Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Pink Soccer Shirts

Italy's Palermo and occasionally Juventus are well known for wearing pink shirts*. In recent years, many clubs have worn pink for special games or occasions, often in support of Breast Cancer. Here are the clubs I came up with. There are probably a few more (especially in Italy), so feel free to let me know and I'll add more pink shirts to the list.


WEYMOUTH


CEREZO OSAKA (Japan)


VfL BOCHUM


TORONTO FC


SHAMROCK ROVERS and BOHEMIANS


SEVILLA


PATRICK THISTLE


PALERMO


OLDHAM ATHLETIC


JUVENTUS


HUDDERSFIELD TOWN


EVERTON


BENFICA






*Juventus started out with pink, but switched to the Black and White stripes (a copy of England's Nott's County, where the shirts were shipped from) after realizing the pink shirts got bleached after washing and the colors faded. They've had pink shirts on and off since then.

JUVENTUS (1898)


Here are a few more Historical Pink Kits from England (from the excellent site, Historical Football Kits)

PORTSMOUTH (1898-1909)


EVERTON (1887)


BOLTON WANDERS (1880)





Visit SUSAN G. KOMEN FOR THE CURE to help out and join the Global Breast Cancer Movement:

Friday, September 25, 2009

Star Players at the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup

FIFA lists their U-20 WC star players on the individual team pages at their official U-20 website. In this post, I've gone through and compiled all their 'star players' and have listed them in a single, easier to read list (with clubs).



Cameroon
Francois Beyokol - (Canon Yaounde, Cameroon)
Charley Roussel Fomen - (Olympique Marseille, France)
Parfait Louis Essengue Eloumou - (Genoa, Italy)
Victor Cedric Nkoum - (Paris St. Germain, France)

Egypt
Mohamed Abougabal - (ENPPI, Egypt)
Mohamed Talaat - (Al-Ahly, Egypt)

Ghana
Ransford Osei - (Maccabi Haifa, Israel)
Dede Ayew - (Lorient, France)
David Addy - (Randers, Denmark)
Dominic Adiyiah - (Fredrikstad, Norway)
Abeiku Quansah - (Nice, France)
Jonathan Mensah - (Free State Stars, South Africa)

Nigeria
Rabiu Ibrahim - (Sporting Lisbon, Portugal)
Lukman Haruna - (AS Monaco, France)

South Africa
Ramahlwe Mphahlele - (Moroka Swallows, South Africa)
Kermit Erasmus - (Excelsior, Netherlands)
Phumelele Bhengu - (Moroka Swallows, South Africa)



Australia
James Holland - (AZ Alkmaar, Netherlands)
Ben Kantarovski - (Newcastle United Jets, Australia)
Kofi Danning - (Sydney FC, Australia)

South Korea
Cho Young-Cheol - (Albirex Niigata, Japan)
Koo Ja-Cheol - (Jeju United, South Korea)

UAE
Ahmed Khalil - (Al-Ahli, UAE)
Ahmed Ali - (Al-Wahda, UAE)
Theyab Awana - (Bani Yas, UAE)

Uzbekistan
Sherzodbek Karimov - (Pakhtakor Tashkent, Uzbekistan)
Fozil Musaev - (Mash'al Mubarek, Uzbekistan)
Islom Tuhtahujaev - (Neftchi Farg'ona, Uzbekistan)
Davron Mirzayev - (Rubin Kazan, Russia)



Czech Republic
Tomas Perkhart - (Slavia Prague, Czech, Loan from Tottenham)
Ondrej Mazuch - (Anderlecht, Belgium, Loan from Fiorentina)
Jan Sebek - (Chelsea, England)

England
Martin Kelly - (Liverpool, England)
Ben Mee - (Manchester City, England)
Michael Woods - (Chelsea, England)
Febian Brandy - (Manchester United, England)

Germany
Richard Sukuta-Pasu - (Bayer Leverkusen)

Hungary
Vlagyimir Koman - (Avellino, Italy)
Krisztian Nemeth - (Liverpool, England)

Italy
Fabio Sciacca - (Catania, Italy)
Michelangelo Albertazzi - (AC Milan, Italy)

Spain
Fran Merida - (Arsenal, England)
Daniel Parejo - (Getafe, Spain, Loan from Real Madrid)
Sergio Asenjo - (Atletico Madrid, Spain)



