Longest Unbeaten Streaks in Top European Leagues - 2012/2013

The longest unbeaten streaks in England, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain in the 2012/2013 season.

25 - Bayern Munich
19 - Barcelona
18 - Manchester United
16 - Real Madrid
16 - Saint-Étienne
15 - Manchester City
15 - Real Sociedad
14 - AC Milan
12 - Juventus
12 - Tottenham
11 - Paris Saint Germain
10 - Arsenal
10 - Lazio
10 - Marseille
10 - Napoli
10 - Norwich City
10 - Stoke City
10 - VfL Wolfsburg

Best and Worst Teams with a Half Time Lead - 2009/2010

These were the best and worst teams in Europe's top 5 leagues at going on to win a game after leading at halftime in 2009/2010.

Format
Win% - Team (HT Lead/FT Win)

Won 90% or more with a half time lead

100% - Real Madrid (18/18)
100% - Manchester United (13/13)
100% - AS Monaco (11/11)
100% - Getafe (8/8)
100% - Sampdoria (8/8)
100% - Osasuna (6/6)
100% - Parma (4/4)
100% - Racing Santander (3/3)

95% - Chelsea (21/20)

94% - Tottenham Hotspur (18/17)
94% - Barcelona (17/16)
94% - Manchester City (16/15)

92% - Inter Milan (13/12)
92% - Liverpool (12/11)

91% - AJ Auxerre (11/10)

90% - Valencia (10/9)



Won 50% or less with a half time lead

00% - Siena (2/0)

38% - Catania (8/3)
38% - Wigan Athletic (8/3)

43% - Udinese (7/3)

44% - Bologna (9/4)

50% - Hertha BSC (8/4)
50% - Nice (8/4)
50% - Eintracht Frankfurt (6/3)
50% - Hull City (6/3)
50% - Vfl Bochum (6/3)
50% - Atalanta (4/2)

Europe's Youngest Goal Scorers - Fall/Winter 2009

This is a list of teenage players who have scored a goal this season in their respective European leagues. (as of December 14, 2009)

English Premier League

18 - Aaron Ramsey (Arsenal)
19 - Dan Gosling (Everton)
19 - Junior Stanislas (West Ham United)

English Championship

17 - Chris Wood (West Bromwich Albion)
18 - Nile Ranger (Newcastle United)
18 - Nathaniel Clyne (Crystal Palace)
18 - Jay Emmanuel-Thomas (Blackpool)
18 - Victor Moses (Crystal Palace)
19 - Henry Lansbury (Watford)
19 - Jacob Butterfield (Barnsley)
19 - Martin Waghorn (Leicester City)
19 - Jake Livermore (Derby County)
19 - Jack Colback (Ipswich Town)

Scottish Premier League

19 - Alexander MacDonald (Falkirk)

German Bundesliga

18 - Joel Matip (Schalke 04)
18 - Andre Schurrle (Mainz)
19 - Franco Zuculini (TSG Hoffenheim)
19 - Christoph Moritz (Schalke 04)
19 - Tunay Torun (Hamburg)
19 - Toni Kroos (Bayer Leverkusen)
19 - Burak Kaplan (Bayer Leverkusen)
19 - Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich)

Spain La Liga

16 - Iker Muniain (Athletic Bilbao)
19 - Bojan Krkic (Barcelona)
19 - Macedo Rocha Michel (Almeria)
19 - Omar Hernandez (Malaga)

Italy Serie A

19 - Mario Balotelli (Inter)
19 - Abel Hernandez (Palermo)
19 - Alberto Paloschi (Parma)
19 - Stevan Jovetic (Fiorentina)
19 - Alexandre Pato (AC Milan)

France Ligue 1

18 - Yannis Taffer (Lyon)
19 - Sebastien Corchia (Le Mans)
19 - Miralem Pjanic (Lyon)
19 - Emmanuel Riviere (AS Saint Etienne)
19 - Younes Belhanda (Montpellier HSC)
19 - Moussa Sissoko (Toulouse)



Stats compiled from StatBunker

Fantasy Soccer League List

It's that time of the year again. Time to pick your fantasy teams and shoot for the top of your league and if you're really ambitious, the world. This is a list of the many games out there for various leagues in Europe. I'm going to be really ambitious this year and pick a team for all of the EPL games as well as the Championship game.

