31 million in Spain, France 26.6...

24 December 2021

Quickest main part

Last Thursday night the European football confederation have performed the last ever draw in 2021 (for a team level). Edition number three of the youngest competition has divided the 55 member states into four leagues where the first three counts four groups while the last is with two. One interesting thing for the Nations league 2022-23 season is that the major (league) part is going to be over in rapid time: at four months. As the ball names came out, the 16 groups were formed like this:

League A
- Group 1: France, Denmark, Croatia, Austria.
Group 2: Spain, Portugal Switzerland, Czech Republic.
Group 3: Italy, Germany, England, Hungary.
Group 4: Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, Wales.

League B
Group 1: Ukraine, Scotland, Republic of Ireland, Armenia.
Group 2: Iceland, Russia, Israel, Albania.
Group 3: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, Romania, Montenegro.
Group 4: Sweden, Norway, Serbia, Slovenia.

League C
Group 1: Turkey, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Faroe islands.
Group 2: Northern Ireland, Greece, Kosovo, winner of the match Cyprus - Estonia.
Group 3: Slovakia, Belarus, Azerbaijan, victory team from Kazakhstan - Moldova.
Group 4: Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Georgia, Gibraltar.

League D
Group 1: Liechtenstein, loser between Kazakhstan - Moldova, Andorra, Latvia.
Group 2: Malta, defeated team of Cyprus - Estonia, San marino.

Twenty four hours later all teams has found on which destinations have to travel, and the complete layout can be seen on the regional website. Four kick-offs have been kept as we had before: 15.00, 16.00, 18.00 and 20.45 CET.
Everything will begin with the four mystery games or whose teams would have to fill spots in the last two leagues. Matches for those four are going to play from 21 until 23 with the first 90 minutes, together for leg two between 24 and 26 March 2022.
June is going to be the busiest schedule and for each round three nights will be available: phase one is between 02 and 04, from 05 until 08 is the second, the middle one is from 08 as far as 11, and 12 - 14 is stage four. Phase number five have to be from 22 until 24, while the last is between 25 and 27 September 2022.
The final-four tournament (winners of the A league groups only) is going to be again in summer time: at couple of nights time (14 and 15) have to be played the semi-final duels, whilst the classification game (for third - fourth place) together with the big final are on 18 June 2023.

23 December 2021

Brazilian idol have purchased a club

Last Saturday it was revealed that one of the best former Brazilian strikers Ronaldo Nazario de Lima together with the help of local investment bank XP have bought a club from Belo Horizonte. The transaction of purchasing Cruzeiro is not yet known, but Brazilian media reported that the 45-year-old is the majority shareholder of more than 90 percent with inputting 400 million reals (62.2 million euros). It is the first team from which commences his senior footballing career at 1993.
From 2018 the entrepreneur is also a president of Segunda division Spanish club Real Valladolid.

22 December 2021

Overturned judgement

On a match from 2019 the midfielder took 300.000 Swedish krona (28.092 euros from that time) when he was a member of Elfsborg. Two men gave him that money to deliberately receive yellow card.
In the summer of 2021 Pawel Cibicki was cleared from the Scania (Sweden) district court, but near the end of this year and after an appealing of the prosecutor that luck was changed. Six days ago the court of appeal have again accused the 27-year-old player of bribe and gambling-related fraud, while the two guys who were also caught got convicted.
By knowing the result upfront, the footballer is defending himself for returning the money on their account plus he paid interest for it.

21 December 2021

Confirmed schedule

From the octagonal elimination tournament at the North, Central America and Caribbean region for the World Cup next year remains to be played 24 duels or 6 more rounds until the end.
On every third night, beginning from 27 January and up until 02 February, 4 matches are going to be played or in total there will be 12 in the first part, while the last (also 12) is scheduled to be at the end of March 2022. Verification on those pairs starting next month, together with the kick-off times, came out last Friday where the layout can be seen or even download from their website.

20 December 2021

Local competitions gets financial boost

On 14 December the South American confederation has announced that in 2022 they are giving 10 million dollars (8.85 million euros) to each member state, which means that everyone of them is going to receive an equal amount of 1 million dollars (885.754 euros). A financial sponsorship like this is mainly directed to local competitions in every country throughout the continent that through prize money will strengthen certainly the clubs and increase competitiveness. Presidents of all 10 associations are going to decide which tournaments deserve to be invested the obtained sum.

19 December 2021

Four draws made for three tournaments

1. Because Villarreal and Manchester united could not be a knockout pair (these two were in a group together), the layout had to be repeated from scratch at the European football organization.

This was an error from the beginning of the week from the Champions league draw first knockout phase. Either if it was a mistake from computer (which is hardly for that to happen) or bunch of men (officials) does not really matter, it had to be re-done it all over again for the first time in its history (since this format was introduced). In the next lot the following duels were formed:

Red bull Salzburg - Bayern Munich.
Sporting - Manchester city.
Benfica - Ajax.
Chelsea - Lille.
Atletico Madrid - Manchester united.
Villarreal - Juventus.
Inter - Liverpool.
PSG - Real Madrid.

However, to find out all of travelers for the next phase is going to be a real torture. One month is the time where everyone will be known because in total on each game was designated two dates: four is going to be used for the first 90 minutes (15, 16, 22 and 23 February) and four for the second (08, 09, 15, 16 March 2022). Kick-offs for this stage are starting from 21.00 CET.