Costa Rica
Josue Martinez - (Saprissa, Costa Rica)
Marcos Urena - (Alajuelense, Costa Rica)
David Guzman - Saprissa, Costa Rica)

Honduras
Roger Rojas - (Olimpia, Honduras, Loan from Wigan Athletic)
Mario Roberto Martinez - (Valerenga, Norway)
Wilmer Crisanto - (Victoria, Honduras)

Trinidad and Tobago
Sean de Silva - (College of Charleston, USA)
Jamal Gay - (Rot-Weiß Oberhausen, Germany)
Jake Thomson - (Southampton, England)
Marcus Joseph - (Joe Public, T&T)

USA
Brian Perk - (UCLA, USA)
Bryan Arguez - (Hertha Berlin, Germany)
Anthony Wallace - (FC Dallas, USA)
Brek Shea - (FC Dallas, USA)



Tahiti
Teheipuarii Hauata - (Tefana, Tahiti)
Lorenzo Tehau - (Terana, Tahiti)
Alvin Tehau - (Terana, Tahiti)



Brazil
Douglas Costa - (Gremio)
Allan Kardec - (Vasco de Gama, Brazil, Loan from Internacional)

Paraguay
Hernan Perez - (Villarreal, Spain)
Robin Ariel Ramirez - (Libertad, Paraguay)
Federico Santander - (Guarani, Paraguay)

Uruguay
Abel Hernandez - (Palermo, Italy)
Adrian Gunino - (Boca Juniors, Argentina)
Leandro Cabrera - (Atletico Madrid, Spain)
Jonathan Urretavizcaya - (Benfica, Portugal)

Venezuela
Rafael Romo - (Udinese, Italy)
Angelo Peña - (Braga, Portugal)
Jose Salomon Rondon - (Las Palmas, Spain)
Rafael Acosta - (Cagliari, Italy)

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Videos: Training with Jay-Jay Okocha

I must admit, Nigerian legend Jay-Jay Okocha was one of my favorite players of all-time to watch when he was in his prime. He was tricky, skilled, entertaining, and most importantly, good. I'm really surprised he never won African Footballer of the Year in the late 90's/early 2000's.

I stumbled upon these youtube videos this morning of Okocha explaining how he pulled off some of his signature tricks and moves in a training session.

But first, here is a quick "Best of" compilation to remind or introduce you to the skills of Jay-Jay Okocha. (I particularly like the dribbling goal at 1:50 against Oliver Kahn and the move he pulls off against Roy Keane at around the 2:20 mark)
















Check out the osatv youtube channel for a few more training tips from Jay-Jay

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Official European League Websites

This is a list of the 'Official' league websites of the top 20 ranked (UEFA coefficient) soccer leagues in Europe. Many of them don't have an English language section so you may have to break out the Google Translator to figure out what you're looking at.

England
www.premierleague.com

Spain
www.lfp.es

Italy
www.lega-calcio.it

Germany
www.bundesliga.de/en/

France
www.ligue1.com

Russia
www.rfpl.org

Ukraine
www.fpl.ua

Netherlands
www.eredivisie.nl

Romania
www.lpf.ro

Portugal
www.lpfp.pt

Turkey
www.turkcellsuperlig.com

Greece
www.superleaguegreece.net

Scotland
www.scotprem.com

Belgium
www.jupilerproleague.be

Switzerland
www.axposuperleague.ch

Denmark
No Official Danish Superliga Website (at least I can't find one)
www.dbu.dk (Danish Football Association)

Bulgaria
www.pfl.bg

Czech Republic
www.gambrinusliga.cz

Norway
www.fotball.no/Landslag_og_toppfotball/Toppfotball/tippeligaen/

Austria
www.bundesliga.at

Monday, September 21, 2009

Premier League: Top Goal Scoring Defenders

These are the top scoring defenders in the English Premiership over the past 5 seasons (minimum 4 goals). Thomas Vermaelen (3), Glen Johnson (2), and William Gallas (2) look like they'll make the list for the 09/10 season. Will Joleon 'Now with Man City' Lescott make it to this list three years in a row?