I think that the (London) Times Online Play the Game looks interesting for something different as no two teams in a league can have the same player. Many of the other Premier League games are very similar to the "official" game, with slight variations in scoring and transfer rules. The benefit of straying from the official game is prizes! yay! I managed to win £100 last season with CYKI and hope to make a living this season off all of these games (OK, not really).

Be sure to check out the fantasy pundit sites listed for tips, advice, scouting, injuries, and much more. To the list.....

English Premier League

Official Premier League Fantasy
http://fantasy.premierleague.com
Rules: http://fantasy.premierleague.com/M/rules.mc
Prizes: Monthly First Place: win a digital camera, an mp3 player, and a Premier League club replica kit of the Winner’s choice. The overall winner gets a VIP trip for two to a Barclays Premier League match.
Why Play?: It's the official game with over two million fellow players

Can You Kick It
http://www.cyki.com
Rules: http://www.cyki.com/M/rules.mc
Prizes: £100 First place each month, £500 for the overall winner
Why Play?: Same familiar rules as the official game, minus bonus points and with only one GK and sub

Play The Game (London Times Online)
http://playthegame.timesonline.co.uk
Video: How to "Play The Game"
Prizes: Weekly Replica Kits, Tickets to League Games, Tickets to FA Cup Final
Why Play?: A scoring system that uses ten categories to reflect players' true value and no "identi-squads". This game uses a league system where a player can belong to only one team.


Daily Mail Fantasy Football
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fantasyfootball/index.html
How to Play: http://fantasyfootball.dailymail.co.uk/how-to-play/
Prizes: There’s £50,000 in cash to be won, with a major first prize of £20,000.
Why Play?: Instant inter-player chat, message walls and a news feed. Join Mini-Leagues with your friends with additional prizes available.

Telegraph Fantasy Football
http://fantasyfootball.telegraph.co.uk/
How to Play: http://fantasyfootball.telegraph.co.uk/how-to-play
Prizes: £50,000 to the overall winner and over £110,000 divided into many categories (Link)
Why Play?: Cash Prizes available to the best leagues, players, cup winners, golden boot winners, and more

OleOle Fantasy Premier League
http://www.oleole.com/fantasyfootball/englishpremierleague/ffen.asp

Fox Soccer Channel PL Fantasy Challenge
http://foxsoccerpl.stats.com/
FAQ: http://foxsoccerpl.stats.com/help/rules.asp

Yahoo Premier League Fantasy Football
http://uk.premiership.fantasysports.yahoo.com/
RULES: http://uk.premiership.fantasysports.yahoo.com/football/rules

ESPN Soccernet Premier Fantasy
http://premierfantasy.soccernet.espn.go.com/app/start.jsp
RULES: http://premierfantasy.soccernet.espn.go.com/app/hilfe_regeln.jsp


EPL Fantasy Pundits

Never Captain Nicky Butt
http://nevercaptainnickybutt.blogspot.com/

Fantasy Football Scout
http://www.fantasyfootballscout.co.uk/

Fantasy Premier League
http://fantasyepl.blogspot.com/

The Pundit
http://fantasy.premierleague.com/M/pundit.mc


Coca-Cola Championship

Texaco Fantasy Football
http://fantasy.football-league.co.uk/


Italy Serie A

OleOle Serie A
http://www.oleole.com/fantasyfootball/italianseriea/ffit.asp

Spain La Liga

OleOle La Liga
http://www.oleole.com/fantasyfootball/spanishlaliga/ffes.asp

French Ligue 1

OleOle French Ligue 1
http://www.oleole.com/fantasyfootball/frenchligue1/fffr.asp

German Bundesliga

OleOle Germany Bundesliga
http://www.oleole.com/fantasyfootball/germanbundesliga/ffde.asp

