Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Interesting Soccer Club Names from Around the World

These are some of the more interesting, unfortunate, and amusing club soccer team names from around the world. All of the clubs listed play in the highest professional division in their respective countries.

Club Name Nation
Thailand Tobacco Monopoly Thailand
Motor Action Zimbabwe
Green Buffaloes Zambia
Joe Public Trinidad and Tobago
Toto African Tanzania
Young Boys Switzerland
Eleven Men in Flight Swaziland
Robin Hood Suriname
Wikki Tourists Nigeria
Semen Padang Indonesia
Ranipokhari Corner Team Nepal
MyTEAM Malaysia
Big Bullets Malawi
Maseru Naughty Boys Lesotho
World Hope Kenya
Churchill Brothers India
Sunshine Stars Nigeria
Hard Rock Grenada
King Faisal Babes Ghana
Steve Biko Gambia
Ethiopian Coffee Ethiopia
Revolutionary Conquerors Belize
Khan Research Laboratories Pakistan
Eagle Beaks Malawi


I think MLS in Seattle really missed out, they could have been the Seattle Naughty Boys.

Just in case you didn't know, Young Boys in Switzerland play their home games at the Wankdorf.

I wonder if the band TOTO is a fan of the Tanzanian Premier League.

The club from Indonesia unfortunately loses the "Padang" on the official FIFA website.

Khan Research Laboratories [KRL], is Pakistan's main nuclear weapons laboratory as well as an emerging center for long-range missile development. Oh, and it's an interesting name for a soccer club too.

Feel free to pass along any other fun club names you've heard in the comments.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Soccer Players From Argentina in MLS

This is a list of the players from Argentina currently in MLS. I've done lists similar to this in the past, but I received an email requesting that I do a list with only the Argentine players. I've listed each player's hometown and the club that they were at before making the move to Major League Soccer.

Facundo Erpen COL
Hometown: Gualeguaychu, Argentina
Club: Talleres de Cordoba (Argentina)

Christian Gomez COL
Hometown: Ramos Mejia, Argentina
Club: Arsenal de Sarandi (Argentina)

Guillermo Barros Schelotto CLB
Hometown: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Club: Boca Juniors (Argentina)

Nicolas Hernandez CLB
Hometown: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Club: Cobreloa (Chile)

Gino Padula CLB
Hometown: Lanus, Argentina
Club: Montpelier HSC (France)

Marcelo Gallardo DC
Hometown: Martinez, Argentina
Club: Paris-Saint Germain (France)

Franco Niell DC
Hometown: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Club: Argentinos Junior (Argentina)

Gonzalo Peralta DC
Hometown: Munro, Argentina
Club: Almirante Brown (Argentina)

Pablo Ricchetti DAL
Hometown: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Club: Quilmes (Argentina)

Dario Sala DAL
Hometown: Cordoba, Argentina
Club: Arsenal de Sarandi (Argentina)

Franco Caraccio HOU
Hometown: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Club: Arsenal de Sarandi (Argentina)

Eloy Colombano KC
Hometown: Pehuajo, Argentina
Club: Defensa y Justicia (Argentina)

Claudio Lopez KC
Hometown: Rio Tercera, Argentina
Club: Racing Club (Argentina)

Carlos Marinelli KC
Hometown: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Club: Sporting Braga (Portugal)

Matias Cordoba RSL
Hometown: Lanus, Argentina
Club: Club Atletico Tigre (Argentina)

Fabian Espindola RSL
Hometown: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Club: Sociedad Deportivo Quite (Ecuador)

Matias Mantilla RSL
Hometown: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Club: Defensores de Belgrano (Argentina)

Javier Morales RSL
Hometown: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Club: Salamanca (Spain)

Who will be in the Premiership next year?

These are the remaining fixtures for the clubs fighting relegation in the Premiership and the teams looking for promotion from the Championship.

Can Fulham make a miracle escape?

In the Championship, It looks like West Brom has sewn up an automatic promotion with a large lead in goal differential and only one game left. Hull and Stoke are battling it out for the other automatic promotion spot while Bristol City has earned one of the playoff spots. The other five clubs on the list are shooting for the two remaining playoff spots.

-- Premiership --

Wigan Athletic 37 pts -17 GD
Away to Aston Villa (6) LWWWD
Home to Man United (1) WDWDL

Middlesbrough 36 pts -19 GD
Home Portsmouth (7) WWDLL
Home Manchester City (9) LLWWL

Bolton 33 pts -20 GD
Home Sunderland (13) WWLLW
Away Chelsea (2) WWDWW

Reading 33 pts -28 GD
Home Tottenham (11) LDDDD
Away Derby (20) LDLLL

Birmingham City 32 pts -17 GD
Away Fulham (19) DLWLW
Home Blackburn (8) DDLDW

Fulham 30 pts -25 GD
Home Birmingham (18) WLDLD
Away Portsmouth (7) WWDLL

Derby County Relegated




-- Championship --
1 and 2 Automatic Promotion
3 through 6 enter Playoffs


West Brom 78 pts 31 GD
Away QPR (14) DDDWL

Stoke 78 pts 14 GD
Home Leicester (21) WLDWL

Hull 75 pts 19 GD
Away Ipswich (8) LDWDD

Bristol City 71 pts -2 GD
Home Preston (15) WDLDD

Watford 69 pts 6 GD
Away Blackpool (18) DLLWL

Crystal Palace 68 pts 11 GD
Home Burnley (11) WLLWD

Wolverhampton 67 pts 4 GD
Home Plymouth (10) LLDDW

Ipswich 66 pts 8 GD
Home Hull (3) WDWLW

Sheffield United 66 pts 6 GD
Away Southampton (22) LWDLD


Predictions?

Monday, April 28, 2008

Top Five Soccer Commercials

If you've watched a lot of the past World Cups on TV, you probably also catch the soccer related commercials that they play over and over again between the games. I'm not sure how much airtime these got outside of the USA (especially the second one), but these are some of the best soccer commercials I can remember dating back to USA '94. The commercials start and end with a couple of classic Brazil team commercials. Ah, the memories.












As long as I'm on the topic of commercials, I was reading the entertaining soccer (and news, music, clothing, etc.) blog "The Original Winger" and saw this new Nike commercial. Pretty cool.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

World Cup Brothers

This is a list of brothers that have been included on their nation's World Cup rosters in the same year. (since Italia '90)


Egypt - 1990
Ibrahim Hassan
Hossam Hassan

Netherlands - 1990
Erwin Koeman
Ronald Koeman

United Arab Emirates - 1990
Eissa Meir Abdulrahman
Ibrahim Meir Abdulrahman

Khalil Ghanim Mubarak
Mubarak Ghanim Mubarak

Netherlands - 1994/1998
Frank de Boer
Ronald de Boer

Belgium - 1998
Emile Mpenza
Mbo Mpenza

Denmark - 1998
Michael Laudrup
Brian Laudrup

Norway - 1998
Jostein Flo
Tore Andre Flo

Scotland - 1998
Billy McKinlay
Tosh McKinlay

Poland - 2002
Marcin Zewlakow
Michal Zewlakow

Sweden - 2002
Patrick Andersson
Daniel Andersson

Cote d'Ivoire - 2006
Arouna Koné
Bakari Koné

Kolo Touré
Yaya Touré

Croatia - 2002/2006
Niko Kovac
Robert Kovac

Switzerland - 2006
Philipp Degen
David Degen

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Soccer Players of Nigerian Descent

This is a list of current players that could have played internationally for Nigeria, but have chosen to play for other nations around the world. This list includes both players who can trace their origins to Nigeria and those who have attained foreign nationality during their career after being born in Nigeria.