2008/09
4 - Michael Turner (Hull City)
4 - Nemanja Vidic (Manchester United)
4 - Joleon Lescott (Everton)
4 - Steven Taylor (Newcastle United)

2007/08
8 - Joleon Lescott (Everton)
6 - Martin Laursen (Aston Villa)
4 - William Gallas (Arsenal)

2006/07
5 - Carlos Bocanegra (Fulham)
4 - Phillip Jagielka (Sheffield United)

2005/06
5 - William Gallas (Chelsea)
5 - Liam Ridgewell (Aston Villa)
4 - John Terry (Chelsea)

2004/05
6 - John Arne Riise (Liverpool)
5 - Talal El-Karkouri (Charlton Athletic)
5 - Franck Queudrue (Birmingham City)
5 - Radhi Jaidi (Birmingham City)

Friday, September 18, 2009

Major League Soccer Nationality Breakdown

This is a breakdown of the number of MLS players from different regions and nations of the world using the place of birth listed at MLSnet.com. (Compiled on September 18, 2009)


UNITED STATES (236)

236 - USA


REST OF NORTH AMERICA, CENTRAL AMERICA, AND CARIBBEAN (45)


10 - Canada
8 - Jamaica
7 - Costa Rica
5 - Mexico
4 - Honduras
3 - Trinidad and Tobago
2 - Cuba
2 - Haiti
1 - El Salvador
1 - Grenada
1 - Guatemala
1 - St. Kitts


SOUTH AMERICA (36)

14 - Argentina
10 - Brazil
8 - Colombia
3 - Venezuela
1 - Bolivia


EUROPE (34)

5 - England
4 - Scotland
3 - Bosnia & Herzegovina
2 - France
2 - Netherlands
2 - Serbia
2 - Ukraine
1 - Armenia
1 - Austria
1 - Belgium
1 - Bulgaria
1 - Croatia
1 - Georgia
1 - Germany
1 - Hungary
1 - Lithuania
1 - Portugal
1 - Spain
1 - Sweden
1 - Switzerland
1 - Wales

AFRICA (31)

5 - Gambia
5 - South Africa
4 - Ghana
3 - Cameroon
3 - Nigeria
2 - Senegal
2 - Sierra Leone
2 - Zimbabwe
1 - DR Congo
1 - Ethiopia
1 - Liberia
1 - Morocco
1 - Republic of Congo

OCEANIA (3)

3 - New Zealand

ASIA (1)

1 - Japan


386 TOTAL MLS PLAYERS


Percentage by Region:
61% - USA
12% - Rest of North, Central America, and Caribbean
9% - South America
9% - Europe
8% - Africa
<1% - Oceania
<1% - Asia


Players listed from USSR and Yugoslavia were broken into what their birthplaces would be today. For example, Serbia, Bosnia, Georgia, Armenia, Lithuania, etc..

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Brazilians on 2009/2010 UEFA Champions League Rosters

This list shows the 73 Brazilians in the group stages of the 09/10 UEFA Champions League.


GROUP A
Bayern Munich
DF - Breno

Bordeaux
DF - Carlos Henrique
MF - Fernando Menegazzo
MF - Wendel
FW - Jussiê

Juventus
MF - Felipe Melo
MF - Diego
FW - Amauri

Maccabi Haifa
MF - Gustavo Boccoli
MF - Tiago Dutra


GROUP B
VfL Wolfsburg
DF - Rodrigo Alvim
MF - Josue
FW - Grafite

Manchester United
DF - Fabio
DF - Rafael
MF - Anderson

Beşiktaş J.K.
MF - Rodrigo Tabata
FW - Bobô

CSKA Moscow
MF - Daniel Carvalho
FW - Ricardo Jesus
FW - Guilherme


GROUP C
Real Madrid
DF - Marcelo
MF - Kaka

AC Milan
GK - Dida
DF - Thiago Silva
FW - Alexandre Pato
FW - Ronaldinho

Olympique Marseille
GK - Elinton Andrade
DF - Hilton
FW - Brandão

FC Zürich
NONE


GROUP D
Chelsea
DF - Alex
DF - Juliano Belletti

Atletico Madrid
MF - Paulo Assunção
MF - Cléber Santana

APOEL F.C.
MF - Jean Paulista

FC Porto
GK - Helton
DF - Maicon
MF - Fernando
FW - Hulk

GROUP E
Liverpool
GK - Diego Cavalieri
DF - Fábio Aurélio
MF - Lucas

Olympique Lyonnais
DF - Cris
DF - Anderson
MF - Michel Bastos
MF - Ederson

AFC Fiorentina
NONE

Debreceni VSC
DF - Hugo
MF - Lucas Marcolini
FW - Vinicius


GROUP F
Dynamo Kiev
DF - Betão
DF - Leandro Almeida
MF - Gérson Magrão

FC Barcelona
DF - Dani Alves
DF - Maxwell

Inter Milan
GK - Julio Cesar
DF - Lucio
DF - Maicon
MF - Thiago Motta
MF - Mancini

