Columnists Archives - Page 18 of 78 - Inside World Football

David Owen: Twitter and the fine art of football electioneering

It being general election week here in the United Kingdom, I thought it would be a good time to take a look at the FIFA Presidential election – via the medium of the four candidates’ Twitter feeds. Not because I judge this likely to offer great insights into the identity of the eventual winner: the football officials in whose hands the outcome lies are assuredly far too high-minded to be swayed by anything as trivial as social media.

Andrew Warshaw: Three weeks to go, but is three the magic number

Back in his comfort zone on the banks of the Dead Sea in his native Jordan, the Prince who would be king charmed the pants off visiting delegates and dignatories with his trademark mixture of humility and hospitality.

Lee Wellings

Lee Wellings: ‘Fair share’ in La Liga at last

“You are only as strong as your weakest link.” It’s been difficult to apply this to La Liga where two clubs have been so financially dominant.

Massimo Cecchini

Massimo Cecchini: Italian football violence, ping pong responsibilities

We confess to feeling a bit embarrassed talking about violence in Italian football. Even though the circumstances are always different, they are all reprehensible, and trigger debates that are very similar and, for this reason, very embarrassing.

Matt Scott

Matt Scott: Greek football’s tragedy is a lesson for us all

D2F2F077-DD02-490B-95B8-7FD41141D566

“Greek football is a labyrinth.” Petros Konstantineas MP, ex-FIFA referee

Fearsome though the bull-headed Minotaur was, at least Theseus knew what he was dealing with. And if things got too hairy he could always follow the thread of Ariadne’s wool he had laid down on his way into the labyrinth’s heart of darkness. For the modern-day Greek heroes like Petros Konstantineas, the referee who bravely sought to tackle the beast in whose clutches football in that country is held,

Archive

David Owen: Sheikh Ahmad’s arrival in FIFA’s inner sanctum is big potatoes

Remember the date: April 30 may well turn out to be a more significant day for the medium- to long-term future of FIFA than May 29. That might seem a strange claim, given that the latter is the date of the FIFA Presidential election to determine the occupant of the second-most powerful post in sport for the next four years.

Mihir Bose

Mihir Bose: Football’s Janus face

Has there ever been a time when football has been so much in demand, even likely to affect a British general election, yet the people who run the sport are considered so incompetent, if not downright dishonest?

Andrew Warshaw: Fair play for whom? Just ask Enfield

Imagine the outcry if a leading English club was deducted three points just as it was about to clinch the Premier League title – for no other reason than being a victim of its own integrity and honesty.

John Yan

John Yan: To Russia with hope 出线第一

If one can believe the social media world, Team China should have already qualified for World Cup 2018. Even though the AFC has only just announced the draw for the eight groups, which is only the secondary stage of a long long qualification process for the Russian tournament.

Martin Volkmar: Bayern can win only

How fast can one game change everything. Until Tuesday, FC Bayern had not shown in the second round that they really had a compelling game to win at the highest level.

Archive

Inside Editorial: New world order

When CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb addressed his constituent federations for the first time at the confederation’s annual congress in the Bahamas last week, his speech was all about business, reflection on their progress to date, and setting goals for the next four year cycle. It was about setting the agenda and outlining the challenges. Three hours later, having been elected unopposed for a second term as president, he gave quite a different speech.

Matt Scott

Matt Scott: The Premier League relegation contagion

C349DEDF-E1DA-4635-B7E0-B9D0C36DE094

“Ring a ring o’ roses, A pocketful of posies, A-tishoo! A-tishoo! We all fall down.” Traditional British nursery rhyme

For centuries British children of what we now describe as primary-school age have been singing this popular tune: holding hands and dancing in a circle before falling on their bottoms together. It is widely believed (though it is disputed by some) that the song dates back to the age of bubonic plague,

Lee Wellings

Lee Wellings: Disrespectful FA Cup clash is bad business

That English football sold its soul to television many years ago is hardly a contentious subject any more. And partly because the small screen has enabled to us to consume and enjoy more of the game from across the globe than we could ever have imagined possible. But with football and TV ever more reliant on each other, is there really a need for football to have humiliated itself for television in the way it did for the FA Cup semi-finals?

Andrew Warshaw: The one that got away?

The politics of football have long been rife with allegations of corruption, hypotheses, behind-the-scenes manoeuvring and a fair share of proven malpractise.

Osasu Obayiuwana

Osasu Obayiuwana: African rule changes ensure there will be no change

A sad, very disturbing, fact remains constant, over the decades I’ve covered the African game, which is fuelling my deepening pessimism about its future – the ruthless cultivation of a reactionary climate that is extremely hostile to the desperately needed transformation of CAF, the continent’s governing body, into an organisation that will finally command the genuine respect of the global fraternity and use its political capital in the interests of those it ought to primarily serve.