2. At the same day, 16 clubs have found out their opponents where they will have to play each other competing at Europa league. One hundred and eighty minutes from the next eight pairs is expecting to be on 17 (first leg) and 24 February (second leg) 2022 equally playing on 18.45 and 21.00 CET.

Sevilla - Dinamo Zagreb.
Atalanta - Olympiacos.
Rasenballsport Leipzig - Real Sociedad.
Barcelona - Napoli.
Zenit Saint Petersburg - Betis.
Borussia Dortmund - Glasgow rangers.
Sheriff - Braga.
Porto - Lazio.

3. (In here applies the same explanatory words as number two, but for another event.) Scheduled at the same time (18.45 and 21.00 CET) have to start the third significant club competition as well, which was drawn last on Monday. Dates for the Conference league matches are 17 February together with seven night later in 2022.

Olympique de Marseille - Qarabag.
PSV - Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Fenerbahce - Slavia Praha.
Midtjylland - PAOK.
Leicester - Randers.
Celtic - Bodo/Glimt.
Sparta Praha - Partizan.
Rapid Wien - Vitesse.

18 December 2021

Provisional names have arrived

From 01 December onwards Nigeria, Gambia, Cameroon, Sudan...are just few teams of the 24 in total that coaches have submit the provisional names of 40 footballers (the last country gave 36) that will entertain us on the first and only continental championship of 2022. Managers are going to test them and decide which ones will be fit to be on the final list of 28 players for the African Cup of nations who is starting at 09 January. All players can be seen on the website of the confederation.

17 December 2021

Knockout phase ball inspired by natural phenomenon

At the beginning of the week the European football organization has introduced the ball which is going to be played from part three in the Champions league: knockout phases.
Because the last game of the competition is going to finish in one northern city in Russia, the manufacturing company Adidas has thought of a perfect way to round it up the event just to mark this remarkable sensation. Everyone is familiar with the 'white nights' of Saint Petersburg where only in summer time (June - July period) these nights never reach complete darkness. Therefore the above affiliation has decided for the ball to be inspired by this interesting natural phenomenon from the first knockout stage and right until the final duel where footballers basically will play under 'hidden' stars in the sky or in broad daylight at Krestovsky (also called Gazprom) arena on 28 May 2022.

16 December 2021

Winners from two continental championships will play each other

In 2020 had to play two regional tournaments, but because of the epidemic situation both were transferred into this year, and the winners between those teams are going to meet in 2022.
On February 2020 the South American together with the European football confederation has just extended the contract of cooperating between each other, so it was agreed that in the next two editions the champions between Copa America and EURO will battle it in a duel. Therefore the winning teams from both competitions that were held this summer (Argentina and Italy) are going to compete in London (England) on 01 June of next year. Available stadium for these two is yet to be found where today was also announced that this treaty is expanded (for the second time) until 30 June 2028.

15 December 2021

Elected for chairman

One of the prominent former footballer that Cameroon ever had has become president.
Just less than one month before the continental championship on 11 December Samuel Eto'o have succeeded Seidou Mbombo Njoya for this spot that was overshadowed with bad management and lots of corruption inside the football federation, plus the election in 2018 was annulled by the highest sporting court because of campaign irregularities.
The 40-year-old new boss has vowed to clear all that and lead the house from scratch.

14 December 2021

Overstepping their own laws

Instead of immediately punishing the host and lost the encounter (like it was done many times before in the past because of the same reason), another chance was given whereas at the end the European football organization has completely called-off a Conference league group game (first since its existence).
Last Thursday had to be played this duel, but nights before the official schedule Tottenham and Rennais was postponed because of 13 positive virus cases that were in the home team. Desperately the organizers were trying to find a new available date, but that opportunity was diminished just two days later after the affiliation formally gave up the match.
However, before 'the attempt to re-schedule' there is clearly a written article that says that if the club cannot play on the previously agreed time they must forfeit the game 0:3 to their rivals.

13 December 2021

Jealousy or something else?

Everyone of us (those who are his fans of course) wants to be Lionel Messi even if it is for five seconds. 
The 34-year-old striker was victorious on the Ballon d'or ceremony last Monday who beat Robert Lewandowski in second and Jorge Luiz Filho at third place. Right after the Argentinian has appeared on the trophy winners list for the seventh time, many current and former stars have criticized the final choice of the organizers on the event (France football magazine) naming their own players for the prize.

12 December 2021

Change at the top

This Monday it was announced the final Asian club coefficient for 2021, and to close the year new country has climbed on top of the standings.
Saudi Arabia jumped into first position in the table after Al Hilal took the Champions league title (on 23 November) for the fourth time. Before this change Japan who was at the top fell into third position, and between them is South Korea. The most interesting thing is that among the trio the difference is 6.58 points (100 / 95.462 / 93.412).
As this achievement is for the past four seasons, the list will be applied for the slot allocation of the two club international tournaments starting 2023.

