Sorry, your browser is out of date. The content on this site will not work properly as a result.
Upgrade your browser for a faster, better, and safer web experience.

Search: 'World Cup 1982'

Stories

Leagues apart in Italy & Germany

Richard Mason and Christoph Biermann study two countries where there is a significant gulf between big and small clubs

ITALY
In overall charge of the whole game in Italy from top to bottom is the FIGC (Federazione Italiana Gioco Calcio) under its president, Luciano Nizzola. Although the FIGC is the umbrella, the various leagues are and always have been separately administered. Serie A and B are run from Milan, Serie C 1 and C2 from Florence, and Serie D from Rome.The other categories are run by regional or provincial committees. Separate administration means that they have their own referees, their own disciplinary committees and procedures, their own version of the Coppa Italia.

Read more…

Didn’t he use to play for…

Lots of players are expected to have big futures but never justify the hype. Cris Freddi profiles some of the game's biggest underachievers

Edu, (Jonas Eduardo Américo)
The first ‘new Pelé’, he scored in his second international and became an immediately controversial figure by being included in the 1966 World Cup squad at the age of 16 but not playing a match while Brazil picked a string of knackered veterans. A skilful winger, he played in the 1970 & 1974 finals, but only against the weakest opposition (Romania & Zaire), and was always a peripheral figure despite winning 42 caps.

Read more…

Up the Orient

China could qualify for the World Cup, and Haydn Parry credits their success to their surprise training schedule in England

A balmy morning in Mitcham, deepest South London, and the air is punctuated by coarse groans in Cantonese. This is the training ground of Crystal Palace, the latest stop in a very low profile, ten-day tour of England by the International squad of the People’s Republic of China. The game behind closed doors is not going well – two-nil down at halftime to a fresh faced bunch of ‘Eaglets’ keen to impress Steve Coppell, who is pacing the sidelines.

Read more…

The wanna bes? – Division Two

WSC readers and fanzine editors weight up the coming season

BLACKPOOL

David Blundell

How will your team do this season?
Had Gary Megson stayed as manager I would have tipped us for automatic promotion, but with the unwelcome changes in the summer I would say a play-off place would be a very good result for the new man, Nigel Worthington.

Who is going to be the most important figure at the club this season?
Fans would have preferred a diehard Tangerine at the helm, so Nigel Worthington must convince them that he has the club at heart and is not, like Megson, simply looking for another entry on his CV.

If you had to come up with a new piece of merchandise to sell at the club shop what would it be?
Our proposed ‘super stadium’ has gone through more changes (over a number of years) than Man United kits, with movable roofs, dual pitches, floating pitches, 20,000 seats, 40,000 seats etc,etc. There could be small replicas of each version for fans to collect, but they’d need a huge amount of shelf space.

Which element of the matchday environment would you most like to change?
Any change to the half time entertainment would be welcome – I remember a recent Autoglass Trophy tie when two fans from each side had to remove and replace a car windscreen. Worse, a couple of seasons ago, we bought four of the giants from It’s A Knockout, which would race the full length of the pitch and try to score a goal. The hilarity began to pale thirtieth time around. Thankfully someone broke into the ground and reputedly vandalised them beyond repair, although I am convinced one of them has made occasional appearances for Birmingham City.

Read more…

Maradona’s mistakes

Jimmy Burns examines how many of Diego Maradona's problems were of his own making

There is a childhood memory that keeps coming back to Diego Maradona as an image of self-preservation in a world spiralling out of control.

Read more…

Copyright © 1986 - 2024 When Saturday Comes LTD All Rights Reserved Website Design and Build NaS