Rubin Kazan
NONE


GROUP G
Sevilla
MF - Adriano
MF - Renato
FW - Luis Fabiano

Rangers
NONE

VfB Stuttgart
MF - Élson

FC Unirea Urziceni
MF - Ricardo Gomes



GROUP H
Arsenal
MF - Denílson

Olympiacos
DF - Leonardo
MF - Dudu
FW - Diogo

Standard Liege
DF - Victor Ramos
DF - Felipe
DF - Alex Moraes
DF - Marcos Camozzato

AZ Alkmaar
FW - Ari



By Position:
28 - Midfielders
26 - Defenders
14 - Forwards
5 - Goalkeepers

Teams with 4 or more Brazilians:
FC Porto
Lyon
Inter Milan
Standard Liege
AC Milan
Bordeaux

Teams with No Brazilians:
Rangers
Fiorentina
FC Zürich
Rubin Kazan

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Videos: Soccer Fans in Turkey




Here's a few videos of the dedicated, loud, and fanatical supporters of Turkish soccer. They definitely know how to create an intimidating home atmosphere in Turkey.


Beşiktaş


Galatasaray


Fenerbahçe


Top 25 Turkish Fans Compilation

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Videos: Vintage NASL Goals

There are not a lot of goal clips from NASL floating around the internet, but these few are great (although Marsh's 'goal' was called offside). I'd really like to add to this list so if anyone knows of a hidden collection of NASL goal videos (not collections, just single goals), let me know.

Johan Cruyff (--loud audio--)


Rodney Marsh


George Best (--loud audio--)


Giorgio Chinaglia
Link to Youtube (Embedding was disabled for this video)

Monday, September 14, 2009

Interactive Map: American Soccer Players in Europe - September 2009

Here is the updated interactive map showing the American Players in Europe. I've only included the players in the highest/premier divisions in each country this time around. Click on the icons for club and player info and zoom in to see the stadiums. Click the link below the map for better navigation options.


View American Soccer Players in Europe: Sep 2009 in a larger map

ENGLAND
Jozy Altidore - Hull City
Clint Dempsey - Fulham
Eddie Johnson - Fulham
Brad Friedel - Aston Villa
Brad Guzan - Aston Villa
Eric Lichaj - Aston VIlla
Marcus Hahnemann - Wolverhampton
Tim Howard - Everton
Jonathan Spector - West Ham United

SCOTLAND
DaMarcus Beasley - Rangers
Maurice Edu - Rangers
Dominic Cervi - Celtic

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND
Ryan Guy - St Patricks Athletic

PORTUGAL
Freddy Adu - Belenenses (Loan)
Kamani Hill - Vitória Guimarães

ITALY
Oguchi Onyewu - AC Milan

GERMANY
Bryan Arguez - Hertha Berlin
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover 96
Sal Zizzo - Hannover 96
Jermaine Jones - Schalke 04
Michael Bradley - Borussia Monchengladbach

NORWAY
Matthew Allen - Sandefjord
Adin Brown - Aalesunds FK
Mikkel Diskerud - Stabaek
Hunter Freeman - IK Start
Clarence Goodson - IK Start
Tyrel Lacey - Lyn
Troy Perkins - Vålerenga

SWEDEN
Alejandro Bedoya - Orebro SK
Ryan Raybould - Gefle IF

FINLAND
Lawrence Smith - Vaasan Palloseura

BELGIUM
Jared Jeffrey - Club Brugge

DENMARK
Danny Califf - FC Midtjylland
Benny Feilhaber - AGF Aarhus
Jeremiah White - AGF Aarhus
Michael Parkhurst - FC Nordsjaelland
Marcus Tracy - Aalborg BK

FRANCE
Carlos Bocanegra - Rennes
Charlie Davies - Sochaux

ISRAEL
Erik Hort - Hapoel Ra-anana

CROATIA
Johann Smith - NK Rijeka

Friday, September 11, 2009

Ugly Soccer Shirts: Germany

Here is a picture list of 'Ugly' German soccer shirts from the past 20 years or so. As with any 'Ugly' shirt post, some of these straddle the fence between being interesting/unique and being plain ugly. If you know of more shirts from Germany that deserve to make the list, let me know and I'll add them.