11 December 2021

Annual final duel to be decided on another continent

At the end of every year each confederation has a tournament called Super Cup, only to 'test' which champion is better between the first two international club competition.
Translated the above sentence with special words is that in the African version will have to clash the 2020-21 winner of Champions league against the Confederation Cup champion of the same year, which means that Al Ahly and Raja Casablanca will be rivals. On Wednesday it was revealed of where this final will be staged and couple of days later came the missing information about the arena and kick off time as well: the above two clubs from Egypt and Morocco are going to travel to the Qatar capital Doha where on Ahmed bin Ali (also known as Al-Rayyan) stadium will have to play the TotalEnergies Super Cup 2021 final on 22 December from 20.00 local time.

10 December 2021

Game was decided by penalties

Conference league 2021-22 season, group phase 6 of 6, single night:

CSKA Sofia - Roma 2:3

Scorers: 0:1 14 Tamaraebi Abraham
               0:2 34 Borja Mayoral
               0:3 53 Tamaraebi Abraham
               1:3 74 Hamza Catakovic
               2:3 90+3 Yanic Wildschut

LASK - HJK 3:0

Scorers: 1:0 40 Husein Balic
               2:0 63 Keito Nakamura
               3:0 80 Andreas Gruber

AZ - Randers 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 86 (86.02) Thijs Oosting

Gent - Flora 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 50 Gianni Bruno

Alashkert - Maccabi Tel Aviv 1:1

Scorers: 1:0 78 Dejan Boljevic
               1:1 89 Eylom Haim Almog

Partizan - Anorthosis 1:1

Scorers: 1:0 19 Marko Milovanovic
               1:1 33-pen Lazaros Christodoulopoulos

Zorya - Bodo/Glimt 1:1

Scorers: 1:0 18 Yehor Nazaryna
               1:1 68-own goal Vitaliy Vernydub

Cluj - Jablonec 2:0

Scorer: 1:0 44 Gabriel Debeljuh
             2:0 81 Gabriel Debeljuh

Vitesse - Mura 3:1

Scorers: 1:0 03 (02.54) Thomas Buitink
               2:0 34 (34.05) Lois Openda
               3:0 40 (39.39) Daan Huisman
               3:1 81 (80.59) Amadej Marosa

Basel - Qarabag 3:0

Scorers: 1:0 33 Arthur Cabral
               2:0 62 Pajtim Kasami
               3:0 74 Arthur Cabral

Omonia - Kairat 0:0

- On 45+2 the visitors had an excellent chance for lead, however the penalty from Joao Araujo was beautifully saved.

Feyenoord - Maccabi Haifa 2:1

Scorers: 1:0 38 Cyriel Dessers
               2:0 64 Reiss Nelson
               2:1 90 Din David

Union Berlin - Slavia Praha 1:1

Scorers: 0:1 50 (49.29) Ivan Schranz
               1:1 63 (63.07) Max Kruse

Kobenhavn - Slovan Bratislava 2:0

Scorers: 1:0 29 Jonas Older Wind
               2:0 53 Rasmus Hojlund

PAOK - Lincoln red imps 2:0

Scorers: 1:0 17 Andrija Zivkovic
               2:0 54 Stefan Schwab

Additional information: LASK (group A), Gent (group B), Roma (group C), AZ (group D), Feyenoord (group E), Kobenhavn (group F), Rennais (group G), Basel (group H) will participate at the second elimination round ; while from the first are starting Maccabi Tel Aviv, Partizan, Bodo/Glimt, Randers, Slavia Praha, PAOK and Qarabag.

Europa league 2021-22 season, group stage 6 of 6, single night:

Sturm - Monaco 1:1

Scorers: 1:0 05-pen Jakob Jantscher
               1:1 29 Kevin Volland

Olympique Lyonnais - Glasgow rangers 1:1

Scorers: 0:1 42 Scott Wright
               1:1 48-own goal Calvin Bassey

Real Sociedad - PSV 3:0

Scorers: 1:0 42 (42.17) Mikel Oyarzabal
               2:0 62 (61.44) Mikel Oyarzabal
               3:0 90+3 (92.28) Alexander Sorloth

- Ibrahim Sangare (PSV) was awarded with his second yellow card at 74 (73.58).

Sparta Praha - Brondby 2:0

Scorers: 1:0 42 (42.18) David Hancko
               2:0 49 (48.43) Adam Hlozek

- Both clubs ended this duel with 10 players: because of two yellow cards Tomas Wiesner (Sparta Praha) said goodbye on 54 (56.44) and for the same reason Anis ben Slimane followed him in the opposite dressing room at 75 (74.32).

Legia - Spartak Moscow 0:1

Scorer: 0:1 17 Zelimkhan Bakayev

- The home team could have equalized this match on 90+8, but the weak 11 metre shot from Tomas Pekhart was saved.

Antwerp - Olympiacos 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 06 Michel-Ange Balikwisha

Fenerbahce - Eintracht Frankfurt 1:1

Scorers: 0:1 29 Djibril Sow
               1:1 42 Mergim Berisha

Genk - Rapid Wien 0:1

Scorer: 0:1 29 Robert Ljubicic

Celtic - Betis 3:2

Scorers: 1:0 03 (02.38) Stephen Welsh
               1:1 68-own goal (68.09) Scott Bain
               2:1 72 (71.34) Ewan Henderson
               2:2 74 (73.56) Borja Iglesias
               3:2 78-pen (77.55) David Turnbull

Ferencvaros - Bayer Leverkusen 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 82 Aissa Laidouni

Lazio - Galatasaray 0:0

Braga - Crvena zvezda 1:1

Scorers: 1:0 52-pen (51.48) Wenderson Galeno
               1:1 69-pen (69.06) Aleksandar Katai

Ludogorets - Midtjylland 0:0

Olympique de Marseille - Lokomotiv Moscow 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 34 Arkadiusz Milik

- Valentin Rongier at 79 weakened the hosts receiving two yellow cards.

