Foot Ball Player

Friday, August 27, 2010

Spurs get holders Inter, Real's group of death

Tottenham will face reigning champions Inter Milan in the Champions League group stages, while they also face German side Werder Bremen and Steve McClaren's former side FC Twente. Spurs' first attempt on European club football's top prize is not an easy task with Rafa Benitez now at the helm at the San Siro and Bremen, who finished third in the Bundesliga last season.
Manchester United face up against Rangers in another 'Battle of Britain' after their last clash in 2003-04 and must contend with Valencia as well - although the Spanish side have been weakened by the summer exits of David Villa and David Silva - and shock Turkish champions Bursaspor.

Didier Drogba gets a reunion with former club Marseille as Chelsea are drawn in a group with the French champions, but they also face a tough trip to Spartak Moscow and Slovakia's MSK Zilina. Marseille boss Didier Deschamps got the better of Chelsea in 2004 when in charge of Monaco but, having lost two of their first three league games, will have to turn things around.

Arsenal will be reunited with Eduardo after the striker moved to Shakhtar Donetsk, while they also face Braga - who hammered Sevilla in the play-offs - and Serbian side Partizan. The Gunners lost 3-0 in Donetsk back in 2000, but turned it around in the second leg as they sealed a thrilling 3-2 win thanks to Martin Keown's two late goals.

The group of death is undoubtedly the one containing AC Milan, Real Madrid, Ajax and Auxerre. Real and Milan clashed last season in the group stages, with Milan coming out 3-2 winners at the Bernabeu, but Milan will have extra motivation this year as former Inter coach Jose Mourinho is now at the helm of the Madrid side.

Conversely, Barcelona have been granted one of the easiest groups ever seen in the Champions League. They have a tough trip to Rubin Kazan - who beat them at the Nou Camp in the group stages last season - but Copenhagen and Greek side Panathinaikos shouldn't prove too much of a test for Lionel Messi and company.

DATES: September 14-15, 28-29; October 19-20; November 2-3, 23-24; December 7-8.

Group A
Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Inter Milan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Werder Bremen	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Tottenham	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
FC Twente	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Group B
Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Lyon	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Benfica	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Schalke	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Hapoel Tel Aviv	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Group C
Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Manchester United	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Valencia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Rangers	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Bursaspor	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Group D
Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Barcelona	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Panathinaikos	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Copenhagen	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Rubin Kazan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Group E
Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Bayern Munich	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Roma	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Basel	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
CFR Cluj	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Group F
Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Chelsea	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Marseille	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Spartak Moscow	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
MSK Zilina	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Group G
Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
AC Milan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Real Madrid	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ajax	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Auxerre	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Group H
Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Arsenal	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Shakhtar Donetsk	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Braga	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Partizan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Monday, August 9, 2010

T-shirt Inter Milan 2010

Manchester United Sign Aon to Replace AIG as Shirt Sponsor

Manchester United signed a shirt sponsorship deal to replace AIG with with insurer Aon believed to be worth £20 million a year (about $33 million). Bonus payments could add a further £5 million a year, according to the FT.

The deal ends Man Utd’s dependence on U.S. taxpayer dollars. AIG spent about £14 million of its bailout money on the final year of its sponsorship, The Sun noted. Neither Man Utd nor Aon gave details of the deal. However the FT said:

Man Utd received a strong bid from a betting company, which enabled them to pitch three to four suitors against each other, said to include Standard Chartered.

That explains the Sahara Group rumors of a few days ago. (Looking back, wasn’t that bizarre?)

The deal means two things for Man Utd: First, it will increase its sponsorship revenues at a time when many clubs are expected to see theirs decline due to the recession. Second, it puts some relief on their spiralling player budget costs.

To give you an idea of how bad the latter is, striker Carlos Tevez is currently demanding £25.5 million to stay at Old Trafford; and Deloitte’s Annual Review of Football Finance reports that the team spends £121 million per season on players.

As for the former, the AP reported:

… that is about 40 percent more than AIG was paying and 17 percent more than Bayern Munich’s shirt sponsorship with mobile phone provider T-Home.

The good news for United didn’t end there. The Manchester Evening News reported that the club has shaken off some of its debt expenses on higher revenues, and made a profit.

The Premier League champions made £71.8m for the season 2007-8 to put them at the top of the money tree globally.

Their revenue of £257.1m also saw them outperform the rest of their Premier League rivals - with figures suggesting they are bucking the global economic crisis.

Side note: How far behind, business-wise, are Americans when it comes to sport sponsorships? Check this out for the answer. Practice shirts, indeed!

Football Girls

Modern football has evolved from a game played in streets and schools in the mid 1800s to the most widely played game on earth played in almost every town and village in the world, from youngsters kicking a ball about in the streets and local league teams playing for local honour to vast stadiums where the multi million pound clubs draw up to 100,000 fans each week.

Eleven players a side, with the aim to put the ball in the opposition goal. Simplicity itself! Olympic football competition has a few extra rules however. As professionals are allowed to play there is an age restriction on players. There are 16 men’s teams in the Olympic competition and teams are limited to only three players over the age of 23. Twelve women’s teams are allowed in the competition, which doesn’t have any age restrictions.