Germany (1994/95)


SC Freiburg (1992)


Stuttgart Kickers (1988)


1. FC Köln (1995)


SV Kerpen (1990)


1. FC Kaiserslautern (1993/94)


Eintracht Frankfurt (1993)


MSV Duisburg (1996)


Hansa Rostock (1990/92)


Borussia Dortmund (1991)


VfL Bochum (1995)


1860 Munchen (1990)


Werder Bremen (07/08)


FC Schalke 04 (1992/93)


Borussia Mönchengladbach (1992/94)


DSC Arminia Bielefeld (1992/94)


VfL Wolfsburg (1995)







Pictures from:
eBay
ClassicFootballShirts.co.uk
OldFootballShirts.com

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Video: J-League Goals of the Month - June and July 2009

I actually had a different post planned for today but for some reason blogger picture uploads haven't been working today. So......Here is a replacement post with videos of the best goals in Japan's J-League for June and July 2009. These entertaining J-league videos can be found at siohoko's channel on youtube.



Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Foxy Female Football Reporters: Part 2

Here is PART ONE


Maria Susini (Argentina)




Tania Rincon (Mexico)




Charlie Webster (UK)




Georgie Thompson (UK)




Pilar Rubio (Spain)













Stay tuned for Part 3 (suggestions are still welcome!)

Friday, September 4, 2009

Longest Names in the Premier League

I was reading Unprofessional Foul yesterday and Norfolk Ned wrote a post about Jan Venegoor of Hesselink. In it, he wrote, "it’s the man with the longest name in football? (find me a longer one). Well, all of football was too wide of a search base for me, so I narrowed it down and asked the question, who has the longest name in the English Premier League? I know, pretty random and not exactly the most useful information but at least you didn't waste 45 minutes of your life counting letters in soccer player's names like I did....

I decided to make the list using the widely used name of the players. In other words, for a player like Arsenal's Eduardo, who's full name is Eduardo Diver Alves da Silva (close enough), only Eduardo could be used. The players had to have at least 16 letters in their name to make the list (spaces and dashes were not counted).


Top 7 Longest Names
(23) Jan Venegoor of Hesselink -- (Hull City)
(20) Diniyar Bilyaletdinov -- (Everton)
(20) Nathaniel Mendez-Laing -- (Wolverhampton)
(19) Morten Gamst-Pedersen -- (Blackburn)
(19) Shaun Wright-Phillips -- (Man City)
(19) Matthew Etherington -- (Stoke City)
(19) Nathaniel Wedderburn -- (Stoke City)




Arsenal
(16) Philippe Senderos

Aston Villa
(16) Gabriel Agbonlahor
(16) Nathan Delfouneso
(16) Moustapha Salifou
(16) Stephen O'Halloran

Birmingham City
(16) Giovanny Espinoza
(16) Sebastian Larsson
(16) Christian Benitez

Blackburn Rovers
(19) Morten Gamst Pedersen
(18) Zurab Khizanishvili

Bolton Wanderers
(18) Jussi Jaaskelainen

Burnley
(17) Remco van der Schaaf
(16) Fernando Guerrero
(16) Christian Kalvenes
(16) Richard Eckersley

Chelsea
(17) Branislav Ivanovic

Everton
(20) Diniyar Bilyaletdinov
(16) Marouane Fellaini

Fulham
(18) Brede Hangeland
(17) Pascal Zuberbuhler
(16) Jonathan Greening

Hull City
(23) Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink
(17) Nicky Featherstone

Liverpool
(18) Daniel Sanchez Ayala
(17) Sotirios Krygiakos
(17) Javier Mascherano

Manchester City
(19) Shaun Wright-Phillips
(17) Emmanuel Adebayor

Manchester United
NONE

Portsmouth
(18) Hermann Hreidarsson
(18) Anthony Vanden Borre
(18) Kevin-Prince Boateng
(17) Frederic Piquionne

Stoke City
(19) Matthew Etherington
(19) Nathaniel Wedderburn
(17) Danny Higginbotham
(16) Richard Cresswell

Sunderland
(16) Kieran Richardson

Tottenham
(17) Roman Pavlyuchenko
(17) Benoit Assou-Ekotto
(16) Jonathan Woodgate
(16) Sebastien Bassong

West Ham
(18) Alessandro Diamanti

Wigan
(17) Jonathan Routledge

Wolverhampton
(20) Nathaniel Mendez-Laing
(17) Sylvan Ebanks-Blake
(16) Stefan Maierhofer
(16) Michael Mancienne





This is what the list would look like using "full" names of the players in the Premier League. (minimum 25 letters). West Ham's Manuel da Costa leads the way with an incredible 36 letter 'full' name.