AUSTRIA - Rubin Okotie (U21)

CANADA - Stephen Ademolu (2 caps)

ENGLAND - Gabriel Agbonlahor (U21), Shola Ameobi (U21), Carlton Cole (U21), Ugo Ehiogu (4 caps), Nedum Onuoha (U21)

GERMANY - Patrick Owomoyela (11 caps)

HONG KONG - Barnes Colly Ezeh (1 cap), Akandu Lawrence (7 caps)

ITALY - Stefano Okaka Chuka (U19)

POLAND - Emmanuel Olisadebe (25 caps)

SINGAPORE - Agu Casmir (21 caps), Itimi Dickson (19 caps)

SPAIN - Stephen Obayan Sunday (U20)

TOGO - Emmanuel Adebayor (37 caps), Emmanuel Mathias (4 caps)

USA - Oguchi Onyewu (28 caps), Amobi Okugo (U20), Amaechi Igwe (U20)



If you know of more current players of Nigerian descent that could have played for Nigeria but instead played elsewhere, leave a comment and I'll add them to the list.

Friday, April 25, 2008

Key Players on 2008 Olympic Soccer Teams - Group C and D

This post is part 2 (part 1) of a compilation of key players listed at the FIFA Mens Olympic Soccer website from each qualified Olympic nation. I've filtered through all of the seperate team pages and have provided links to each FIFA key player's wikipedia page along with listing their current club and position.


Group C

China
Dong Fangzhuo - FW, Manchester United
Zheng Zhi - MF, Charlton Athletic
Feng Xiaoting - DF, Dalian Shide

New Zealand
Steven Old - DF, Wellington Phoenix
Jeremy Brockie - FW, Hawke's Bay United
Costa Barbarouses - FW, Wellington Phoenix

Brazil
Lucas - MF, Liverpool FC
Alexandre Pato - FW, AC Milan
Marcelo - LB, Real Madrid

Belgium
Steven Defour - MF, Standard Liege
Vincent Kompany - DF, Hamburger SV
Moussa Dembele - FW, AZ Alkmaar


Group D

Korea Republic
Park Chu-Young - FW/MF, FC Seoul
Lee Keun-Ho - MF, Daegu FC
Kim Jin-Kyu - DF, FC Seoul

Cameroon
Andre Bikey - RB, Reading FC
Stephane Mbia - MF, Stade Rennais
Alexander Song - MF/DF, Arsenal FC

Honduras
Hendry Thomas - MF, Olimpia
Jefferson Bernardez - FW, Motagua
Georgie Welcome - FW, No Club

Italy
Giuseppe Rossi - FW, Villareal
Marco Motta - DF, Torino
Claudio Marchisio - MF, Empoli

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Key Players on 2008 Olympic Soccer Teams - Group A and B

This post is a compilation of the key players listed at the FIFA Mens Olympic Soccer website from each qualified Olympic nation. I've filtered through all of the seperate team pages and have provided links to each FIFA key player's wikipedia page along with listing their current club and position. This post is for Group A and B, I'll be posting group C and D in a seperate post.


Group A

Cote d'Ivoire
Salomon Kalou - WF, Chelsea FC
Gervinho - FW, Le Mans
Sekou Cisse - FW, Roda JC

Argentina
Federico Fazio - DF, Sevilla
Ever Banega - MF, Valencia
Lautaro Acosta - MF/FW, Lanus

Australia
Mark Milligan - MF/DF, Sydney FC
Nathan Burns - FW, Adelaide United
Bruce Djite - FW, Adelaide United

Serbia
Aleksandar Kolarov - DF, Lazio
Stefan Babovic - MF, FC Nantes
Zoran Tosic - MF, FK Partizan


Group B

Netherlands
Ryan Babel - LW/RW, Liverpool FC
Royston Drenthe - LW/LB, Real Madrid
Hedwiges Maduro - MF, Valencia

Nigeria
Victor Anichebe - FW, Everton FC
John Obi Mikel - MF, Chelsea FC
Taye Taiwo - LB, Marseille

Japan
Sota Hirayama - FW, FC Tokyo
Takuya Honda - MF, Shimizu S-Pulse
Atsuto Uchida - DF, Kashima Antlers

USA
Freddy Adu - MF, Benfica
Jozy Altidore - FW, Red Bull New York
Jonathan Spector - DF, West Ham United

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

World Soccer League Schedule Chart

A chart showing the times of the year that various world soccer leagues take place.


Click to Enlarge




I'm glad MLS takes place through the summer, although from reading message forums many MLS fans seem to disagree. It allows for a year round club soccer fix, and in the US it doesn't compete with as many sports as it would in the Fall and Winter. I just wish they'd take a couple of weeks off during the big international tournaments in mid-summer.


I had to throw in the old school video game reference when I saw what the chart looked like. What was the name of that game again?

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Primera División de México - Top Scorers

To me, the gap seems to be slowly narrowing between the top MLS teams and clubs in Mexico. With all of the recent and upcoming "important" (depending on who you ask) matches between them, I've been making an effort to familiarize myself with the Premier Division in Mexico. Outside of occasionally catching a Chivas-America 'Clásico de Clásicos', I can say I never really paid much attention to the league south of the border in the past.

I kind of wish I could watch some games with English commentary to get to know the teams better. Maybe I should try to improve my Español beyond counting to ten and the words copa, partido, gol, and liga. (I actually know a bit more than that, but you get the point)



Here are the top 4 scorers from the past few tournaments in Mexico.


Clausura 2008 (Through 15 games played)
Humberto Suazo - Chile 11 Monterrey
Claudio Graf - Argentina 9 Veracruz
Vicente Matías Vuoso - Argentina 9 Santos
Omar Bravo - Mexico 8 Chivas

Apertura 2007
Alfredo Moreno - Argentina 18 San Luis
Giancarlo Maldonado - Venezuela 15 Atlante
Esteban Solari - Argentina 14 UNAM
Daniel Luduena - Argentina 13 Santos

Clausura 2007
Omar Bravo - Mexico 11 Chivas
Juan Carlos Cacho - Mexico 11 Pachuca
Javier Campora - Argentina 10 Chiapas
Cuauhtemoc Blanco - Mexico 9 America

Apertura 2006
Bruno Marioni - Argentina 15 Toluca
Omar Bravo - Mexico 11 Chivas
Miguel Sabah - Mexico 10 Cruz Azul
Kleber Boas - Brazil 9 Necaxa

Clausura 2006
Salvador Cabanas - Paraguay 14 Chiapas
Sebastian Abreu - Uruguay 11 Dorados
Oscar Gonzalez - Arg/Mex 10 San Luis
Emmanuel Villa - Argentina 10 Atlas

Apertura 2005
Walter Gaitán - Argentina 14 Tigres
Guillermo Franco - Mexico 13 Monterrey
Kléber Boas - Brazil 13 America
Sebastian Abreu - Uruguay 11 Monterrey

Clausura 2005
Vicente Matías Vuoso - Argentina 16 Santos
Claudio López - Argentina 14 America
Kléber Boas - Brazil 14 America
Walter Gaitán - Argentina 13 Tigres


It's interesting to see that Mexican players are not regularly leading the league in goals and are not even in the top 4 goal scorers in great numbers.