Kicker Online Fantasy (in German)
http://www.kicker.de/games/startseite/gamesstartseite.html

BILD Super Manager (costs 7.99 Euros)
http://www.bild.de/BILD/news/bild-english/sport-news/super-manager/bundesliga-fantasy-football-manager-game.html


European League

Free Fantasy Football.tv
http://www.freefantasyfootball.tv/default.aspx?page=rules


UEFA Champions League

Uefa Champions League Fantasy Game
http://en.uclfantasy.uefa.com/M/home.mc

ESPN Soccernet Champions Fantasy
http://championsfantasy.soccernet.com/CleverTV/en/espn/na/28/clienthome.do

08/09 Hat Tricks

This is a list of players from the top leagues in Europe and MLS that scored three goals or more in a single game in the 2008/2009 season.

ENGLAND
Premier League
1 - Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)
1 - Gabriel Agbonlahor (Aston Villa)
1 - Robinho (Manchester City)
1 - Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal)
1 - Andrei Arshavin (Arsenal)
1 - Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea)

Championship
2 - Kevin Doyle (Reading)
1 - Deon Burton (Charlton Athletic)
1 - Billy Sharp (Sheffield United)
1 - Sylvan Ebanks-Blake (Wolverhampton Wanderers)
1 - Chris Iwelumo (Wolverhampton Wanderers)
1 - Leroy Lita (Norwich City)

SCOTLAND
2 - Kris Boyd (Glasgow Rangers)
1 - Kevin Kyle (Kilmarnock)
1 - Chris Porter (Motherwell)
1 - Shunsuke Nakamura (Glasgow Celtic)

GERMANY
2 - Claudio Pizarro (Werder Bremen)
2 - Edin Dzeko (VfL Wolfsburg)
2 - Grafite (VfL Wolfsburg)
2 - Mario Gomez (VfB Stuttgart)
1 - Stanislav Sestak (VfL Bochum)
1 - Demba Ba (TSG Hoffenheim)
1 - Patrick Helmes (Bayer Leverkusen)
1 - Andriy Voronin (Hertha BSC)

SPAIN
2 - Samuel Eto'o (Barcelona)
1 - Thierry Henry (Barcelona)
1 - Gonzalo Higuain (Real Madrid)
1 - Rafael van der Vaart (Real Madrid)
1 - Raul (Real Madrid)
1 - Mohamed Tchite (Racing Santander)
1 - Roberto Soldado (Getafe)
1 - Mate Bilic (Sporting Gijon)
1 - Diego Forlan (Atletico Madrid)
1 - Raul Tamudo (Espanyol)
1 - Frederic Kanoute (Sevilla)

FRANCE
1 - Mickael Pagis (Stade Rennes)
1 - Guillaume Hourau (Paris St Germain)

ITALY
2 - Filippo Inzaghi (AC Milan)
2 - Diego Milito (Genoa)
2 - Marco Di Vaio (Bologna)
1 - Adrian Mutu (Fiorentina)
1 - Sergio Pellissier (Chievo)
1 - Giuseppe Mascara (Catania)
1 - Goran Pandev (Lazio)
1 - German Denis (Napoli)

MLS
2009
1 - Conor Casey (Colorado Rapids)
1 - Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake)

2008
2 - Edson Buddle (Los Angeles Galaxy)
1 - Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy)
1 - Luciano Emilio (DC United)

08/09 Youngest League Appearances

This is a list of the handful of 15, 16, and 17 year olds that made at least one first team appearance in the major leagues of Europe and MLS last season (08/09). The age listed is the players age when they made their first appearance of the season.