(36) Manuel Marouan da Costa Trindade Senoussi -- (Manuel da Costa, West Ham)
(35) Henrique Hilário Meireles Alves Sampaio -- (Hilario, Chelsea)
(31) Fredrik Olof Esaias Stoor Siekkinen -- (Frederik Stoor, Fulham)
(30) Geovanni Deiberson Maurício Gómez -- (Geovanni, Hull City)
(30) Diniyar Rinatovich Bilyaletdinov -- (Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, Everton)
(29) Ricardo Alberto Silveira Carvalho -- (Ricardo Carvalho, Everton)
(28) Diomansy Mehdi Moustapha Kamara -- (Diomansy Kamara, Fulham)
(28) Roman Anatolevich Pavlyuchenko -- (Roman Pavlyuchenko, Tottenham)
(28) Benoît Pierre David Assou-Ekotto -- (Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Tottenham)
(27) Luis Antonio Valencia Mosquera -- (Antonio Valencia, Manchester United)
(27) Anderson Luís de Abreu Oliveira -- (Anderson, Manchester United)
(27) Alexandre Dimitri Song Billong -- (Alexandre Song, Arsenal)
(26) Paulo Renato Rebocho Ferreira -- (Paulo Ferreira, Chelsea)
(25) Oluwaseyi George Olofinjana -- (Seyi Olofinjana, Hull City)
(25) Nwankwo Christian Nwosu Kanu -- (Kanu, Portsmouth)
(25) Bjørn Helge Semundseth Riise -- (Bjorn Helge Risse, Fulham)
(25) Andriy Viktorovych Voronin -- (Andriy Voronin, Liverpool)
(25) Wilson Roberto Palacios Suazo -- (Wilson Palacios, Tottenham)
(25) Javier Alejandro Mascherano -- (Javier Mascherano, Liverpool)
(25) Christopher Robert Iwelumo -- (Chris Iwelumo, Wolverhampton)
(25) Emiliano Adrian Insúa Zapata -- (Emiliano Insua, Liverpool)

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Less Famous Brothers of Well-Known Soccer Players

This is a list of active professional soccer brothers (one famous, one relatively unknown) playing around the world.



Gonzalo Higuain - Real Madrid
Federico Higuain plays for Godoy Cruz in the Argentine Primera

Tim Cahill - Everton
Chris Cahill is a member of the Samoa national team and plays for St George Saints in the New South Wales Winter Super League (Australia)

Aliaksandr Hleb - Stuttgart
Vyacheslav Hleb plays for Shanghai Shenhua in the Chinese Super League

Kaka - Real Madrid
Younger brother Digão plays for Lecce in Serie B, on loan from AC Milan

Samuel Eto'o - Inter Milan
Younger brother Daniel plays for CF Reus Deportiu in the Spanish fourth division
Younger brother Etienne plays for Real Mallorca in Spain

Kolo (Man City) and Yaya (Barca) Toure
Younger brother Ibrahim plays for Al-Ittihad in the Syrian Premier League

Tomáš Rosický - Arsenal
Jiří Rosický plays for Bohemians in the Czech league

Titus Bramble - Wigan
Tesfaye "Tes" Bramble plays for Leiston in the Eastern Counties League (lv.9) in England

Phil Jagielka - Everton
Stephen Jagielka plays for AFC Telford United in the Conference North (lv.6) in England

Joleon Lescott - Man City
Aaron Lescott plays for Bristol Rovers in League One

John Terry - Chelsea
Paul Terry plays for Rushden & Diamonds in the Conference National (lv.5) in England

Florent Malouda - Chelsea
Lesly Malouda plays for Dijon FCO in France's Ligue 2

Christoph Metzelder - Real Madrid
Malte Metzelder plays for FC Ingolstadt in the German 2.Bundesliga