Where are they now?
Sebastian Abreu - River Plate (Argentina)
Kleber Boas - Santos (Brazil)
Claudio Lopez - KC Wizards (USA)
Cuauhtemoc Blanco - Chicago Fire (USA)
Guillermo Franco - Villareal (Spain)
Emmanuel Villa - Derby County (England)

Monday, April 21, 2008

US National Team Losses since 2002

These are all of the US national team losses since 2002, not including World Cup Finals games.




2-4 Brazil Chicago, IL, USA Sep 07
0-1 Sweden Goteborg, Sweden Aug 07
0-1 Colombia Barquisimeto, Venezuela (CA’07) Jul 07
1-3 Paraguay Barinas, Venezuela (CA’07) Jul 07
1-4 Argentina Maracaibo, Venezuela (CA’07) Jun 07
0-1 Morocco Nashville, TN, USA May 06
1-4 Germany Dortmund, Germany Mar 06
0-3 Costa Rica San Juan, Costa Rica (WCQ) Oct 05
1-2 England Chicago, IL, USA May 05
1-2 Mexico Mexico City, Mexico (WCQ) Mar 05
0-1 Netherlands Amsterdam, Netherlands Feb 04
1-2 Brazil Foxboro, MA, USA (GC 03) Jul 03
0-1 Brazil Lyon, France (Confed Cup) Jun 03
1-2 Turkey St. Etienne, France (Confed Cup) Jun 03
0-1 Argentina Miami, FL, USA Feb 03
0-2 Netherlands Foxboro, MA, USA May 02
1-2 Ireland Dublin, Ireland Apr 02
2-4 Germany Rostock, Germany Mar 02
0-1 Italy Catania, Italy Feb 02


Losses on US Soil: Morocco, England, Brazil, Argentina, and Netherlands.

If I'm remembering correctly, that bad Morocco game was lost in the 90th minute. Steve Cherundolo lost the ball and the Morocco player crossed to a wide open teammate who knocked it in. I also remember Eddie Johnson shanking a wide open shot in that one. Remember when Maradona said EJ could be the next Eusebio?


Just so I don't have to feel too bad about those Copa America losses, here is a reminder of the roster the US sent to that tournament. HaHa, Eddie Gaven.

2007 Copa America Roster By Position (2007 clubs listed)

Goalkeepers – Brad Guzan (Chivas USA), Kasey Keller (Borussia Moenchengladbach)
Defenders – Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Bobby Boswell (D.C. United), Dan Califf (Aalborg BK), Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City Wizards), Jay DeMerit (Watford FC), Drew Moor (FC Dallas), Heath Pearce (FC Nordsjælland), Marvell Wynne (Toronto FC)
Midfielders – Kyle Beckerman (Colorado Rapids), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo), Benny Feilhaber (Hamburger SV), Eddie Gaven (Columbus Crew), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Justin Mapp (Chicago Fire), Lee Nguyen (PSV Eindhoven), Ben Olsen (D.C.United)
Forwards – Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF), Herculez Gomez (Colorado Rapids), Eddie Johnson (Kansas City Wizards), Taylor Twellman (New England Revolution)


Well, the US has England at Wembley, Spain in Santander, and Argentina at Giants stadium coming up in the next couple of months. Will I have to update this list? I'm going to hope for a 1-1-1 record as a minimum out of those games. Unless EJ really is the next Eusebio. (For some reason, I think Eusebio at 24 would be able to make the current bench at Fulham, seeing as he was 23 when he won European Footballer of the Year while playing at European Cup runners up Benfica)

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Soccer Shirt Collecting

Click to Enlarge

Anyone know what year that Wizards shirt is from? I know it's from the early years of MLS but I didn't have much time and couldn't find the exact year on my quick look.

In the small town where I live there are approximately zero people that would have any interest in my jersey collection or soccer in general, so I thought I'd post some of the favorite shirts from my collection here at the blog. I know, not very exciting to anyone but me, but look you must :)

Any gotta-have shirt suggestions for the collection? Anyone else out there collect shirts?

Just to make the post more useful, here are my favorite places to look for shirts:


Classic Football Shirts
Subside Sports
eBay

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Largest Stadiums in the World with Regular Club Soccer

These are the highest capacity stadiums in the world that host regular club soccer matches. Minimum 80,000 capacity.



King Fahd Stadium - Saudi Arabia


[Edit: Added Estádio do Maracanã]

Salt Lake Stadium - Kolkata, India
Mohun Bagan Athletic Club
East Bengal Club
Mohammedan Sporting
120,000

Estadio Azteca - Mexico City, Mexico
Club America
114,465

Camp Nou - Barcelona, Spain
FC Barcelona
98,772

Azadi Stadium - Tehran Iran
Esteghlal FC
Persepolis
90,000

Estádio do Maracanã - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Flamengo
Fluminense
88,992

Luzhniki Stadium - Moscow Russia
Torpedo Moscow
Spartak Moscow
84,745

San Siro - Milan, Italy
AC Milan
Inter Milan
82,955

Stadio Olimpico - Rome, Italy
AS Roma
Lazio
82,000

Atatürk Olympic Stadium - Istanbul, Turkey
Istanbul Büyükşehir Belediyespor
81,283

Westfalenstadion (Signal Iduna Park) - Dortmund, Germany
Borussia Dortmund
81,264

Santiago Bernabeu - Madrid, Spain
Real Madrid
80,354

Giants Stadium - East Rutherford, New Jersey
Red Bull New York
80,242

King Fahd International Stadium - Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Al Nasr
Al Hilal
Al Shibab
80,000

Morumbi - São Paulo, Brazil
São Paulo FC
80,000

June 11 Stadium - Tripoli, Libya
Al-Ahly
Al-Ittihad
Al Madina Tripoli
80,000

Friday, April 18, 2008

2008 MLS "Mini" Designated Players

These are the 2008 MLS players that have the highest annual salary outside of the league's Designated Players. (Not Including "Grandfathered" players, Landon Donovan and Carlos Ruiz.)


