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Chelsea – History Makers

It is not often, hardly ever in fact, that Chelsea FC get a whole post for them dedicated. But honour where honour is due.
The club from the Fulham Road have made history. This alone justified some words written about them.

By winning the Europa Conference League final against Real Betis 4-1, the Bluds have become the first club to have won all European cup competitions. This contains the old Cup Winners Cup as well as the Europa League.

Moreover, they have won these European Competitions twice, except the Conference League.

It is also important to note that Chelsea declined the offer to participate in the European Cup in 1955. Back then, the Football Association of England did not think much of those fancy Europeans and influenced Chelsea in a way they had no other option than to withdraw from the competition. Who knows, their history might have been different.

The rise of Leyton Orient

Mention anything rising in the east and many people may get scared. In the East of London something remarkable has happened and has just come to an end. February 1, 2025 and a remarkable run for Leyton Orient has come to an end. Their unbeaten run in the league and two cup competitions came up…

Sign of our time

The current societal climate is dire, racists are becoming ever more confident that they have nothing to fear from the majority because this majority is simply too quiet; it has been too quiet for too long.

Jean-Marie le Pen has been a figurehead of the right in France for a long time. His passing in January led to celebrations in some quarters. However, some hooligan groups of Paris Saint-Germain and Reims FC went as far as to honour le Pen.

The second term of the 47th president of the United States has begun and as if to indicate in which direction politics are heading, the head of a tech giant has raised his right arm in a salute to a crowd that not only resembled the salute of the national socialists in Germany but was easily identified as such by observers.

In an attempt of hurried obedience, the sports apparels manufacturer Nike have issued the new shirt for the Madrid team Atlético. The design leaves little room for speculation.

https://x.com/hooliganscz1999/status/1879114990164291608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1879114990164291608%7Ctwgr%5Eb5c4e5db223e7b702f23832e0d1f584b4310fd75%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fhooligans.cz%2Findex.php%2Freports%2Fforeign%2Fspan%2Fatletico-madrid-2025-26-home-kit

It is 2025, 80 years after the end of the Second World War and we appear to have not learnt a single lesson from history. The eye witnesses are getting fewer and soon we have to rely on secondary sources for memorial work in schools and elsewhere.

Mariners and Sea gulls

The cooperation of men and animal has been fruitful for millennia. Mostly mankind has benefited from this symbiosis – and sport is no exception.

a little positivity

The year is almost over and it was a difficult one to get through, particularly since the events in Magdeburg last Friday. However, sometimes it is the little things that provide you with hope and a sense that not all is lost or negative.

This gesture by Alex Iwobi is one of those moments that demonstrate that professional football players are capable of giving something back to the community. Footballers have the reputation of being disconnected from their fan base and their communities. This example proves that we should not judge all players by the same token.

Thanks to Jerome Pugmire for the inspiration.

x-mas? go away!

Christmas is a difficult time in general as its imposed happiness feels false and hollow. This year, however, it feels even worse. The attack on the Christmas Market in Magdeburg, back home!, has made it impossible to enjoy this time of year. Thoughts are with the victims and their families and those who are injured.…

More “WE”, Less “I”

Football is often overburdened with social problems that are not easily solved even in society. Football is a mirror of society and as such works as a prism for the workings of the people.

In a rare moment of fragility, the German national coach Julian Nagelsmann had to fight back his tears after his team lost to Spain in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Euros. It was a little sentence delivered almost at the end of his press conference that reverberated through the night.

He spoke of society in need of more “We” moments than “I”. Yet, way more remarkable was his statement that we need to think more solution oriented than being focused too much on problems. This is a very important point as we, as society, simply need to replace one word with another: not crisis but task for which there is a solution.

10 Minute Madness

Whatever momentum Magdeburg may have gathered over the last three games, it was all gone within ten minutes against Fürth. While the first half looked decent, if not solid, between the 65th and the 75th minute, Magdeburg gave the game and their good position away. The goal difference before was -11 which compared well with…

FIFA’s coffers

As a little note for the weekend:

According to its latest report, FIFA have recorded $5.8bn revenues in 2022, largely due to the World Cup in Qatar. According to Wikipedia the Gross Domestic Product of Guam for 2017 was estimated to have been $5.793bn; for 2022 there were no figures available yet. For 2022 the list of GDP shows that FIFA would rank somewhere between Lesotho and the Central African Republic in terms of revenues. For a non-profit organization this is a lot.

This gives this association an incredible amount of financial and political power. And it is of course not shy to use this. It has borrowed the city of Berne around CHF1.8bn over the last six years. Apparently, the towns and cities to which FIFA has leant money had found no other lenders despite their ratings being impeccable. What is not so impeccable is of course the reputation of FIFA. The organization is mired in scandal, yet the mayors seemed not to care.

At the same time global governing body of soccer has ‚only’ donated $1m to the earthquake relief fund for Turkey and Syria.

FIFA is drowning in money says this report in the German broadsheet F.A.Z.

image credit: Money Bags by 401(K) via flickr under CC BY-SA 2.0

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fan culture: all new or swapping one for another?

In an article published in The Guardian, the author claims that England fan culture is changing. This is supported by a statement from Jamie Cleland, an academic who is stating that the trip to Qatar was too expensive for many ordinary England supporters. “With the World Cup occurring mid-season, close to Christmas, and in a…