For the fourth time this season, Schalke have fired their manager. They have also become the first team in Bundesliga history to hire five managers in one season. After a 5-1 loss to Stuttgart, manager Christian Gross and his assistant were sacked, and rightfully so. The team from Gelsenkirchen haven’t won since early January, which was also their only league victory of the season. However, at some point Schalke can’t…
Throughout Premier League history, Welsh teams’ impact and achievements have been overlooked. Swansea City won the EFL Cup, now known as the Carabao Cup, in 2013 and have finished as FA Cup runner-ups. Cardiff City won the English FA Cup in 1927 and have finished as runners-up twice, most recently in 2008 and finished as EFL Cup runners-up the season prior to Swansea’s victory, losing on penalties to a Liverpool…
Well, that went well. It’s no secret that Barcelona have had their struggles recently, both on and off the pitch. Lionel Messi is looking increasingly likely to leave after his contract was leaked, the club are in massive debt, and both Atletico and Real Madrid are ahead of them in La Liga. However, all this aside, Barcelona had been enjoying a decent Champions League campaign. They did have a fairly…
This season’s Champions League group stages had several surprises in store for us. In Group B, Real Madrid lost two games to Shakhtar Donetsk but still advanced at the cost of Inter Milan. In Group C, defending Portuguese champions FC Porto finished second in the group, surprising Marseille and Olympiacos. In-form Manchester United were unable to pass Leipzig and PSG and will instead play in the Europa League. The first…
In just a month, the regular season of the Greek Super League will be over. The Greek Super League undoubtedly has one of the weirdest league systems in Europe. Each team plays a home-and-away match against every other team, leading to a total of 26 matches. Most leagues in Europe do this, but majority have more teams and play 30 or more games. The Premier League, for instance, plays 38…
With the winter transfer window closed in most countries and the leagues at midpoint in the season, now is a great time to look at who could be promoted across the world. Brentford and Norwich are leading the way in the English Championship, and in Germany’s Bundesliga 2, Holstein Kiel and Hamburg have the advantage. In Spain, Espanyol and Mallorca look poised to return to La Liga and Mario Balotelli’s…
In 2018, the Polish national team qualified for the World Cup. This was no big deal considering that 31 other teams qualified, but for Poland it was huge. In 1974-1982, for three consecutive World Cups, Poland finished as one of the top five teams at the tournament. They finished 3rd two of those times. In 1974 they beat mighty Brazil 1-0 in the third-placed game after being denied a place…
It’s hard to believe, but it has been only two years since France won the World Cup. More importantly, there are less than two years remaining until 32 teams head to Qatar to decide who are the new world champions. Because of coronavirus, these qualifiers will be unlike any others. With all of the qualifying fixtures to be played within two years, it will come down to depth and there…
Recently, many of Europe’s traditional top leagues have come under fire. Leagues in France, Italy, and Germany have been called non-competitive, being dominated by PSG, Juventus, and Bayern Munich respectively. In Spain, La Liga is also considered not very competitive, usually just a two-horse race between Barcelona and Real Madrid. Because of this, fans have started to focus on the English Premier League. After all, five different teams have won…
In just one month, World Cup qualifying in North America will begin – but it won’t look like it used to. The format has changed. Originally, only the top six teams in North America (as of July) would advance. Those rankings would go up or down according to how well (or poorly) teams did in the friendlies: that’s usually why they play so many. But due to the coronavirus pandemic,…