$430,000 - Christian Gomez (COL)
$400,000 - Duilio Davino (DAL)
$375,000 - Guillermo Barros Schelotto (CLB)
$350,008 - Taylor Twellman (NE)
$337,300 - Laurent Robert (TOR)
$330,000 - Carl Robinson (TOR)
$325,000 - Shalrie Joseph (NE)
$324,999 - Dwayne DeRosario (HOU)
$318,000 - Pablo Mastroeni (COL)
$313,125 - Luciano Emilio (DC)


These are the "Guaranteed Compensation" numbers.

For me, Carl Robinson is the most out of place player on that list. Many of these players have been league MVP's or are at least MVP caliber players. It remains to be seen if Laurent Robert and Duilio Davino will be worth their high salaries.

I thought Amado Guevara might make this list. He isn't listed in the salaries yet but this Soccer America article mentions he'll make about $250,000. If John Carver and Mo can keep him on track, Toronto seems to have made a great deal signing the former league MVP.

Just for the sake of comparison
Minimum salary in:
NHL $475,000
NBA $427,163
MLB $390,000
NFL $285,000


MLS Salaries taken from the MLS Players Union Website

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Asian Soccer Players in Europe - Interactive Map

This is an interactive map showing all of the Asian players, not including Australians, in the top European Leagues.


Click on the Flag icons for the club and player names. Zoom in to see each player's home stadium. Click on View larger map for more navigation options.



View Larger Map

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

MLS Player Map: Mexico, Central America, and The Caribbean

A map and list of MLS players from Mexico, Central America, and The Caribbean.


Click to Enlarge



Listed by Team:

Chicago Fire
Andy Herron
Gonzalo Segares

Chivas USA
Atiba Harris
Francisco Mendoza
Claudio Suarez
Shavar Thomas

Columbus Crew
Ezra Hendrickson

Colorado Rapids
Omar Cummings

FC Dallas
Duilio Davino

Kansas City Wizards
Scott Sealy
Roger Espinoza

Los Angeles Galaxy
Carlos Ruiz

New England Revolution
Mauricio Castro
Argenis Fernandez
Shalrie Joseph
Khano Smith

New York Red Bulls
Dane Richards

San Jose Earthquakes
Gavin Glinton
Ivan Guerrero
Ryan Johnson

Toronto FC
Amado Guevara
Julius James
Tyrone Marshall
Marco Velez


Houston Dynamo, DC United, and Real Salt Lake currently have zero players from this region.

MLS South American Player Map

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Native Born Leading Goal Scorers

This table shows the nations that have had a drought of native born goal scoring leaders in their top-level leagues. The players listed must have been "born" in the country of their league to make the list. This means that Polish-born Miroslav Klose in Germany and Jamaican-born Jeff Cunningham in MLS didn't make the list, even though they both lead their leagues in scoring in 2006.

The table shows the last player to lead their home league in scoring.

Player Club Nation
Goals
Year
Michael Preetz Hertha Berlin Germany
23
1998-99
Kevin Phillips Sunderland England
30
1999-00
Diego Tristan Deportivo La Coruna Spain
21
2001-02
Djibril Cisse Auxerre France
26
2001-02
Naohiro Takahara Jubilo Iwata Japan
26
2002
Simão Sabrosa Benfica Portugal
18
2002-03
Markus Rosenberg Hamstads BK Sweden
14
2004
Taylor Twellman New England Revolution USA
17
2005
Steffen Hojer Viborg FF Denmark
16
2005-06
Dirk Kuyt Feyenoord Netherlands
24
2005-06


Serie A has had an Italian born top scorer since 2003-04, when Andriy Schevchenko led the league. David Trezeguet, Adrian Mutu, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are all close to the top this season though.

German Born Mario Gomez is three goals back of Luca Toni in the Bundesliga, it looks like another year may go by without a German born top scorer.

Jermaine Defoe has 12 goals, Cristiano Ronaldo has 28. I don't think he's going to catch up.

It looks like Lyon's Karim Benzema may end the six year French scoring title drought in Ligue 1, he leads the league with 17 goals currently, two more than trailing Mamadou Niang from Senegal.

Which American born player can take the MLS scoring crown this year?

Monday, April 14, 2008

South American Players in MLS - 2008

A map and list of the South American players currently in MLS.

Click to Enlarge




Listed by Team:

Chicago Fire
Bruno Menezes
Wilman Conde
Diego Gutierrez

Chivas USA
Paulo Nagamura

Colorado Rapids
Facundo Erpen
Christian Gomez
Rafael Gomes

Columbus Crew
Guillermo Barros Schelotto
Nicolas Hernandez
Gino Padula
Stefani Miglioranzi
Guilherme So
Alejandro Moreno

DC United
Marcelo Gallardo
Franco Niell
Gonzalo Peralta
Fred
Luciano Emilio
Gonzalo Martinez
Jaime Moreno
Jose Carvallo

FC Dallas
Pablo Ricchetti
Dario Sala
Ricardinho
Andre Rocha
Marcelo Saragosa
Juan Toja

Houston Dynamo
Franco Caraccio

Kansas City Wizards
Eloy Colombano
Claudio Lopez
Carlos Marinelli
Ivan Trujillo

Los Angeles Galaxy
Alvaro Pires

New York Red Bulls
Juan Pablo Angel
Oscar Echeverry

Real Salt Lake
Matias Cordoba
Fabian Espindola
Jamison Olave
Matias Mantilla
Javier Morales


New England, San Jose, and Toronto do not currently have any South American players.

Yo-Yo Clubs in Europe - Since 1958

This chart shows the most promoted and relegated clubs between the top two divisions of the major European leagues in the last 50 years. The middle column is showing the amount of times the clubs have moved up or down and the right column shows the last time a move between the top two divisions was made.




Club/Nation
Times Pro/Rel
Last Pro/Rel
England
Sunderland
16
Up 2007
Leicester City
13
Dn 2004
Crystal Palace
12
Dn 2005
Birmingham City
10
Up 2007
Manchester City
10
Up 2002
Norwich City
10
Dn 2005
France
RC Strasbourg
15
Up 2007
Stade Rennais
11
Up 1994
AS Nancy
11
Up 2005
Valenciennes FC
10
Up 2006
Lille OSC
10
Up 2000
FC Sochaux
10
Up 2001
Germany
Arminia Bielefeld
13
Up 2004
1.FC Nurnberg
12
Up 2004
VfL Bochum
11
Up 2006
Karlsruher SC
10
Up 2007
MSV Duisburg
10
Up 2007
KFC Uerdingen
10
Dn 1996
Italy
Atalanta
18
Up 2006
Brescia
16
Dn 2005
Bari
14
Dn 2001
Genoa
11
Up 2007
Hallas Verona
13
Dn 2002
Lecce
12
Dn 2006
Ascoli
10
Dn 2007
Lazio
10
Up 1988
Pisa
10
Dn 1991
Netherlands
FC Volendam
16
Dn 2004
FC Den Bosch
13
Dn 2005
Excelsior
11
Up 2006
De Graafschap
11
Up 2007
VVV
10
Up 2007
Scotland
Dunfermline Athletic
12
Dn 2007
Falkirk
12
Up 2005
Morton
10
Dn 1988
Spain
Celta Vigo
17
Dn 2007
Real Betis
15
Up 2001
Real Murcia
13
Up 2007
Racing de Santander
13
Up 2002
Real CD Mallorca
13
Up 1997
Deportivo la Coruna
11
Up 1991
Cadiz CF
10
Dn 2006
Rayo Vallecano
10
Dn 2003

Saturday, April 12, 2008

World Clubs with 50 Domestic Trophies

These are the clubs around the world that have won at least 50 trophies in their domestic competitions, including the League Championship and all of the Major Cups in each nation. Obviously, a club has to have been around for a long time to reach this milestone, and many leagues from the Americas, Africa, and Asia haven't been around long enough to reach 50 trophies.



