Search: ' La Liga'

Ian Plenderleith goes in search of some serious football journalism and after reading a series of exposés of FIFA shenanigans finds some unintended laughs in the governing body’s code of ethics

For all the thousands of sites about football, very few are devoted to old-fashioned investigative journalism aimed at exposing the greedy and corrupt. One such rarity is Play The Game, a Denmark-based and funded site that calls itself “home for the homeless questions in sport” and covers in depth many stories neglected elsewhere.

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Jonathan Wilson, author of the acclaimed book Behind the Curtain, believe that eastern Europe’s hooliganism problem is real but exaggerated and reflects society’s wider struggles in an era of change

In the late 1970s, fans of Spartak Moscow, clad in red and white, would rampage through city centres and daub their slogans on walls. This season, their ultras have held aloft a giant banner sponsored by a vodka company. Such is the triumph of capital in Russia.

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The problem of Paris Saint-Germain’s notoriously far-right supporters exploded when a policeman opened fire after a racist mob confronted fans of Hapoel Tel-Aviv. Nicolas Hourcade reports

Thursday November 23, 11pm, the Porte de Saint‑Cloud area of Paris, near the Parc des Princes. Paris Saint-Germain have just been humiliated 4-2 in the UEFA Cup by an average Hapoel Tel-Aviv team. The hardest PSG fans are running at opposing supporters. According to the initial results of the investigation, one of the Hapoel fans was being chased by a group of Parisians when a 32-year-old black man, only identified as a plain-clothes policeman, intervened. He tried to break up the group with tear gas. But in the face of their aggression he retreated, fell down, took out his gun and fired, killing one of his assailants and seriously injuring another. He sought refuge in a McDonald’s, which was then attacked by PSG fans screaming racist abuse until the police broke up the crowd.

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The hooligans of Buenos Aires don’t confine themselves to football, reports Martin Gambarotta. Though when they’re not busy hiring themselves out as political thugs, they cause plenty of disruption

Politics and football inevitably mix in Argentina and the product is not always good. Politics here means primordially one thing: the ruling Peronist party – a vast political machine. The latest crisis hitting football involves the usual: violence in derbies, allegations that hooligans (known here as barrabravas) turn up late at night to lecture players and speculation that the long reign of Julio Grondona as the head of the country’s FA is about to end. But it started with a massive fight not during a game, but in a political arena.

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Simon Tyers on Tim Lovejoy and other presenters switching jobs

After years of being downplayed as a near‑unnecessary calendar filler, the Carling Cup is finally being seen as a competitive target for the big clubs once again, with members of the modern Big Four lifting the trophy in four of the last six seasons. Sky Sports are keen to act as cheerleaders for this unlikely rejuvenation, to give the impression of holding a greater nap hand of live football coverage. So they’ve given a Carling Cup presentation job to Tim Lovejoy.

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