English Premier League (8)
16 - Jose Baxter (Everton), Jack Wilshere (Arsenal)

17 - Chris Wood (West Brom), Jack Rodwell (Everton), Federico Macheda (Manchester United), Aaron Ramsey (Arsenal), Aaron Doran (Blackburn Rovers), Danny Welbeck (Manchester United)

France Ligue 1 (5)
17 - Timothee Kilodziejczak (Lyon), Rajiv Van La Parra (Caen), Eden Hazard (Lille), Henri Saivet (Bordeaux), Yannis Taffer (Lyon)

German Bundesliga (5)
17 - Lennart Hartmann (Hertha BSC), Kevin Vogt (VfL Bochum), Juvhel Tsoumou (Eintracht Frankfurt), Marco Terrazino (TSG Hoffenheim), Pascal Gross (TSG Hoffenheim)

Italy Serie A (4)
17 - Daniele Ragatzu (Cagliari), Allesandro Crescenzi (Roma), Luigi Sepe (Napoli), Simone Zaza (Atalanta)

Scottish Premier League (3)
17 - John Fleck (Rangers), Paul Slane (Motherwell), James McCarthy (Hamilton Accies)

Spain La Liga (0)
Bojan Krkic was 18 years 3 days when he made his first 08/09 appearance for Barcelona.
Jozy Altidore was 18 years 313 days on his Villarreal Debut


MLS (2009)
17 - Abdus Fuad Ibrahim (Toronto FC)

MLS (2008)
16 - Abdus Fuad Ibrahim (Toronto FC)
17 - Israel Sesay (Los Angeles Galaxy)

England (Championship)
15 - Reuben Noble-Lazarus* (Barnsley)
16 - Connor Wickham (Ipswich Town), Jonjo Shelvey (Charlton Athletic)
17 - Nathaniel Clyne (Crystal Palace), Kieron Djilali (Crystal Palace), Victor Moses (Crystal Palace), James Comley (Crystal Palace), Sean Scannell (Crystal Palace)




* At 15 years and 45 days old, Reuben Noble-Lazarus became the youngest player ever to feature in an English Football League match when he came on as a substitute during Barnsley's 3–0 Championship defeat by Ipswich Town on 30 September 2008.

08/09 Youngest and Oldest League Goal Scorers

These are the youngest (18 or younger) and oldest (35 or older) goal scorers in various leagues throughout Europe for the current 2008/2009 season. I've also included the MLS stats from last season.

My first reaction was, "Wow, there's a bunch of old guys scoring goals in Italy". And that's not even counting the many Serie A goal scorers that are 34 (like Volpi, Fini, Frick, Lopez, Amoruso, Del Piero, and Cruz).

It's also interesting to see that American Jozy Altidore is the only player 18 or younger (barely) to score in La Liga so far this season.


Format:
Years/Days - Player (Club) Date of Season First Goal

Barclay's Premier League

Youngest
17 / 355 - Danny Wellbeck (Manchester United) 11/15/2008
18 / 122 - Rafael Da Silva (Manchester United) 11/08/2008
18 / 330 - Dan Gosling (Everton) 12/28/2008
18 / 358 - Daniel Sturridge (Manchester City) 08/24/2008

Oldest
38 / 98 - Tugay (Blackburn Rovers) 11/30/2008
35 / 82 - Sami Hyypia (Liverpool) 12/28/2008
35 / 71 - Ryan Giggs (Manchester United) 02/08/2009


Scottish Premier League

Youngest
17 / 160 - John Fleck (Glasgow Rangers) 01/31/2009
17 / 306 - James McCarthy (Hamilton) 09/13/2008
18 / 209 - Paul Hanlon (Hibernian) 08/16/2008

Oldest
38 / 183 - David Weir (Glasgow Rangers) 11/09/2008
38 / 125 - Chris Swailes (Hamilton) 02/21/2009


German Bundesliga

Youngest
18 / 243 - Tony Jantschke (Borussia Monchengladbach) 12/06/2008

Oldest
37 / 186 - Mark van Bommel (Bayern Munich) 10/25/2008 Oops..
35 / 296 - Oliver Neuville (Borussia Monchengladbach) 02/21/2009
35 / 161 - Tomasz Zdebel (VfL Bochum) 11/02/2008