Club
Nation
Domestic Trophies
Rangers
Scotland
106
Celtic
Scotland
88
Al-Ahly
Egypt
76
Austria Vienna
Austria
55
SL Benfica
Portugal
55
Real Madrid
Spain
55
Ajax
Netherlands
53
Levski Sofia
Bulgaria
52
Ferencvárosi TC
Hungary
52
CSKA Sofia
Bulgaria
51
FC Barcelona
Spain
50



Three clubs are currently sitting on 49 all-time trophies, FC Porto, Olympiakos, and Steaua Bucharest. It looks like Portuguese league leading Porto will make it to 50 this season and Olympiakos, currently 2nd in Greece, has a decent shot as well.

The next closest club in Africa is ASEC Mimosas of the Ivory Coast, who currently have a combined 48 domestic trophies.

The closest club in England is Liverpool, who have 45 domestic trophies to date, although Manchester United is right behind with 43.

In Austria, Rapid Vienna (48) has won the League 8 more times than Austria Vienna, but have 15 less cup wins than their rivals.

CSD Municipal and CSD Comunicaciones in Guatemala lead the way in the CONCACAF region with 37 and 35 domestic trophies each.

In South America, Colo-Colo of Chile (37), Peñarol of Uruguay (36), and River Plate of Argentina (32), lead the way.

I didn't dig very deep into the Asian countries, but the winningest club I could find was Al-Sadd in Qatar, who have 38 combined domestic trophies.

The Chicago Fire leads the way in MLS, with 1 MLS cup and 4 US Open cups. DC United and LA Galaxy are tied for second with 4 domestic trophies each.

Friday, April 11, 2008

Former USL Players Now in MLS

These are the current MLS players that have previously played for teams in USL1 or USL2, not to be confused with the opposite MLS to USL post from last month.

This shows that it is definitely a two-way exchange between the leagues, although as Bill Archer's Big Soccer blog pointed out in this post, the USL and MLS have some relationship building to work on.


Chicago Fire
Jon Busch - Hampton Roads Mariners 1998-2000 Hershey Wildcats 2001
Brandon Prideaux - Seattle Sounders 1998

Columbus Crew
Andrew Peterson - Cleveland City Stars 2007
Brian Carroll - Richmond Kickers (Loan) 2003
Adam Moffat - Cleveland City Stars 2007
Ezra Hendrickson - Charleston Battery 2003-04

DC United
Clyde Simms - Richmond Kickers 2004
Bryan Namoff - Richmond Kickers (Loan)2002-03

Kansas City Wizards
Kerry Zavaginin - Lehigh Valley Steam (A League - 1999)
Jimmy Conrad - San Diego Flash (A League - 1998)

New York Red Bulls
Kevin Goldthwaite - Portland Timbers (loan) 2005
Carlos Mendes - Rochester Rhinos 03-04
Siniša Ubiparipović - Minnesota Thunder (Loan) 2007
Ricky Schramm - Richmond Kickers 2007
John Wolyniec - Milwaukee Rampage (A-League) 2002
Caleb Patterson-Sewell - Cleveland City Stars 2007

Toronto FC
Greg Sutton - Montreal Impact 01-06
Marco Vélez - Seattle 03-04 Puerto Rico 05-08
Kevin Harmse - Vancouver Whitecaps 04-05
Jarrod Smith - Crystal Palace Baltimore 2007

Chivas USA
Maykel Galindo - Seattle Sounders 05-06
Chris Pozniak - Toronto Lynx (A-League) 99-01

Colorado Rapids
Jordan Harvey - Seattle Sounders 2006
Stephen Keel - Seattle Sounders (Loan) 2006
Herculez Gomez - Seattle Sounders (Loan) 2003

FC Dallas
Michael Dello-Russo - Minnesota Thunder 2006
Adrian Serioux - Toronto Lynx (A-League) 99-04
Ray Burse - Portland Timbers 2008

Houston Dynamo
Tony Caig - Vancouver Whitecaps 06-07
Patrick Ianni - California Victory (Loan) 2007
Dwayne De Rosario - Toronto Lynx 1997 Richmond Kickers 99-2000
Craig Waibel - Seattle Sounders 99-00
Pat Onstad - Rochester Rhinos 98-99, 01-02
Brian Ching - Seattle Sounders 01-02

Los Angeles Galaxy
Mike Randolph - Portland Timbers 2006
Josh Tudela - California Victory (Loan) 2007
Alan Gordon - Portland Timbers (Loan) 2004
Bryan Jordan - Portland Timbers 2007
Josh Wicks - Vancouver 05-06 Portland 07

San Jose Earthquakes
Joe Cannon - San Diego Flash (A-League) 1998
Gavin Glinton - Charleston Battery 2005
Preston Burpo - Seattle Sounders 97-05

"In a Different Country"

If you are a regular reader of BigSoccer, you may have run into these excellent posts by BigSoccer poster and Reading FC fan, "RichardL" before.

The threads listed here are journal entries that Richard titled, "It's Like Being in a Different Country" and are about his travels to different cities and soccer matches all over the globe. He is an excellent writer: funny, witty, and descriptive and although some of these were posted more than a year ago and cover games he attended many years ago, I still go back and read them again from time to time.

If you're a MLS fan and jump straight to the Chicago Fire post, keep in mind that the game Richard attended was at Soldier Field way back in 2001.

All credit goes to RichardL for writing these excellent entries and making them available at BigSoccer.

Here is a compiled list of all of Richard's "Different Country" posts:

Japan
J-League

Russia
Part 1 - Zenit St. Petersburg
Part 2 - Lokomotiv Moscow
Part 3 - Torpedo Moscow

Turkey
Part 1 - Galatasaray
Part 2 - Besiktas

USA
Part 1 - Chicago Fire
Part 2 - Rochester Rhinos

Germany
Part 1 - Dortmund/Cologne
Part 2 - Aachen/Cologne

Confederations Cup 2005
Part 1 - Hannover
Part 2 - Nuremberg

Hong Kong

World Cup - (Frankfurt)

Prague
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Budapest

Hamburg

Madrid

Thursday, April 10, 2008

MLS - Canadian Player Home Provinces Map

This map and list shows the home provinces of the Canadian players currently in MLS.