Additional information: at the second qualifying stage have entered Olympique Lyonnais (group A), Monaco (group B), Spartak Moscow (group C), Eintracht Frankfurt (group D), Galatasaray (group E), Crvena zvezda (group F), Bayer Leverkusen (group G), West ham (group H) ; the second placed teams Glasgow rangers, Real Sociedad, Napoli, Olympiacos, Lazio, Braga, Betis, Dinamo Zagreb have to begin from the first qualifying round ; whilst Sparta Praha, PSV, Leicester, Fenerbahce, Olympique de Marseille, Midtjylland, Celtic, Rapid Wien have been transferred into Conference league.

Champions league 2021-22 season, group phase 6 out of 6, extra night:

Atalanta - Villarreal 2:3

Scorers: 0:1 03 (02.30) Arnaut Danjuma
               0:2 42 (41.24) Etienne Capoue
               0:3 51 (50.40) Arnaut Danjuma
               1:3 70 (70.13) Ruslan Malinovskyi
               2:3 79 (79.02) Duvan Zapata

Additional information: Villarreal travel at the knockout phase of the competition, and Atalanta is one step lower (Europa league).

09 December 2021

Incomplete ending at group F

Champions league 2021-22 season, group phase 6 out of 6, night 2 of 2:

Juventus - Malmo 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 18 (17.26) Moise Kean

Zenit Saint Petersburg - Chelsea 3:3

Scorers: 0:1 02 (01.24) Timo Werner
               1:1 37 (37.15) Claudio Rodrigues
               2:1 41 (40.53) Sardar Azmoun
               2:2 61 (61.15) Romelu Lukaku
               2:3 85 (84.36) Timo Werner
               3:3 90+4 (93.48) Magomed Ozdoyev

Red bull Salzburg - Sevilla 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 50 (49.55) Noah Okafor

- Due to two yellow cards the visiting midfielder Joan Jordan was sent off on 64 (63.39).

Manchester united - Young boys Bern 1:1

Scorers: 1:0 09 Mason Greenwood
               1:1 42 Fabian Rieder

Benfica - Dynamo Kyiv 2:0

Scorers: 1:0 16 (15.33) Roman Yaremchuk
               2:0 22 (21.50) Gilberto Moraes junior

Bayern Munich - Barcelona 3:0

Scorers: 1:0 33 (33.12) Thomas Muller
               2:0 42 (42.05) Leroy Sane
               3:0 62 (61.47) Jamal Musiala

Atalanta - Villarreal (postponed because of snow)

- New kick-off time for this match is Thursday, 09 December at 19.00 CET.

Additional information: into the next phase of this competition have qualified Bayern Munich and Benfica (group E), Manchester united (group F), Lille together with Red bull Salzburg (group G), Juventus and Chelsea (group H). Europa league awaits Barcelona, Sevilla, Zenit Saint Petersburg at the first knockout round.

08 December 2021

Different paths for twelve clubs

Champions league 2021-22 season, group phase 6 out of 6, night 1 of 2:

PSG - Club Brugge 4:1

Scorers: 1:0 02 Kylian Mbappe
               2:0 07 Kylian Mbappe
               3:0 38 Lionel Messi
               3:1 68 Mats Rits
               4:1 75-pen Lionel Messi

Ajax - Sporting 4:2

Scorers: 1:0 08-pen (07.48) Sebastien Haller
               1:1 22 (21.39) Nuno Santos
               2:1 42 (41.40) Antony Matheus
               3:1 58 (57.55) David Neres
               4:1 62 (61.26) Steven Berghuis
               4:2 78 (77.29) Bruno Vinicius

Shakhtar Donetsk - Sheriff 1:1

Scorers: 1:0 41 (41.08) Fernando Pedro
               1:1 90+3 (92.41) Boban Nikolov

Porto - Atletico Madrid 1:3

Scorers: 0:1 55 (55.08) Antoine Griezmann
               0:2 89 (89.14) Angel Correa
               0:3 90+2 (91.43) Rodrigo de Paul
               1:3 90+6-pen (95.33) Sergio Oliveira

- Two players from the opposing sides received deserved direct red cards for introducing another sport with football: on 66 (66.16) Yannick Carrasco was first to go off for the visitors and Wendell Borges (Porto) followed him at 70 (69.26).

Real Madrid - Inter 2:0

Scorers: 1:0 17 (16.49) Toni Kroos
               2:0 79 (78.52) Marco Asensio

- Another deserved direct red card in this game was for Nicolo Barella (Inter) for off the ball kicking incident on 63 (63.05).

Borussia Dortmund - Besiktas 5:0

Scorers: 1:0 29 Donyell Malen
               2:0 45+1-pen Marco Reus
               3:0 53 Marco Reus
               4:0 68 Erling Haaland
               5:0 80 Erling Haaland

- On 43 Welinton Silva (Besiktas) was awarded with a direct red card.