Spain La Liga

Youngest
18 / 361 - Jozy Altidore (Villarreal) 11/01/2008

Oldest
35 / 312 - Robert Pires (Villarreal) 12/06/2008


Italy Serie A

Youngest
18 / 193 - Mario Balotelli (Inter) 02/21/2009
18 / 195 - Levan McHedlidze (Palermo) 10/05/2008

Oldest
36 / 154 - Pavel Nedved (Juventus) 01/31/2009
36 / 95 - Luis Figo (Inter) 02/07/2009
35 / 322 - Sebastiano Siviglia (Lazio) 02/14/2009
35 / 320 - Cristiano Doni (Atalanta) 02/15/2009
35 / 169 - Christian Panucci (Roma) 09/28/2008
35 / 162 - Christian Vieri (Atalanta) 12/21/2008
35 / 81 - Filippo Inzaghi (AC Milan) 10/29/2008
35 / 13 - Francesco Cozza (Reggina) 02/01/2009


France Ligue 1

Youngest
17 / 257 - Eden Hazard (Lille OSC) 09/20/2008
18 / 285 - Andre Ayew (Lorient) 09/27/2008

Oldest
36 / 84 - Olivier Echouafni (Nice) 12/06/2008
35 / 254 - Claude Makelele (PSG) 10/29/2008
35 / 234 - Mamadou Bagayoko (FC Nantes) 01/10/2009
35 / 84 - Mickael Pagis (Stade Rennais) 11/09/2008



2008 Major League Soccer

Youngest
16 / 332 - Abdus Ibrahim (Toronto FC) 07/12/2008
18 / 165 - Jozy Altidore (NY Red Bulls) 04/19/2008
18 / 244 - Jorge Flores (Chivas USA) 05/17/2008

Oldest
35 / 129 - Cuauhtemoc Blanco (Chicago Fire) 05/25/2008
35 / 125 - Guillermo Barros Schelotto (Colombus Crew) 09/06/2008


Stats compiled from Statbunker

Brazilians in the Top Five European Leagues

This is a list of all the Brazilians currently in the top 5 leagues in Europe (according to the UEFA Coefficient League Ranking). As of 12/14/08.

England (16)
Denilson - Arsenal
Alex - Chelsea
Juliano Belletti - Chelsea
Geovanni - Hull City
Fabio Aurelio - Liverpool
Lucas Leiva - Liverpool
Elano - Manchester City
Jo - Manchester City
Robinho - Manchester City
Anderson - Manchester United
Rodrigo Possebon - Manchester United
Rafael - Manchester United
Afonso Alves - Middlesbrough
Cacapa - Newcastle United
Gilberto - Tottenham
Heurelho Gomes - Tottenham

Spain (23)
Diego Alves - Almeria
Guilherme - Almeria
Iriney - Almeria
Michel - Almeria
Paulo Assunção - Atletico Madrid
Sylvinho - Barcelona
Dani Alves - Barcelona
Edú - Real Betis
Willian Lima - Real Betis
Filipe Luís - Deportivo de La Coruña
Nenê - Espanyol
Weligton - Malaga
Rossato - Malaga
Pablo Barros - Malaga
Cléber Santana - Mallorca
Marcelo - Real Madrid
Adriano - Sevilla
Luis Fabiano - Sevilla
Renato - Sevilla
Renan - Valencia
Edu - Valencia
Thiago Carleto - Valencia
Edmílson - Villareal

Italy (42)
Adriano Ferreira Pinto - Atalanta
César Aparecido Rodrigues - Bologna
Adailton - Bologna
Coelho - Bologna
Jeda - Cagliari
Luciano - Chievo Verona
Kerlon - Chievo Verona
Cesar - Chievo Verona
Jefferson - Fiorentina
Felipe Melo - Fiorentina
Rubinho - Genoa
Thiago Motta - Genoa
Maxwell - Inter Milan
Adriano - Inter Milan
Julio Cesar - Inter Milan
Maicon - Inter Milan
Mancini - Inter Milan
Amauri - Juventus
Francelino Matuzalem - Lazio
Emílson Sánchez Cribari - Lazio
Ângelo - Lecce
Leo - Lecce
Dida - AC Milan
Emerson - AC Milan
Alexandre Pato - AC Milan
Kaka - AC Milan
Ronaldinho - AC Milan
Inácio Piá - Napoli
Fábio Simplício - Palermo
Santos - Reggina
Cicinho - AS Roma
Juan - AS Roma
Rodrigo Taddei - AS Roma
Filipe Gomes - AS Roma
Julio Baptista - AS Roma
Artur Moraes - AS Roma
Julio Sergio - AS Roma
Alexander Doni - AS Roma
Rodrigo De Lazzari - Siena
Packer - Siena
Felipe - Udinese
Moreno - Udinese