Click to Enlarge


Ontario
Adrian Serioux (DAL)
Scarborough

Dwayne De Rosario (HOU)
Scarborough

Nana Attakora-Gyan (TOR)
North York

Andrea Lombardo (TOR)
Toronto

Jim Brennan (TOR)
Toronto

Tyler Hemming (TOR)
London

Joey Melo (TOR)
Milton

Greg Sutton (TOR)
Hamilton
[Edit: MLSnet incorrectly listed Greg's hometown as Montreal]

British Columbia
Tyler Rosenlund (TOR)
Vancouver

Pat Onstad (HOU)
Vancouver

Nova Scotia
Ante Jazic (LA)
Halifax


Here is the MLS player - USA map from last month.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Seattle Sounders FC - A Short History of Soccer in Seattle


If you're a fan of MLS, you've probably heard by now that the new Seattle franchise has chosen the name, "Seattle Sounders FC". I like it, although I would have preferred "SC". The name preserves a great soccer history that Seattle has built up over the past 35 years and, in my opinion, is way better than the Star Wars-esque names of Alliance or Republic that were being offered as choices. Here is a brief history of the Sounders and soccer in Seattle.


Seattle Sounders (NASL) 1974-1983

The NASL Sounders also held a name the team contest and “Sounders” was selected as the winning name, beating out hundreds of other suggestions, including “Mariners” .

The First ever major event held in Seattle's "new" Kingdome was a Sounders v. New York Cosmos game in 1976, before a sold-out crowd of 58,128. (Yes, Pele was there)

The NASL team averaged around 20,000 fans in the 10 years they were around.

Get this, NASL Sounders games were carried on major radio stations and most games, both home and away, were televised. What a concept.


Famous Sounders Players from the NASL days

Bobby Moore 1978
-- 108 England caps

Harry Redknapp 76-79
Current Portsmouth Manager

Joe Corrigan 1983
-- 9 England caps

Mike England 75-79
-- 44 Wales caps

Geoff Hurst 1976
-- 49 England Caps

Bruce Rioch 79-80
-- 24 Scotland Caps

The NASL Sounders made it to the Soccer Bowl Finals in '77 and '82, Losing to the Cosmos Both Times.


Well Known Players from the USL/A-League Sounders - 1994-Present

Dominic Kinnear - 1995
Marcus Hahnemann - 1994-97
Brian Ching - 2001-02
Herculez Gomez - 2003
Maykel Galindo - 2005-06


A-League/USL Champions in: 95, 96, 05, 07
Finished top of the table: 94, 02, 07

Sounders League MVP's

'95 Peter Hattrup
'98 Mark Baena
'02 Leighton O'Brien
'07 Sebastien Le Toux

20 First Team Allstars in the last 12 years



Sounders Links

Seattle Sounders Official USL Site
Sounders FC Official MLS Site
GOALSeattle.com
Emerald City Supporters
Seattle MLS Blog

Monday, April 7, 2008

Balkan Players on Asian Clubs - with Map

There are about a bazillion Brazilians playing all over Asia, but, in a region with a fairly small amount of foreign player influence, I've also noticed that there are a good quantity of players and coaches from the European Balkan region. There are players from Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia in various East Asian nations.

Why are there so many players and coaches from the former Yugoslavia playing in Asia? I really don't know, if anybody knows the connection, I'd like to hear it.




View Larger Map

Click the flag icons for club and player information
Click View Larger Map for more navigation options



China

Beijing Guoan
北京国安
Macedonia - Stojan Ignatov

Dalian Haichang
大连海昌
Croatia - Vedran Celiščak

Qingdao Jonoon
青岛中能
Serbia - Dragan Stancic

Shandong Luneng
山东鲁能
Serbia - Aleksandar Živković

Changsha Ginde
长沙金德
Serbia - Milan Nikolic

Tianjin Teda
天津泰达
Bosnia and Herzegovina - Darko Matic

Zhejiang Lücheng
浙江绿城
Macedonia - Slavcho Georgievski


Korea

Busan I'Park
부산 아이파크
Croatia - Čačić

Incheon United
인천 유나이티드
Serbia - Dragan Mladenović, Borko Veselinović
Montenegro - Dženan Radončić

Jeonbuk FC
전북 축구클럽
Croatia - Toni
Macedonia - Stevica Ristic

Suwon Bluewings
수원 블루윙즈
Croatia - Mato Neretljak

Japan

Nagoya Grampus
名古屋グランパス
Serbia - Miloš Bajalica

JEF United Ichihara Chiba
ジェフユナイテッド市原・千葉
Bosnia and Herzegovina - Mirko Hrgović

Malaysia

UPB-MyTeam FC
Croatia - Mijo Dadic, Sasa Brazenac


Singapore

Tampines Rovers FC
Serbia - Sead Muratovic




Current and Former Coaches

Vladimir Petrović - China Coach
Radojko Avramovic - Singapore Coach
Bora Milutinović - Former China Coach (right after he coached the Metrostars)
Dragan Stojković - Former Player, Current Coach for Nagoya Grampus


There is also a good article about Ethnic Balkans around the Globe over at Culture of Soccer. That blog is very interesting, check it out if you haven't already.

Sunday, April 6, 2008

MLS Players with 100 Club Appearances in Europe

This is a chart of current MLS players that have made at least 100 appearances for a single club in Europe. David Beckham, Raphael Wicky, and Claudio Lopez have all made 100 appearances for two different clubs in Europe.

I was somewhat surprised to see that players like Abel Xavier and Claudio Reyna didn't make the list, but they never stuck around a single club for very long, or maybe in Reyna's case, he was injured too often.

Quite a few of the players in the chart played for many other European clubs as well.



PlayerCurrent MLS Team Former Club in Europe
Appearances
David Beckham LA Galaxy Manchester United
265
Tony Caig Houston Dynamo Carlisle United
244
Dave van den Bergh NY Red Bulls FC Utrecht
184
Juan Pablo Angel NY Red Bulls Aston Villa
175
Tomasz Frankowski Chicago Fire Wisła Kraków
173
Carl Robinson Toronto FC Wolverhampton Wanderers
165
Raphael Wicky Chivas USA FC Sion
130
Laurent Robert Toronto FC Newcastle United
129
Raphael Wicky Chivas USA Hamburger SV
126
Claudio Lopez Kansas City Wizards Valencia CF
123
Jim Brennan Toronto FC Nottingham Forest
123
David Beckham LA Galaxy Real Madrid
116
Pablo Richetti FC Dallas Real Valladolid
110
Tom McManus Colorado Rapids Hibernian
109
Ante Jazic LA Galaxy Rapid Vienna
107
Claudio Lopez Kansas City Wizards Lazio
105
Marcelo Gallardo DC United AS Monaco
102



Here's a few more players that have made at least 40 appearances for a single club in Europe:

-- Carlos Marinelli (KC) - Middlesbrough
-- Danny Dichio (TOR) - QPR, Sunderland, West Brom, Millwall, PNE
-- Collin Samuel (TOR) - Dundee United
-- Gino Padula (CLB) - QPR
-- Abel Xavier (LA) - Benfica, Everton
-- Claudio Reyna (NY) - Wolfsburg, Glasgow Rangers, Manchester City
-- Kenny Deuchar (RSL) - Gretna
-- Ramiro Corrales (SJ) - Ham-Kam

Saturday, April 5, 2008

MLS League Experience by Team

This list shows the combined MLS experience (in years) of the players on each team in the league. The list doesn't take into account that players like Chivas USA's Claudio Suárez began playing professionally outside of the league when Guns n Roses Sweet Child o' Mine was a number one hit, it is showing MLS playing experience only.