Bastian Schweinsteiger - Bayern Munich
Tobias Scweinsteiger plays for SpVgg Unterhaching in the German Regionalliga Sud (lv.4)

Carlos Vela - Arsenal
Alejandro Vela plays for Cruz Azul in Mexico

Clarence Seedorf - AC Milan
Chedirc Seedorf plays for Monza in Italy's Lega Pro Prima Divisione (lv.3) on loan from AC Milan

Wesley Sneijder - Inter Milan
Jeffrey Sneijder plays winger for USV Elinkwijk in the Dutch Zondag hoofdklasse A (lower leagues)

Nwankwo Kanu - Portsmouth
Chris Kanu plays for Owerri Stampede Nigeria FC on loan from Eagle Cement in Nigeria

Oguchi Onyewu - AC Milan
Oguchi Uche plays for Enyimba International FC in Nigeria and has appeared for the Nigerian National Team

El Hadji Diouf - Blackburn
Dame Diouf most recently played for SV Meppen in the German Oberliga Nord (lv.4) He is currently a free agent

DaMarcus Beasley - Rangers
Jamar plays for the Rockford Rampage in the US National Indoor Soccer League

Ryan Giggs - Manchester United
Rhodri Giggs plays for Salford City FC in the English Norther Premier League (lv.7/8)

Wayne Rooney - Manchester United
John Rooney plays for Macclesfield Town in England's League Two

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Soccer Commercials from Around the World

TURKEY - Turkcell Süper Lig


SAUDI ARABIA - Saudi Professional League


DENMARK - Danish Superliga


JAPAN - J-league


NIGERIA - Globacom Premier League


LITHUANIA - Lithuanian FF


ITALY - Serie A


INDONESIA - Djarum ISL


BRAZIL - Ronaldo vs. a Bull


AUSTRALIA - A-league

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Dutch Eredivisie: 2009 Summer Transfers Out to Foreign Leagues

Many consider the Dutch league to be a great proving ground before making the jump to one of the "Big" leagues of Europe. In the fairly recent past, 'foreign' players like Ronaldo, Ibrahimovic, Kalou, Chivu, Kezman, Park Ji-Sung, Henrik Larsson, etc. have excelled in the Dutch league before moving on to bigger clubs. In this post, I thought it'd be interesting to look at the Dutch Eredivisie exports from the 2009 summer transfer window (no loan deals included).

Thomas Vermaelen seems to be playing well at Arsenal, but there are surprisingly very few transfers from the Netherlands to the 'bigger' clubs in Europe from this transfer window.


Ajax
Thomas Vermaelen (Arsenal)
Albert Luque (Malaga)

AZ
Ryan Donk (Club Brugge)
Simon Cziommer (Red Bull Salzburg)

Feyenoord
Lee Chun-Soo (Al-Nassr, Saudi Arabia)
Sherif Ekramy (El Gouna FC, Egypt)

FC Groningen
Evegeniy Levchenko (FC Saturn Moscow Oblast)
Marcus Berg (Hamburger SV)

SC Heerenveen
Danijel Pranjić (FC Bayern Munich)
Hans Vonk (Ajax Cape Town)
Donovan Deekman (SC Lokeren, Belgium)
Lesley Fellinga (Toronto FC)

Heracles Almelo
Lukas Bajer (SK Sigma Olomouc, Czech Republic)

NAC Breda
Patrick Mtiliga (Malaga)

NEC
Tim Janssen (Esbjerg fB, Denmark)

PSV
Jeremie Brechet (FC Sochaux)
Jason Culina (Gold Coast United)

RKC Wallwijk
NONE

Roda JC
Marcel Meeuwis (Borussia Monchengladbach)
Andres Oper (Shanghai Shuenhua, China)

Sparta Rotterdam
NONE

FC Twente
Edson Braafheid (Bayern Munich)
Eljerio Elia (Hamburger SV)

FC Utrecht
Tom Caluwe (Al-Wakrah Sports Club, Qatar)
Ali Boussaboun (Al-Nassr, Saudi Arabia)

Vitesse
NONE

VVV Venlo
NONE

Willem II
NONE


Leagues transferred to:
5 - Germany
2 - Belgium
2 - Saudi Arabia
2 - Spain
1 - Austria
1 - China
1 - Czech Republic
1 - Denmark
1 - Egypt
1 - England
1 - France
1 - Qatar
1 - Russia
1 - South Africa
1 - USA/Canada