France (27)
Carlos Henrique - Bordeaux
Fernando Menegazzo - Bordeaux
Jussiê - Bordeaux
Wendel - Bordeaux
Antonio Géder - Le Mans
Paulo André - Le Mans
Marcos Paulo - Le Mans
Michel Bastos - Lille
Tulio de Melo - Lille
Emerson - Lille
Cris - Lyon
Ederson - Lyon
Juninho - Lyon
Fred - Lyon
Fábio Santos - Lyon
Vitorino Hilton - Marseille
Adriano Pereira - Monaco
Helder - Nancy
André Luiz - Nancy
Douglão - Nantes
Ceará - Paris Saint Germain
Ilan - Saint Etienne
Carlão - Sochaux
Álvaro Santos - Sochaux
Paulo César - Toulouse
Rafael Schmitz - Valenciennes
Jeovânio - Valenciennes

Germany (35)
Henrique - Bayer Leverkusen
Renato Augusto - Bayer Leverkusen
Lúcio - Bayern Munich
Zé Roberto - Bayern Munich
Breno - Bayern Munich
Tinga - Borussia Dortmund
Dedê - Borussia Dortmund
Felipe Santana - Borussia Dortmund
Chris - Eintracht Frankfurt
Caio - Eintracht Frankfurt
Vragel da Silva - Energie Cottbus
Alex Silva - Hamburger SV
Thiago Neves - Hamburger SV
Vinícius - Hannover 96
Kaká - Hertha Berlin
Cícero - Hertha Berlin
Raffael - Hertha Berlin
Rodnei - Hertha Berlin
Lúcio - Hertha Berlin
Wellington - TSG 1899 Hoffenheim
Luiz Gustavo - TSG 1899 Hoffenheim
Carlos Eduardo - TSG 1899 Hoffenheim
Antônio da Silva - Karlsruher
Pedro Geromel - 1. FC Köln
Marcelo Bordon - Schalke 04
Zé Roberto - Schalke 04
Rafinha - Schalke 04
Cacau - VfB Stuttgart
Élson - VfB Stuttgart
Naldo - Werder Bremen
Diego - Werder Bremen
Rodrigo Alvim - Wolfsburg
Josué - Wolfsburg
Caiuby - Wolfsburg
Grafite - Wolfsburg

2008 Top Players You Might have Missed

I wanted to put together a list of great players that many casual soccer fans may not have heard of or followed in the past. Some young, some old, some more well-known than others, all of these players have done very well and I think a few of the youngsters listed may find their way to the big clubs of Europe in the near future.

Germany
GK - Rene Adler - Bayer Leverkusen
DF - Per Mertesacker - Werder Bremen
MF - Simon Rolfes - Bayer Leverkusen
FW - Mladen Petric - Borussia Dortmund

France
GK - Steve Mandanda - Marseille
DF - Sébastien Puygrenier - Nancy
MF - Jeremy Toulalan - Lyon
FW - Pascal Feindouno - St Etienne

Italy
GK - Alberto Fontana - Palermo
DF - Giorgio Chiellini - Juventus
MF - Marek Hamsik - Napoli
FW - Marco Borriello - Genoa

Spain
GK - Carlos Kameni - RCD Espanyol
DF - Ezequiel Garay - Racing Santander
MF - Diego Capel - Sevilla
FW - Dani Güiza - RCD Mallorca

England
GK - Joe Hart - Manchester City
DF - Joleon Lescott - Everton
MF - Ashley Young - Aston Villa
FW - Tuncay Şanlı - Middlesbrough


If you closely follow any of these leagues and have some "lesser-known" players that you think deserve to be listed, feel free to leave your own list in the comments.