Years of MLS Experience by Team:

81 - Houston Dynamo
78 - New England Revolution
74 - Chicago Fire
73 - Colorado Rapids
69 - Chivas USA
68 - Real Salt Lake
66 - San Jose Earthquakes
65 - Kansas City Wizards
64 - Columbus Crew
64 - LA Galaxy
63 - New York Red Bulls
57 - DC United
51 - FC Dallas
40 - Toronto FC



It's interesting to see that three of the more successful teams in the league, Houston, New England, and Chicago, have the most combined MLS playing experience.

DC United and FC Dallas have definitely gone a different route over the last couple of years by looking to bring in foreign talent in lieu of MLS experience.

If you take Jeff Cunningham and Tyrone Marshall off of Toronto FC, the squad has a combined total of 20 years MLS experience out of 22 players. 19 of their 24 players have either 0 or 1 year experience in the league.

It'll be interesting to see if Frank Yallop's San Jose Earthquakes, who chose plenty of players with league experience for their expansion side, can be more successful in their first season.


Does MLS playing experience lead to a more successful team?

Friday, April 4, 2008

Soccer in The Stans

I noticed that Pakistan is playing Sri Lanka in the AFC challenge cup qualifiers today, a tournament for low-ranked, emerging countries in the Asian Federation. This sent my mind way off into random thought land and I wondered what the soccer scene is like in all of the Central Asian "______stan" countries. Here's what I found:




Uzbekistan - Rank: 66

-- Uzbekistan is likely the only "stan" with a shot at qualifying for the 2010 World Cup, they are currently undefeated at the top of their qualifying group, which includes Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and Lebanon.
-- Maksim Shatskikh, with Dynamo Kiev, is a lethal goal scorer known as the Uzbek Schevchenko.
-- FC Pakhtakor Tashkent in the Oliy Uzbek League has made the AFC Champions League Semi Finals Twice.


Kazakhstan - Rank: 108

-- Check out this awesome wikipedia entry about Kazakh player Maksim Zhalmagambetov who plays with Royal Antwerp in Belgium:

"At the age of 21, Maksim earned his first cap on November 17, 2004 in WC 2006 qualifier against Greece. Maksim would have played all Euro 2008 qualifiers, unless being sent off in a match against Azerbaijan for punching a defender in face, and therefore getting 3 games ban." - Couldn't have put it better myself

-- Kazakhstan is the only "stan" in UEFA
-- FC Tobol, from the Kazakh Premier League, won the Intertoto cup in 2007 and advanced to the 2nd qualifying round of the UEFA cup this season.
-- Andrei Karpovich, at FC Dinamo Moskva in Russia, is a key player for the Kazakhstan national team.


Turkmenistan - Rank: 128

-- Turkmenistan is the only other "stan" left in Asian 2010 world cup qualifying, but they currently sit last in their group that includes North and South Korea and Jordan.
-- FC Ashgabat in the Turkmenistan League, was formed in 2006 and won the title in 2007.
-- Key Player: Vladimir Bairamov plays in Russian Premier League at FC Khimki


Kyrgyzstan - Rank: 138

-- Most of the players on the Kyrgyzstan national team play on a club called Dordoi-Dynamo Naryn.
-- The Kyrgyz League, pronounced Kyrgyz, starts on April 12, exciting times in the land that forgot about vowels.

Tajikistan - Rank: 141

-- Tajikistan won the AFC Challenge cup that Pakistan is playing in today, back in 2006.
-- Regar-TadAZ Tursunzoda is the top club in the Tajik League, they've won the club version of the AFC Challenge cup, called the AFC Presidents Cup.
-- Farkhod Vasiev plays in the Premier League in Russia with FC Saturn Moscow.

Pakistan - Rank: 163

-- Zesh Rehman is a British-Pakistani player who was the first Pakistani to play in the English Premier League, with Fulham. He's now at QPR, with former Chicago Fire goal keeper, Matt Pickens.
-- The Pakistan Premier League was only founded in 2004 in Cricket-mad Pakistan.
The top three clubs in the league this season have interesting names:
Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA)
Khan Research Laboratories (KRL)
Pakistan Army
-- Since the league is semi-pro and the players don't make very much, many of the players work for the company that represents their team. Kind of like Troy Perkins being a mortgage loan specialist while playing in goal at DC United, or not. I'm expecting Punjab Medical College to move away from the relegation zone next season. (Like I know)

Afghanistan - Rank: 190

-- Even though the country is in obvious turmoil in recent years, the Afghan national team has still managed to win games against Sri Lanka and fellow "stan" Kyrgyzstan in the past 5 years.
-- Four Afghan players play in low-level leagues in Germany.
-- The nation did manage an olympic appearance in 1948, but they were knocked out quickly with a 6-0 loss to Luxembourg.


So there it is, Soccer in the Stans, something I never imagined I'd write about in my lifetime.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

From the PDL to Europe

The USL Premier Development League is the top level of amateur competition in the USA and Canada, and the unofficial fourth tier of soccer, behind MLS, USL-1, and USL-2.

Here's a quick blurb about the PDL from the USL website:

"Players have the ability to compete in the PDL throughout the summer months in a professionalized setting while maintaining their collegiate eligibility. The league is the proving ground for players that aspire to reach the highest-levels of the game, while providing affordable family entertainment within their city."

These days, quite a few PDL teams serve as farm clubs for USL and MLS teams. The Colorado Rapids U23's, Chicago Fire Premier, Cary RailHawks U23's, Atlanta Silverbacks U23's, and Richmond Kickers Future are all in the PDL today, and many MLS teams are rumored to be starting up U23 PDL teams in the future.

A large number of current MLS players, including standouts Brian Ching, Brad Guzan, Chris Rolfe, Michael Parkhurst, and Sacha Kljestan have played in the league.

Quite a few PDL players have eventually made the big jump to Europe as well.
Here is a list of the developmental teams these players played for and where they are in Europe today.

[edit: added Jeremiah White]


Kamani Hill
- San Fernando Valley Quakes - Orange County Blue Star - VFL Wolfsburg

Sal Zizzo - Orange County Blue Star - Hannover 96

Colin Burns - Delaware Dynasty - Ljungskile SK

Pat Noonan - Michigan Bucks - Aalesunds FK

Jay DeMerit - Chicago Fire Premier - Watford

Tighe Dombrowski - Chicago Fire Premier - IK Sirius FK

Matt Pickens - Chicago Fire Premier - QPR

Jonathan Spector - Chicago Fire Premier - West Ham United

Joseph Ngwenya - Cape Cod Crusaders - SK Austria Kärnten

Troy Perkins - Cape Cod Crusaders - Vålerenga I.F.

