Nyon, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – English Premier League football club Arsenal and Spanish Barcelona will face each other in the quarter-finals of the European Champions League. The draw was held at UEFA, the European Football head office in Nyon. French striker Thierry Henry, who is Arsenal’s highest-ever goalscorer, played for Arsenal when the two last met but he now plays for Barcelona.
The other games will feature Bayern Munich against Manchester United, an all French affair as Lyon play Bordeaux, while Inter Milan face a trip to play CSKA Moscow. The two favourites, Barcelona and Man United, cannot meet before the final in Madrid 22 May.
Stamford Bridge, London (GenevaLunch) – The English internationals Frank Lampard and John Terry shook off any fatigue from their mid-week match against Egypt to beat Stoke 2-0 in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. Aston Villa came back from 2-0 down to win 2-4 thanks to a hat-trick by their Norwegian striker John Carew. They will meet Chelsea in the semi-finals.
Max Havelaar fair trade football
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Migros supermarket chain Friday 5 March starts selling a fair trade football made in Sialkot, in northeastern Pakistan, which has Max Havelaar fair trade certification. The men and women who produce the balls will receive a fair trade premium that gives them better access to healthcare and can be used to help send their children to school, says Migros.
Stamford Bridge, London (GenevaLunch) – Chelsea fell apart in the second half of a bizarre match against Manchester City which featured two penalties, one for each side, and two players being sent off, both from Chelsea. The first big moment was a non-event, when Wayne Bridge refused to shake hands with John Terry. The next 40 minutes were tedious, with Chelsea having most of the play but making few chances. Frank Lampard put Chelsea ahead after a neat pass from Joe Cole.
Carlos Tevez then managed to make idiots of the Chelsea defence, latching on to a clearance from Wayne Bridge he shot past John Terry and then mis-hit a shot past Henrique Hilario, the aptly named Chelsea goalkeeper.
Nyon, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Half of the debt owed by European football clubs is owed by British clubs, the Nyon-based European football association Uefa is expected to say in an upcoming report, The European Club Footballing Landscape. A copy of the report has been seen by the Guardian, the newspaper writes in a lengthy article that looks at football club budgets. It says that “When it publishes the report in the coming weeks, Uefa will present it as authoritative evidence of the need for its Financial Fair Play rules, agreed in principle by the major clubs and leagues, which will require clubs to break even financially from 2012-13.”
Warsaw, Poland (GenevaLunch) - England and Switzerland were both drawn in the same group for the qualifying round of the UEFA 2012 Euro championships. The other teams in the group are Bulgaria, Wales and Montenegro. England manager Fabio Capello claimed it was a difficult group, not the opinion of most observers. He was irritated that the draw was overshadowed by the continuing scandal related to sacked England captain John Terry.
Perhaps the toughest group contains Portugal, Denmark and Norway. France face Romania, while Germany meet Turkey. Scotland are with Spain and the Czech Republic while Italy and Serbia provide a stern test for Northern Ireland. Group E includes Netherlands, Sweden, Finland and Hungary.
Miami, Florida (GenevaLunch) – Some said it was a ragtag team of losers, but those voices died down when New Orleans won the Super Bowl for the first time in the US football game’s history. The Saints defeated the Indianapolis Colts for the National Football League (NFL) title, 31-17. Drew Brees was named Most Valuable Player. The Shreveport Times celebrated with a “Won dat Supa Beauxl” headline and Ad Age celebrated by offering the public all the ads from the game as videos online.
Links to other sites: Ad Age, Super Bowl ads, Reuters, Shreveport Times,
Chelsea, London, England (GenevaLunch) - Chelsea put on a superb show to crush Sunderland 7-2 despite having their star striker away at the African Nations Cup. Nicolas Anelka and Frank Lampard each got two while Florent Malouda, Ashley Cole and Michael Ballack scored the others. Meanwhile Didier Drogba scored for Ivory Coast as they beat Ghana 3-1.
Manchester United beat Burnley 3-0 to stay second in the Premier League. Cesc Fabregas was in fine form as Arsenal won 0-2 at Bolton. Spurs stay fourth despite a dull 0-0 draw at home to Hull. Everton beat Manchester City 2-0 and Liverpool again conceded a late goal as they were held 1-1 at Stoke, increasing the pressure on manager Rafael Benitez.
