Posts Tagged ‘England’

Soccer Bargains: All EXPIRING CONTRACT Players for 2009

Sunday, January 4th, 2009

Fabio Cannavaro, Carlos Tevez, Michael Ballack, Michael Owen, Mark Van Bommel, Fred… these are but a few of the players whose contract is set to expire at the end of the season. And with the january transfer window practically at our doorstep, it is time to give these “old timers” a chance to prove they still are champion material. Time to make that zero-cost buy to win you that elusive trophy, cup, or championship title (or in the worst cases, save you from relegation).

In other words: it’s “Bosman Bonanza” time, with some real bargains to be made…

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Soccer “Four Nations” Tournament 2009: An Idea for France, Italy, Spain, and Germany (and maybe England)…

Saturday, September 20th, 2008

You know the Rugby Six nations Championship? The one involving the England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales rugby national teams and taking place every year?

Well, the French Football Federation (FFF) and Club France 2010 (the management company taking care of all things Les Bleus till the 2010 World Cup) have had this crazy idea: why not do the same thing for soccer? And make it a regular occurrence?

Enter the Four Nations Soccer tournament, featuring France, Spain, Italy, and Germany (and potentially England as well).

It’s not the first time France has had this sort of initiative: remember the Tournoi de France back in 1997? Held shortly before the France 98 World Cup, this 4-Team tournament reunited France, England, Brazil and Italy for some very good footy showdowns. It’s in this tournament that Roberto Carlos scored his famous insane-bending free-kick.

Anyways, “there isn’t a concrete project as of yet, just an ideasays FFF president Jean-Pierre Escalettes. “But it would perfect to exploit the free period between June 6 and 10, as all of these 4 nations have no international fixtures during that time” he added. “It’s such a shame that the big European nations face each other so rarely. If we can change that we should. The tournament could then be transformed into a regular fixture, to take place in France (or another European country) every year or ever two years“.

For Spain and Italy, who will be involved in the FIFA Confederations Cup 2009 from June 14 to 18, this would also be a perfect opportunity to get some pre-tournament training/test-matches…

What do you think? Good idea? Or do we already have too many soccer tournaments lying around?