Ethan Zohn - Cape Cod Crusaders - Survivor Africa Winner
(Sorry, I don't even like that show, but I couldn't resist)

Olivier Occean - Vermont Voltage - Lillestrom SK

Charlie Davies - Westchester Flames - Hammarby IF

Heath Pearce - Bradenton Academics - Hansa Rostock

Stern John - Carolina Dynamo - Southampton

Jeremiah White - Ocean City Barons - AGF Aarhus

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

UEFA Champions League - Quarterfinal Clubs from "Weaker" Leagues

With Fenerbahçe Spor Kulübü reaching the Quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League this season, I thought I'd take a look at other clubs that are from outside of the "stronger" leagues in Europe that have made it as far as the QF stage since 92-93. (The year the competition became the "UEFA Champions League")

It should be mentioned that many of these clubs made it deeper in the tournament prior to 97-98, when the champions of the weaker leagues still received automatic Champions League spots. Since that year, the "weaker" league champions have been forced to qualify for the group stages.



Fenerbahçe (Turkey)
2008
QF - Opponent: Chelsea

Panathinaikos (Greece)
2002
QF - Lost to Barcelona 3-2 Agg.

Galatasaray (Turkey)
2001
QF - Lost to Real Madrid 5-3 Agg.

Dynamo Kiev (Ukraine)
1999
SF - Lost to Bayern Munich 4-3 Agg.

Olympiakos (Greece)
1999
QF - Lost to Juventus 3-2 Agg.

Dynamo Kiev (Ukraine)
1998
QF - Lost to Juventus 5-2 Agg.

Rosenborg (Norway)
1997
QF - Lost to Juventus 3-1 Agg.

Panathinaikos (Greece)
1996
SF - Lost to Ajax Amsterdam 3-1 Agg.

Spartak Moscow (Russia)
1996
QF - Lost to FC Nantes 4-2 Agg.

Legia Warsaw (Poland)
1996
QF - Lost to Panathanaikos 3-0 Agg.

IFK Göteborg (Sweden)
1995
QF - Lost to Bayern Munich 2-2 on away goals

Hajduk Split (Croatia)
1995
QF - Lost to Ajax 3-0 Agg.


Fenerbahçe definitely have their work cut out for them. Dynamo Kiev and Panathinaikos are the only two teams that have progressed to the semi final stage from the "weaker" leagues in the past 15 years.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Uruguay - Soccer Players Abroad

I've always found it amazing that Uruguay has had so much success on an international level. The small nation has won 2 World Cups and 14 Copa America titles and they send a large amount of players to top leagues all over the world. I know much of their success was in the first half of the 20th century and they've struggled in tournament play since winning the Copa America in 1995, but they still have a lot of impressive players currently playing abroad.

Here's a few comparisons to get an idea of just how small Uruguay is:

Uruguay Population: 3,460,607 Size: 68,037 sq mi
Oklahoma Population: 3,579,212 Size: 69,898 sq mi

Uruguay Population: 3,460,607
USA Population: 303,720,924

Diego Forlan, currently with Atletico Madrid, plays in a city with nearly the same population as his entire home nation. Madrid Population: 3,228,359

Uruguay is the only country in the world to win a World Cup with a population of under 4 million inhabitants. The next lowest world cup winning population is Argentina, with a population of about 41 million people.

I've also wondered, with the recent influx of South American talent to MLS, where are the Uruguayans? There are currently zero in the league and only one playing in USL-1. Maybe players from Uruguay don't want to play in English speaking countries, there are zero in the English Premier League too.

Below is a full list of the 81 Uruguayans currently playing in Spain, Italy, France, Holland, Portugal, Germany, Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil.



La Liga:
Diego Forlan - Atletico Madrid
Javier Chevantón - Sevilla
Sebastián Taborda - Deportivo la Coruna
Gustavo Munúa - Deportivo la Coruna
Carlos Diogo - Real Zaragoza
Fabián Carini - Real Murcia
Mario Regueiro - Real Murcia
Pablo García - Real Murcia
Iván Alonso - Real Murcia
Gonzalo Castro - Mallorca
Sebastián Viera - Villarreal
Diego Godín - Villarreal
Sebastián Eguren - Villarreal
Sergio Orteman - Racing Santander
Martín Cáceres - Recreativo Huelva
Walter Pandiani - CA Osasuna
Juan Albín - Getafe

Serie A:
Diego López - Cagliari
Sebastián Rosano - Cagliari
Jorge Andrés Martínez - Catania
Guillermo Giacomazzi - Empoli
Matías Masiero - Genoa
Fernando Muslera - Lazio
Mariano Bogliacino - Napoli
Walter Gargano - Napoli
Marcelo Zalayeta - Napoli
Edison Cavani - Palermo
Christian Stuani - Reggina
Carlos Adrián Valdez - Reggina
Pablo Álvarez - Reggina
Leonardo Martín Migliónico - Sampdoria
Álvaro Recoba - Torino

Ligue 1
Diego Pérez - AS Monaco
Ignacio María González - AS Monaco
Damián Macaluso - AS Nancy
Gaston Curbelo - AS Nancy
Adrian Sarkissian - AS Nancy
Gonzalo Vargas - FC Sochaux
Williams Martínez - Valenciennes FC

Eredivisie
Bruno Silva - Ajax
Luis Suárez - Ajax

Portuguese Liga
Luis Aguiar - Academica
Maximiliano Pereira - Benfica
Cristian Rodríguez - Benfica
Marcelo Lipatin - CD Nacional
Jorge Fucile - Porto

German Bundesliga
Pablo Cáceres - MSV Duisburg
Gustavo Varela - Schalke 04
Carlos Grossmüller - Schalke 04
Vicente Sánchez - Schalke 04

Primera División de México
Richard Núñez - Club America
Hernán Rodrigo López - Club America
Jorge Bava - Atlas
Nicolás Vigneri - Cruz Azul
Egidio Arévalo - Monterrey
Gonzalo Choy González - Morelia
Héctor Giménez - Necaxa
Álvaro Fabián González - Puebla FC
Nicolás Olivera - Puebla FC
Marcelo Guerrero - San Luis
Marcelo Sosa - UAG Tecos

Primera División de Argentina
Álvaro Pereira - Argentions Juniors
Andrés Scotti - Argentions Juniors
Martín Rodríguez - Banfield
Álvaro González - Boca Juniors
Juan Manuel Salgueiro - Estudiantes
Juan Manuel Díaz - Estudiantes
Sergio Leal - Gimnasia La Plata
Diego Alonso - Gimnasia La Plata
Guillermo Rodríguez - Independiente
Claudio Flores - Lanus
Diego Scotti - Newells Old Boys
Ignacio Ithurralde - Olimpo
Josemir Lujambio - Olimpo
Sebastián Abreu - River Plate
Federico Martínez - Rosario Central
Pablo Lima - Velez Sarsfield
Santiago Silva - Velez Sarsfield

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A
Agustín Viana - Atletico Mineiro
Gonzalo Sorondo - Internacional
Juan Castillo - Botafogo