Additional information: Manchester city, PSG (group A), Liverpool, Atletico Madrid (group B), Ajax, Sporting (group C), Real Madrid, Inter (group D) are all going to the first knockout phase of the tournament, while Rasenballsport Leipzig, Porto, Borussia Dortmund and Sheriff were transferred to the Europa league.

07 December 2021

Region who is starting last

The sporting most watched event on our planet is commencing less than a year from now, and practically five out of six confederations are near the qualifying end. However, the last one is yet to start where the plan for it was finally released seven days ago with a draw.
Definitely the tiniest regions of all, Oceania had many problems with the pandemic outbreak, thus its schedule was delayed from this September. Because the World Cup is approaching fast and there is no time anymore, it was determined that a mini-tournament will determine the winner. The first two teams from A and B groups are going to participate at the final round of the confederation where with the additional matches the champion of the confederation is going to be known. Each of those duels have to be played from 14 and up until 30 March 2022 at neutral place - Qatar.
From eleven members that this continent has, nine of them are going to appear (American Samoa and Samoa has withdrew their participation earlier) whereas the last two who are the lower ranked ones will have to clash between each other just to enter the main group phase which are divided in:

Group A: Solomon islands, Tahiti, Vanuatu, play off victory team (between Tonga - Cook islands).

Group B: New Zealand, New Caledonia, Fiji, Papua new Guinea.

Furthermore, the winner of this region would have to play one more extra game (who is called the intercontinental one) with the fourth placed representative from the North, Central America and Caribbean confederation in June that will decide one of the final spots for the World Cup 2022 event.

06 December 2021

Weather as an additional challenge

After one week break, the European Cup tournaments are back for its last group phase duels. Besides their opponents most players will have many problems with the freezing temperatures as December knows to be extremely cold at some parts of the continent. Every competition is going to be played on the dedicated night at the only round scheduled for the 12 month of 2021 with the following pairs:

Champions league...

Tuesday, 07 December at 18.45 CET: PSG - Club Brugge.
Tuesday, 07 December at 18.45 CETRasenballsport Leipzig - Manchester city.

Tuesday, 07 December at 21.00 CET: Ajax - Sporting.
Tuesday, 07 December at 21.00 CETBorussia Dortmund - Besiktas.
Tuesday, 07 December at 21.00 CET: Milan - Liverpool.
Tuesday, 07 December at 21.00 CET: Porto - Atletico Madrid.
Tuesday, 07 December at 21.00 CET: Real Madrid - Inter.
Tuesday, 07 December at 21.00 CET: Shakhtar Donetsk - Sheriff.

Wednesday, 08 December at 18.45 CET: Juventus - Malmo.
Wednesday, 08 December at 18.45 CET: Zenit Saint Petersburg - Chelsea.

Wednesday, 08 December at 21.00 CET: Atalanta - Villarreal.
Wednesday, 08 December at 21.00 CET: Bayern Munich - Barcelona.
Wednesday, 08 December at 21.00 CET: Benfica - Dynamo Kyiv.
Wednesday, 08 December at 21.00 CET: Manchester united - Young boys Bern.
Wednesday, 08 December at 21.00 CET: Red bull Salzburg - Sevilla.
Wednesday, 08 December at 21.00 CET: Wolfsburg - Lille.

...Conference league...

Thursday, 09 December at 18.45 CET: Alashkert - Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Thursday, 09 December at 18.45 CET: AZ - Randers.
Thursday, 09 December at 18.45 CET: Cluj - Jablonec.
Thursday, 09 December at 18.45 CET: CSKA Sofia - Roma.
Thursday, 09 December at 18.45 CET: Gent - Flora.
Thursday, 09 December at 18.45 CET: LASK - HJK.
Thursday, 09 December at 18.45 CET: Partizan - Anorthosis.
Thursday, 09 December at 18.45 CET: Zorya - Bodo/Glimt.

Thursday, 09 December at 21.00 CET: Basel - Qarabag.
Thursday, 09 December at 21.00 CET: Feyenoord - Maccabi Haifa.
Thursday, 09 December at 21.00 CET: Kobenhavn - Slovan Bratislava.
Thursday, 09 December at 21.00 CET: Omonia - Kairat.
Thursday, 09 December at 21.00 CET: PAOK - Lincoln red imps.
Thursday, 09 December at 21.00 CET: Tottenham - Rennais.
Thursday, 09 December at 21.00 CET: Union Berlin - Slavia Praha.
Thursday, 09 December at 21.00 CET: Vitesse - Mura.

...and Europa league.

Thursday, 09 December at 18.45 CET: Antwerp - Olympiacos.
Thursday, 09 December at 18.45 CET: Fenerbahce - Eintracht Frankfurt.
Thursday, 09 December at 18.45 CET: Legia - Spartak Moscow.
Thursday, 09 December at 18.45 CET: Napoli - Leicester.
Thursday, 09 December at 18.45 CETOlympique Lyonnais - Glasgow rangers.
Thursday, 09 December at 18.45 CET: Real Sociedad - PSV.
Thursday, 09 December at 18.45 CET: Sparta Praha - Brondby.
Thursday, 09 December at 18.45 CET: Sturm - Monaco.