Lyon Ligue 1 Dominance

Lyon has won the last six Ligue 1 titles in France and they are closing in on number 7 this season with a 2 point lead over Bordeaux with 2 games to play. This list shows the top two finishers in Ligue 1 over the past six seasons along with the top goal scorer for Lyon.



07/08 - 2 games left to play
73 - Lyon
71 - Bordeaux
19 - Karim Benzema

06/07
81 - Lyon
64 - Marseille
11 - Fred

05/06
84 - Lyon
69 - Bordeaux
14 - Fred

04/05
79 - Lyon
67 - Lille
13 - Juninho

03/04
79 - Lyon
76 - PSG
16 - Peguy Luyindula

02/03
68 - Lyon
67 - Monaco
13 - Juninho

01/02
66 - Lyon
64 - Lens
14 - Sonny Anderson

Lyon may have dominated the league in France in recent times but this has not always been the case. They sit tenth in the all-time results.

Here are the top 10 all-time French clubs:

1. Sochaux
2. Marseille
3. Metz
4. Strasbourg
5. Bordeaux
6. St. Etienne
7. Lens
8. Monaco
9. Rennes
10. Lyon

Lyon's biggest ever win was against Marseille in 1997, with an 8-0 home win.

Even with all of Lyon's recent league success, they have not won the league cup in France since 2000/01, the year before their amazing run began.

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?

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

Ligue 1 - Unique Internationals

This is post number 5 about unique internationals in the world's top leagues. The idea is to identify International players that are the only one from their represented country playing in each league. Here is the list for France's Ligue 1.




Dennis Oliech - Kenya

Daisuke Matsui - Japan

Roberto Leyva - Mexico

Andrew Jacobson - USA

Marama Vahirua - French Polynesia

Manuel Corrales - Peru

Ou Kyoung-Jun - Korea Republic

Jeff Strasser - Luxembourg

Torben Joneleit - Germany

Apoula Edima Bete Edel - Armenia

Eric Mouloungui - Gabon

Ahmed Abou Moslem - Egypt


Previous Unique International Posts:
Serie A
La Liga
Premiership
Bundesliga

African Players in the Top European Leagues

These days, it seems like almost every club match in Europe features African players playing in key roles. It's obvious that Africa is a hotbed of soccer talent in the modern game and I wanted to find out more about the players that are currently playing in the top leagues in Europe. Here's what I found:


African Players in Each League:

114 - France Ligue 1
51 - English Premier League
31 - Portuguese Liga
28 - German Bundesliga
27 - Dutch Eredevisie
16 - Spain La Liga
10 - Italy Serie A


African Countries with 10 or more Players in Top European Leagues:

34 - Senegal
32 - Cameroon
29 - Morocco
28 - Nigeria
26 - Ivory Coast
23 - Ghana
19 - Mali
13 - Algeria
10 - Tunisia


African Countries with 2 or less players in Top European Leagues:

2 - Togo, Zambia, Kenya, Equitorial Guinea, Benin
1 - Burundi, Gabon, Namibia, Zimbabwe


Clubs With the Most African Players by League:

11 - France: Nice and Metz
6 - Germany: Hamburg
5 - England: Newcastle and Portsmouth
5 - Portugal: Académica and Boavista
4 - Holland: Heracles Almelo
3 - Spain: Sevilla
2 - Italy: Parma and Udinese


Most Represented Nations in each League:

France - 20 from Senegal
Holland - 13 from Morocco
England - 8 from Nigeria
Portugal - 6 from Angola and Cape Verde
Germany - 5 from South Africa
Spain - 4 from Cameroon
Italy - 2 from Ghana and Nigeria


By Position:

MF - 106 - 38%
FW - 90 - 32%
DF - 75 - 27%
GK - 8 - 3%