Search: 'UEFA'

The demise of the Cup-Winners Cup means there are some European ties destined never to be repeated and Bangor City v Napoli is one of them. A shame, since the first meeting was very close. Cris Freddi looks back

This was the first European match played by either side, but no prizes for realising the comparisons end there. One of the big names of Serie A against ­some­thing from the Cheshire League emerging blinking into the light. The two Argentinian forwards, Rosa and Tacchi, had cost more than Bangor’s entire income since the war. One team looked set for 90 minutes with their backs to the wall.

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As Ipswich revel in their role as the nation's sweethearts and Norwich flounder, Gavin Barber reflects on their sudden change of fortunes

What were you doing on August 22? If you are an Ips­­­wich fan, you were probably wat­ch­­­­­­­­­ing a thril­ling draw with Man­­­ches­ter United. If you sup­port Norwich, you were most likely searching for a rea­son to miss your team’s 0-0 draw with Bournemouth in the Worthington Cup. This stark illustration of the current disparity between the two teams didn’t go unnoticed by either set of supporters. Since then, of course, Ipswich’s astounding Premiership form and City’s further struggles have only made it more marked.

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The vioence at Africa's Champions League final was the climax of a troubled year. Alan Duncan fears little will change as a result

The reputation of African football suffered yet another knock following December’s ill-fated second leg of the Champions League final between Tunisian outfit Espérance de Tunis and Ghana’s Hearts of Oak, in the west African country’s capital, Accra. The match, the climax of the continental club cal­endar, degenerated into scenes of pandemonium with 18 minutes of the second half remaining when security forces responded to a hostile, missile-throwing faction of Ghanaian fans by firing teargas up into the stad­ium’s north stand, with one canister landing above the VIP enclosure.

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Who are G-14 and what do they want? More money, as if you didn't know. John Sugden investigates the gathering threat to UEFA's control of European club football

Manchester United, Arsenal and Leeds are all through to the second group phase of the Champions League but, while that may induce a sense of well- being in England, we should not be blinded by the glitz and glamour to the reality that European club football is mired deep in crisis. Already reeling from the un­folding consequences of Bosman and the latest European Union attack on the transfer sys­tem, UEFA are faced with a new double chal­lenge to their monopoly over the European game. As usual, the essence of the latest crisis boils down to money, or, to be more precise, who generates the cash and who gets their hands on the lion's share of it.

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The sports minister reopens the debate on safe standing

There used to be a sign over the stairs leading out of the away end at Upton Park urging supporters to “Remember Ibrox” and leave without pushing. It seemed pretty rich, back in the Eighties, when spectators would struggle to get out of that tangle of unforgiving fences and barriers in one piece.

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