Thursday, 09 December at 21.00 CET: Braga - Crvena zvezda.
Thursday, 09 December at 21.00 CET: Celtic - Betis.
Thursday, 09 December at 21.00 CET: Ferencvaros - Bayer Leverkusen.
Thursday, 09 December at 21.00 CET: Genk - Rapid Wien.
Thursday, 09 December at 21.00 CET: Lazio - Galatasaray.
Thursday, 09 December at 21.00 CET: Ludogorets - Midtjylland.
Thursday, 09 December at 21.00 CETOlympique de Marseille - Lokomotiv Moscow.
Thursday, 09 December at 21.00 CET: West ham - Dinamo Zagreb.

05 December 2021

Two matches away from travelling to finals

We have reached the last phase of the European qualifiers for the World Cup next year where seven nights ago was the last ever draw for this continent.
For the (complicated) second round (which will be played eight months before the major competition) the ten group runners up were mixed with two best teams from another event (Nations league). These 12 have to pass two more hurdles at the play-off stage (called semi-finals and final), so that at the end three remains which will book their tickets. As there are nine games left to play from this confederation the last three pairs are unknown, while the first six duels are familiar, everything has to be completed on 24 and 29 March 2022 and the schedule is the following:

Games one and two (all together):

Scotland or Ukraine - Wales or Austria.

Russia or Poland - Sweden or Czech Republic.

Italy or North Macedonia - Portugal or Turkey.

On the same night the intercontinental draw was performed as well where four regions have find out their opponents. Last Monday it was revealed that instead of four (home and away) these duels will be only two, or in other words only 90 minutes are going to be played for each match scheduled to be played in neutral place - Qatar. Pairs looks like this:

1. Asian fourth round winner (third placed from groups A and B clashing each other) - South American fifth place team.

2. The fourth placed team of the North, Central America and Caribbean confederation - Victorious team from Oceania at the mini tournament that will start in March 2022.

Thus, failure would be out of the question for the final four teams that is going to round up these eliminations at 13 or 14 June 2022, which means that the final layout for the World Cup itself on 01 April 2022 is going to be done with 30 known names instead of 32.

04 December 2021

Early release has to be paid

From the beginning of November Barcelona have a new manager, however the previous one was compensated real good.
The contract with the Catalan club that Ronald Koeman had was until June 2022, so eight months before that he will receive 10 million euros. Spanish media has revealed this number seven days ago who also added that Alfred Schroeder and Henrik Larson who worked as assistant coaches would receive some (unknown) amount as well.

03 December 2021

Nominees revealed for an award

This is that time of the year where lots of affiliations and newspapers are announcing who is their best footballer for the current period.
A list (one of many) like that was presented last Monday when 11 players (which practically can be said that is a team with the only difference that there are three midfielders and eight attackers) were revealed to the public where three of them will go to the final round for 'The best' award organized by the world football organization. The online vote is ending on 11 December at 00.00 CET, while the trio (for each category) is going to be discovered at the beginning of next month. So, everything you need to do is go to the site, pick your winner, so that your candidate will be crowned at the victory ceremony in Zurich (Switzerland) on 17 January.

02 December 2021

Media companies with broadcasting rights

From 23 November couple of media in a space of two days have enriched their programing schedule whose viewers are going to watch top quality football competitions.
The Balkan version of Sportklub have signed an agreement with the African confederation of which the next two editions [2021 (2022) and 2023] of TotalEnergies Africa Cup of nations will be showing on their channels together with the African version of Champions league in 2022 and 2023. These rights cover the markets on seven territories: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, Kosovo and North Macedonia.
On the other side of the world, the Asian World Cup qualifiers 2022 (round three and four), Asian Cup for women India 2022 together with Asian Champions league 2022 are going to be shown on Sky networks television limited only for the country of New Zealand. This company (which is not to be confused with the European equivalent as there is no connection between each other, just the similarity name remains) is one of the biggest broadcaster in this Oceania country that offers media streaming, broadband Internet together with pay television services via satellite.

01 December 2021

Ball that has a name

Because nowadays everything has to have a name why do not balls also can receive one? An interesting title comes from Africa.
It is well known that the first (and only) international team continental championship would be played right in this confederation (that will commence nine nights later in 2022). Each of the 24 teams are known, 52 games are going to be played in total, the six groups were familiar long ago, cities and stadia as well....but something was missing. And to answer that mystery seven days ago it was revealed that all players will play with Toghu. This is a multi-coloured ball which is representing diversity throughout the continent. Its name came from the acronym of the following words: tradition, ornate, glory, heritage, unity.

30 November 2021

One pair was formed in whole draw

Today was performed the penultimate draw for 2021 in a competition that once was the holiday for club football at the end of every year, but because of special (natural) circumstances the last couple of years is moved to the following one. It is determined that the Club World Cup will commence on 03 February 2022, while the eighth and last game would be played nine nights later. Couple of teams were connected to play between each other of the second round and that was the only mystery of the whole thing.
Previously it was known that in the competition at United Arab Emirates is going to open the host and (the nominated) champions of Oceania region (Al Jazira - Auckland city). Whoever will be victorious in this duel, is going to clash with the Asian Champions league winners (Al Hilal) at the second phase. Furthermore, the winning team of this game would play the European representative (Chelsea) at semi-finals.
However, from the second phase there is one more pair where the layout has linked the champions of African together with North, Central and Caribbean confederation (Al Ahly and Monterrey). That team who will triumph here awaits the South American Copa Libertadores champion (Palmeiras).