Links to other sites: Premier League
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The world football federation’s (Fifa) disciplinary committee is holding a hearing Monday 18 January to consider Thierry Henry ’s famous handball that gave France rather than Ireland a place in the World Cup. The executive committee of Fifa in December asked the disciplinary body to review the incident that caused an uproar and prompted the Football Association of Ireland to demand a replay or even to consider adding Ireland as a 33rd team.
Angola will continue to host football’s African Cup of Nations, but Togo confirmed that it is pulling out of the Cup after a deadly attack on its team by separatists in northern Angola, 9 January. Three non-playing members of the Togo team delegation died in the attack and the rest of the group has flown home but the team has reportedly asked that its slot remain open.The tournament opened Sunday 10 January with a “thrilling” match, reports AllAfrica, with Mali “forcing a stunning 4-4 draw.|
Links to other sites: AllAfrica, Financial Times
Old Trafford, Manchester, England (GenevaLunch) - It was like turning the clock back nearly four decades as Leeds traveled to Old Trafford and won 0-1 in the third round of the FA Cup. It was their first win since 1981 at the home of the current champions. Manchester manager Sir Alex Ferguson was critical of his players for their lack of commitment. Chelsea strolled past Watford 5-0 and are now the firm favourites for the Cup. Arsenal came from behind to be at West Ham 1-2.
Hull, England (GenevaLunch) - Manchester United pulled back two precious points on leaders Chelsea when they won 1-3 at Hull City with a powerful display led by Wayne Rooney. Chelsea were held to a goal-less draw at Birmingham on Saturday and face a tough game on Monday 28 December against Fulham.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Argentina’s Lionel Messi and Brazil’s Marta have been named best male and female football player of the year. The weather was glacial in Zurich, but the atmosphere warm at the city’s Kongresshaus Monday night 21 December, where the world football federation, Fifa, handed out its top annual honours. The Fifa Fair Play Award went to English player and coach Sir Bobby Robson, who died in July 2009; his wife accepted the award. Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo won the inaugural FIFA Puskás Award for the most outstanding goal of the 2008-09 season.
Fulham, London, England (GenevaLunch) - Manchester United lost another Premier League game when they were comprehensively beaten 3-0 by Roy Hodgson’s Fulham. The London manager, who once coached the Swiss national team, took full advantage of the shaky Manchester defense which was weakened by many injured absentees. Chelsea were only able to manage a 1-1 draw at West Ham, and this was thanks to a dubious penalty decision. Frank Lampard took it three times before the referee was satisfied. Chelsea now lead Man United by four points.
Manchester City won 4-3 against Sunderland but it was not enough to save the job of manager Mark Hughes, who is being replaced by Roberto Mancini, ex-manager of Inter Milan. Arsenal beat Hull 3-0 to take third place while Aston Villa are next after beating Stoke 1-0.
Links to other sites: Premier League, Times, UK
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A referee who suspended in a football betting investigation has been cleared, reports the Canadian Press. Referee Anton Genov of Bulgaria was suspended by the Nyon-based Uefa (European football federation) after it spotted irregular betting patterns in a 14 November match between Macedonia and Canada, But Fifa, the Zurich-based international football body which has been working for the past six months with an early warning system, says it has found no evidence of suspicious bets.
Nyon, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - All eyes in the Champions League football world are on Nyon today, with the final-16 draw at noon for the first knockout round. Seven of Europe’s top teams figure on the list of 16, and eight nations are represented.
(video) Chelsea, London (GenevaLunch) - There were five score draws, two away wins and only one home win in a weekend of upsets in the Premier League. Chelsea displayed unusual frailty in defense as they allowed Everton to take a 3-3 draw, the same score that Manchester City managed at Bolton Wanderers. Manor Figueroa scored the best goal of the day for Wigan against Stoke with a free kick from inside his own half. Saturday’s results left Manchester United with the chance of taking the top spot but they lost 0-1 at home against Aston Villa. Arsenal came from behind to win 1-2 at Liverpool.
In Spain, Real Madrid won 2-3 at Valencia to stay five points behind Barcelona with a game in hand.
Links to other sites: Premier League, Guardian
Manual Figueroa scored the best goal of the day:
Capetown, South Africa (GenevaLunch) - Switzerland was the last ball taken out at the draw for the finals of the World Cup to be held in South Africa in 2010. They will meet Spain, Honduras and Chile in the first stage, with two teams going through to the next round. France are in the group headed by South Africa, along with Mexico and Uruguay. The host nation will be hard-pressed to make it to the second round. England will meet the USA, Algeria and Slovenia. The toughest group is G, which has Brazil, Portugal, Côte d’Ivoire and North Korea.
