Richard Mason reports on the scandal of the season in Serie A
There is a crisis in Italian football. An unprecedented series of refereeing errors (or “favours”, as many would prefer to believe) nearly all of which have benefited Juventus, has led to a degree of soul searching rare even in a country so frantically passionate about football as Italy.
Sweden have underachieved ever since the last World Cup, says Duncan Cooper
June 16th 1997 – the rainiest day of the year at Arlandastad golf course near Stockholm Airport. I stagger off the 18th green, wet through, and trudge slowly up to the clubhouse. Near the first tee a man with blond hair is struggling to put his waterproof trousers on. One foot seems to be stuck. He’s slightly podgy, unshaven, and generally rather grumpy
Although Yugoslavia's players are in other European leagues, the state of the game back home is in crisis. Simon Evans reports
Having spent decades just missing out on glory, the Yugoslavs looked set to finally make a decisive impact in a major tournament. Red Star Belgrade had been crowned champions of Europe and the national team – with stars such as Prosinecki, Savicevic and Stojkovic – was among the favourites for the 1992 European Championships in Sweden.
England's next opponents, South Africa, have problems that go further than the football pitch, says John Perlman
By the time Benedict McCarthy set off for the African under-20 championships in Morocco last month, he had just seven South African Premier league games under his belt. By the end of the tournament in which his five goals had taken South Africa to the final – they lost 1-0 to the hosts – the young striker from Cape Town’s “coloured” townships was having to get his brain round a bewildering array of choices: Ajax? Feyenoord? Milan?
Robbie Fowler was fined for supporting the sacked dockers in Liverpool, but what does this mean for football?
As a symbol of where football’s priorities appear to lie in the 1990s it could hardly be bettered. Within days of Robbie Fowler unveiling a T-shirt proclaiming support for sacked dockers during Liverpool’s Cup Winners’ Cup match with SK Brann, UEFA impose a £900 fine as punishment for a gesture which apparently constituted “a manifestation of a non sporting nature”.