29 November 2021

Couple of sculptures for their big idol

Exactly one year after the tragic death Diego Armando Maradona is getting something to be remembered by, for the current and upcoming generations at the club where he left his deep mark for seven years. In fact, not one, but two statues is decorating Napoli stadium who already was renamed in his honour.
Sculpture number one was placed at one of the entrances in the arena on Thursday, where later it will be moved to its permanent location. From the first appearance outside, plenty of fans, club workers plus the president have attended the ceremony. The second statue was installed in the hallway towards the locker rooms. Have made its debut today (on the match against Lazio), and had been in the works since 2017.

28 November 2021

Last two representatives known

This week the list was completed for the final club tournament that is playing every year near its end (special circumstances were not taken into consideration).
On Tuesday Al Hilal did not receive a goal at the final, and like that became winners of the Asian Champions league for the fourth time. Saying this, the Saudi Arabian club will have the honour to represent its continent (as champions) on the above mentioned event, and whose confederation are going to compete with two teams (Al Jazira is being the other as host).
And today the last missing club was revealed. Because the country was already known, we have waited only for the name to come out: winners of the South American Copa Libertadores competition for 2021 is Palmeiras from Brazil.
Now a few words for the mysterious event from the first row: it is called the Club World Cup where the draw is closing in - it will be on Monday, 29 November.

27 November 2021

Took additional loan to finish stadium

Members of Real Madrid on the club assembly last Saturday gave its consent to have an additional debt to the already existing 575 million euros that were taken at 2019. Nearly at the end of 2021 the new loan is 225 million. The fresh money is going to be used for technology enhancements, ventilation, climate and watering system, LED lamps, lights and retractable roof of the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu which is going to be completed in one year from now.
Its president Florentino Perez have said that around 2 percent is the cost of the newest loan, in the team where at 2019 had income of 800 million euros, while in 2020 they were also on surplus despite the appearance of the pandemic.

26 November 2021

Famous Slovenian victory at last seconds

Conference league 2021-22 season, group phase 5 of 6, single night:

Flora - Partizan 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 44 (43.36) Martin Miller

Kairat - Basel 2:3

Scorers: 1:0 23 (22.40) Vagner Silva de Souza
               1:1 45-pen (44.43) Arthur Cabral
               2:1 55 (55.16) Kamo Hovhannisyan
               2:2 69 (68.43) Edon Zhegrova
               2:3 72 (71.56) Pajtim Kasami

- Yan Vogorovsky was quicker than the final whistle as he left Kairat because of two yellow cards on 90+3 (92.21).

Qarabag - Omonia 2:2

Scorers: 0:1 43-pen Michal Duris
               1:1 48-own goal Paris Psaltis
               2:1 88 Patrick Andrade
               2:2 90 Jordi Gomez

- Because of two yellow cards at 65 Francisco Rosa (known as Kiko, Omonia) said goodbye to the game.

Lincoln red imps - Kobenhavn 0:4

Scorers: 0:1 04 Isak Johannesson
               0:2 07 Lukas Lerager
               0:3 63 William Boving
               0:4 73 Rasmus Hojlund

Mura - Tottenham 2:1

Scorers: 1:0 10 Tomi Horvat
               1:1 72 Harry Kane
               2:1 90+4 Amadej Marosa

- Visiting defender Ryan Sessegnon was awarded with his second yellow card on 32.

Rennais - Vitesse 3:3

Scorers: 1:0 09 Gaetan Laborde
               2:0 38 Gaetan Laborde
               2:1 42 Daan Huisman
               3:1 69 Gaetan Laborde
               3:2 74 Thomas Buitink
               3:3 88 Lois Openda

Slavia Praha - Feyenoord 2:2

Scorers: 1:0 11 (11.09) Peter Olayinka
               1:1 31 (30.56) Cyriel Dessers
               2:1 66 (65.34) Jan Kuchta
               2:2 90+3 (92.28) Cyriel Dessers

Guus Til (Feyenoord) at 37 (36.26) received a deserved direct red card.

Slovan Bratislava - PAOK 0:0

HJK - Alashkert 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 48 Atomu Tanaka

Maccabi Haifa - Union Berlin 0:1

Scorer: 0:1 65 Julian Ryerson

Randers - Cluj 2:1

Scorers: 1:0 68 Alhaji Kamara
               1:1 72 Ciprian Deac
               2:1 75 Simon Piesinger

Anorthosis - Gent 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 27 Lazaros Christodoulopoulos

Bodo/Glimt - CSKA Sofia 2:0

Scorers: 1:0 24 Sondre Fet
               2:0 84 Erik Botheim

Maccabi Tel Aviv - LASK 0:1

Scorer: 0:1 89 Sascha Horvath

Jablonec - AZ 1:1

Scorers: 1:0 07 (06.33) Milos Kratochvil
               1:1 44 (43.24) Hakon Evjen

Roma - Zorya 4:0

Scorers: 1:0 14 Carles Perez
               2:0 33 Nicolo Zaniolo
               3:0 46 Tamaraebi Abraham
               4:0 74 Tamaraebi Abraham

- On 40 Roma could have increased its lead to 3:0, however the weak 11 metre shot from Jordan Veretout was perfectly saved.