In the Premier League Manchester United powered their way past West Ham, winning 0-4.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Football fans the world over are waiting for the 17:00 (local time, South Africa) Final Draw to see which teams play each other in the 2010 World Cup matches in South Africa. Once the draws are made, the mad rush to get tickets will begin. Meanwhile, Zurich-based Fifa (world football federation) announced 3 December that it has signed a media rights agreement with Sony for the latter to provide 3D versions of as many as 25 matches.
Links to other sites: Fifa, TelevisionBroadcast
Camp Nou, Barcelona (GenevaLunch) - Chelsea confirmed their place as the top London club for this season with a confident 0-3 away win at Arsenal. Didier Drogba scored twice as the Blues opened up a five-point lead at the top of the Premier League. The other two derby matches played on Sunday also ended as away wins: Everton lost 0-2 to Liverpool while Wolves went down 0-1 to Birmingham.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt has benefited from an outpouring of nationalist fervour following the Egyptian soccer team’s loss to Algeria after two qualifying matches 14 and 18 November. The fallout from the football matches has included Egyptians being attacked in Algiers, Algeria, and a rupture in diplomatic ties between the two countries. Mubarak addressed the country’s parliament Saturday 21 November and vowed to protect the dignity of Egyptian citizens living abroad, to loud applause.
The incidents surrounding the arrival of the Algerian football team in Cairo, Egypt 14 November for a World Cup qualifying match with arch-rivals Egypt are to be investigated by the disciplinary committee of the world football regulatory body, Fifa announced 19 November. The bus carrying the Algerian team was beset by rioters and stoned as it moved from the airport to the hotel.
(GenevaLunch) - Tottenham moved up to fourth spot in the Premier League with a stunning 9-1 victory over Wigan. Peter Crouch opened the scoring for Spurs but it was an amazing five-goal spell by Jermain Defoe, including a seven minute hat-trick, which determined the match. At the top of the table Chelsea maintained their five-point lead with a routine 4-0 win over Wolverhampton while Manchester United beat Everton 3-0 to take second place. Arsenal lost 1-0 at Sunderland while Liverpool could only manage a 2-2 draw at home to Manchester City. Hull City and West Ham played out a 3-3 thriller.
The Swiss missed out on a second world title when their beach football team lost to Brazil in the final.
In the Swiss Cup Lausanne beat Lugano 2-1 while Neuchatel Xamax lost to Young Boys 0-1.
Links to other sites: Premier League, The Sun.
(parody video) Nyon, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Uefa confirmed in a press conference that there have been a number of arrests by German police in an investigation into a massive match fixing scandal involving about 200 matches. Media reports say there have also been two arrests in Switzerland, unconfirmed by Uefa. There have been more than 50 police raids in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Britain. The investigations were triggered by suspicions of rigged betting, especially in the German, Turkish, Belgian, Croatian, Austrian, Slovenian, Hungarian and Bosnian leagues, in the qualifying rounds of the Champions League and Europa League.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – International football federation Fifa has dashed Irish hopes for a 2010 World Cup qualifying re-match, saying in a brief statement that it had replied to a request for a re-match from the Football Association of Ireland: “In the reply, Fifa states that the result of the match cannot be changed and the match cannot be replayed. As is clearly mentioned in the Laws of the Game, during matches, decisions are taken by the referee and these decisions are final.”
Ireland put in the request after France won Wednesday 2-1 in extra-time when France captain Thierry Henry used his hand to stop the ball from going out of play.
Paris, France (GenevaLunch) - Thierry Henry handed France their ticket to the 2010 World Cup, literally, as he controlled the ball with his hand before passing it to William Gallas to score the equalizing goal against Ireland in their play-off match. Somehow the referee and linesman failed to see the fault, which was clearly deliberate. Ireland dominated the match in the first half and took the lead with a goal by Robbie Keane and could have easily gone further ahead before they were hit by the French version of the “hand of God.”
In the other games Algeria qualified at the expense of Egypt, Greece beat Ukraine and Portugal won both games against Bosnia-Herzegovenia. The surprise of the evening was Russia being eliminated by Slovenia.
Links to other sites: Fifa, Guardian, Irish Times
