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Empty plastic seats are a common feature in top-flight football in 2010. Adam Bate wonders why one region isn’t reacting to success

On the face of it these are heady days for West Midlands football. West Bromwich Albion’s promotion from the Championship has resulted in the region’s four biggest clubs all enjoying top-flight status for the first time since the 1983-84 season. Wolves have just achieved their highest league finish for 30 years while Birmingham’s ninth place last time out was their best effort in over half a century.

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Paul Giess looks at the legacy of the summer's World Cup for the hosts and the future prospects for the national league

The surge of optimism experienced across South Africa during the 2010 World Cup having died down, daily life has returned its normal mix of strikes, unpopular government legislation and continued difficult economic conditions. At the start of the new football season there are still a handful of well-worn flags flying from cars and houses as residents cling on to memories of the few weeks when their divided nation came together as one. It remains to be seen if this will spill over into any renewed support for the 16 teams that will battle out the 2010-11 Premier Soccer League (PSL).

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While Bosnia's national team continues to improve, their federation is under attack from fans, as James Taylor reports

Late at night on September 3, after Bosnia’s victory in Luxembourg, one of the presidents of the Football Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BFF), Bogdan Ceko, was attacked by unidentified assailants. This has nothing to do with safety in Luxembourg; it is an unsurprising symptom of the off-field troubles that plague Bosnian football.

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International tournaments don't always attract local supporters and ticketing arrangements rarely help. Mark Brophy explains

A team of FIFA delegates recently visited England on a fact-finding tour to aid the choice of host nation for the 2018 World Cup. There was much for the English bid team to promote including the existing stadiums, the tourist infrastructure and the tradition of the game in this country, none of which could have failed to impress the delegation. Great play was also made of the passion of our fans. But how many home fans will actually turn up for games should the bid be successful?

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Changing venues, vandalism and an intimidating empty stadium – Ken Gall tells the tale of a bizarre trip to Athens

For the many students of ancient Hellenic civilisation among the Dundee Utd travelling support, the news that United’s Europa League away leg at AEK Athens might have to be switched to a venue 186 miles away caused consternation for those whose main worry until then was how to combine a visit to the Parthenon with an evening’s entertainment at Piraeus’s alarming sounding nightspot, the Kinky Opera.

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