Europa league 2021-22 season, group stage 5 of 6, night 2 out of 2:

Midtjylland - Braga 3:2

Scorers: 1:0 02 Erik Sviatchenko
               1:1 43 Ricardo Horta
               2:1 48 Gustav Isaksen
               2:2 84 Wenderson Galeno
               3:2 90+3-pen Evander Ferreira

Galatasaray - Olympique de Marseille 4:2

Scorers: 1:0 11 Alexandru Cicaldau
               2:0 30-own goal Duje Caleta-Car
               3:0 64 Sofiane Feghouli
               3:1 68 Arkadiusz Milik
               4:1 82 Ryan Babel
               4:2 84 Arkadiusz Milik

- Arkadiusz Milik has had his penalty saved, before giving the first goal for the visitors few seconds later on 68.

Crvena zvezda - Ludogorets 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 56 (56.05) MIrko Ivanic

Betis - Ferencvaros 2:0

Scorers: 1:0 04 Cristian Tello
               2:0 52 Sergio Canales

Bayer Leverkusen - Celtic 3:2

Scorers: 1:0 15 Robert Andrich
               1:1 40-pen Josip Juranovic
               1:2 56 Joao Pedro Filipe (or just Jota)
               2:2 82 Robert Andrich
               3:2 86 Moussa Diaby

Dinamo Zagreb - Genk 1:1

Scorers: 1:0 34 Luka Menalo
               1:1 44 Ike Ugbo

Lokomotiv Moscow - Lazio 0:3

Scorers: 0:1 55-pen Ciro Immobile
               0:2 62-pen Ciro Immobile
               0:3 87 Pedro Ledesma

Rapid Wien - West ham 0:2

Scorers: 0:1 39 Andriy Yarmolenko
               0:2 45+1 Mark Noble

PSV - Sturm 2:0

Scorers: 1:0 45-pen (44.25) Carlos Vinicius
               2:0 55 (54.57) Armindo Tue na Bangna (known as Bruma)

Glasgow rangers - Sparta Praha 2:0

Scorer: 1:0 14 (14.12) Alfredo Morelos
             2:0 48 (48.02) Alfredo Morelos

Monaco - Real Sociedad 2:1

Scorers: 1:0 28 Kevin Volland
               1:1 34 Alexander Isak
               2:1 38 Youssouf Fofana

- The second goal scorer for the home team received a deserved direct red card at 88.

Brondby - Olympique Lyonnais 1:3

Scorers: 1:0 50 Mikael Uhre
               1:1 57 Ryan Cherki
               1:2 65 Ryan Cherki
               1:3 75 Islam Slimani

Eintracht Frankfurt - Antwerp 2:2

Scorers: 1:0 13 Daichi Kamada
               1:1 33 Radja Nainggolan
               1:2 88 Mbwana Samatta
               2:2 90+3 Goncalo Paciencia

Olympiacos - Fenerbahce 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 89 Francisco Soares

25 November 2021

Has entered as substitute at second part and made a complete turnaround for his team

Europa league 2021-22 season, group stage 5 of 6, night 1 out of 2:

Spartak Moscow - Napoli 2:1

Scorers: 1:0 02-pen (02.16) Aleksandr Sobolev
               2:0 28 (27.37) Aleksandr Sobolev
               2:1 63 (63.10) Elif Elmas

Champions league 2021-22 season, group phase 5 out of 6, night 2 of 2:

Besiktas - Ajax 1:2

Scorers: 1:0 22-pen (21.41) Rachid Ghezzal
               1:1 53 (53.07) Sebastien Haller
               1:2 69 (68.38) Sebastien Haller

Inter - Shakhtar Donetsk 2:0

Scorer: 1:0 61 (60.49) Edin Dzeko
             2:0 66 (66.03) Edin Dzeko

Atletico Madrid - Milan 0:1

Scorer: 0:1 87 (86.24) Junior Messias

Sporting - Borussia Dortmund 3:1

Scorers: 1:0 30 (29.30) Pedro Goncalves (also known as Pote)
               2:0 38 (38.14) Pedro Goncalves (better known as Pote)
               3:0 81 (80.41) Pedro Porro
               3:1 90+3 (92.34) Donyell Malen

- Direct red card for the visitors was awarded to Emre Can on 73 (73.16).
- The third goal for the home team, was scored from previously saved 11 metre shot which Pedro Goncalves took it at 81 (80.39).

Club Brugge - Rasenballsport Leipzig 0:5

Scorers: 0:1 12 Christopher Nkunku
               0:2 16-pen Emil Forsberg
               0:3 25 Andre Silva
               0:4 45 Emil Forsberg
               0:5 90+2 Christopher Nkunku

Liverpool - Porto 2:0

Scorers: 1:0 52 Thiago Alcantara
               2:0 69 Mohamed Salah

Sheriff - Real Madrid 0:3

Scorers: 0:1 30 (29.43) David Alaba
               0:2 45 (45.20) Toni Kroos
               0:3 55 (54.55) Karim Benzema