UEFA

Many youth soccer coaches have coached multiple seasons and they feel comfortable with their knowledge about soccer and coaching. This comfort leads them to believe they know everything they need to know about coaching soccer and they become far too complacent simply “winging it” during practice.

If you are one of these coaches, you are doing your players a great disservice because the simple fact is, your players will not learn as much if you don’t plan practice beforehand. A plan will allow you to put together a list of topics you hope to teach your team and cover as much ground as possible during the season.

Your time will be utilized to the fullest if you operate in this fashion. This will greatly increase your chances of achieving soccer coaching success as defined by two factors: 1. Did your players learn and improve their game 2. Did they have enough fun to play soccer again next season. It all comes back to your practice designs.

Considering your team is made up of kids, some of whom will have very short attention spans, a fluid practice where you move seamlessly from drill to drill will decrease the chance your players will get distracted. It will also show them that you “know what you are doing,” making it more likely that they will listen and learn.

Your kids will not have fun and will not improve if you lose control of practice and you are much more likely to get to the point of madness when you are winging it. If you plan everything out before the time arrives, practice will go much smoother and the kids will learn and love the game, and you will look like a superior coach.

I also know that not everyone has the time or the ability to plan out practice, so I have put together a book with 20 original and pre-designed soccer practice plans, made up of my most effective drills. If you are short on soccer or coaching knowledge or insanely busy, these practices can be the blueprint to your entire soccer season.

UEFA

In the past twenty-five years, soccer has become the most popular youth sport in North America. Many of these young players have carried their love of the sport into adulthood, resulting in the debut of Major League Soccer, America’s first professional soccer league, in 1996.

Youth and professional soccer in the U.S. continue to grow more popular and more competitive, increasing the demand for specialized soccer training programs. Many of these programs offer training abroad as a way to tap into the fiercely competitive international soccer scene. The best of these soccer camps offer more than world-class soccer training. They foster cultural diversity, maturity, and independence in young soccer players.

Unique experience for young soccer players

Soccer camps have become available in countries around the world. Locations like Spain, France, China, Brazil, Greece, Holland, Italy and Germany have opened their doors to American soccer players. An international soccer program has recently opened in Israel as well. These international camps combine professional soccer training with a full-immersion language experience.

Camps can range from 2 weeks to several months. Young soccer players can live and train under constant supervision while learning to appreciate the unique culture of their host country.

Security: A must for travel abroad programs

If you are considering an international soccer camp for your child, safety should be a big concern. A good international soccer camp will have a clear security plan in place. In Israel, for example, EduKick students will train in safety at Kannot Youth Village, a secure, gated, educational and agricultural youth facility. Professional security will be provided 24/7 and accompany the players on all outings.

Full-immersion language instruction

The time young players spend at camp should be more than a vacation. An important part of the soccer experience abroad is learning foreign languages. Hearing and speaking another language constantly is the best way for your child to gain bi-lingual fluency. Bi-lingual instructors, competition with foreign teams, and structured language classes are integral parts of the EduKick experience.

World-class soccer training

Of course, the ultimate goal of a soccer training camp is top-notch soccer training. Look for highly-educated, experienced coaches with coaching credentials. The best coaches have experience playing at the professional level also.

The international field is highly competitive, offering a level of training that is unmatched in the U.S. When choosing an international soccer camp for your child you should accept no less than the best in soccer coaching. Look for international soccer training that focuses on strength and conditioning, technical precision, tactical development and sports psychology.

Enriching the lives of young soccer players

EduKick founders, Joseph Bilotta and Corey Zimmerman, traveled to Europe with their soccer team mates as teenagers, inspiring them to open soccer training camps all over the world as adults.

Remembering their travel abroad experience, Bilotta said, “I remember feeling a sense of confidence upon returning home, I knew that I was wiser and it made me feel special."

UEFA

English Soccer

‘Association Football’ is the game that originated in England. Thus it holds an important position in English national life. English soccer is generally referred to as ‘Football’ or ‘Association football’. As football is a speedy and highly competitive game so it became popular in less time. Soon it became the preferred choice of international tycoons where they wanted to endow the money. In England this game is not just a spectator sport but it also holds an attractive place among inhabitants and thus became a game of mass participation in a wide variety of form.

England had first used the term ‘football’ for the game. The first international football match that was played by the England national football team was against Scotland in 1872 at Hampden Park in Glasgow and they won their first world cup in 1966. In England the kicking ball games has been illustrated since 1280. It has been researched that team football games has being played in English Schools since 1581. The thrust of these games was to coalesce English Public School and University football games.

The first modern game was played in London in 1863.The game was associated by the oldest football association in the world – ‘English Football Association’.

It has been traced out that in ancient time Greeks and Romans developed a pastime ‘Harpastum’ that was a combination of Association football and Rugby football. Then with the change of time there came drastic change in the game also.

The world’s oldest competition, the FA cup and the first ever soccer league was founded in England in 1872 and 1888 respectively. Therefore England is said to be the home of the game of football. After the establishment of soccer league, many other leagues have also been founded here with a dream of rising up to the top one day with their efforts. The soccer league is currently being divided into three divisions named the Football League championship, Football League one and Football League two.

The English football competition includes the FA cup and the League cup. The FA cup is the oldest and respectable national cup competition in the world. Although many other competitions are also targeted yet these are the most important among them. The winner of these competitions holds an important position in soccer game field. The winners are considered to be qualified for the UEFA cup.

The League cup, also known as ‘the Carling Cup’ is the other major cup competition. Then there are many other competition held at different level as the Football league Trophy, the FA Trophy, the FA vase, FA Amateur cup, the FA Sunday Cup and many more. Clubs that give their best performance in these FA cup or League Cup, are considered to be qualified to participate in various UEFA organized competitions.

The women’s football game has also got the initiative here. Although these types of matches are recorded since a long time but the serious attention is being paid on these matches in the recent years only.

English Soccer is a well-known and most popular game amongst people that has achieved global fame and reputation in nick of time. This prestige has been boomed exponentially and the influence of the game is growing continuously. Seeing the popularity of the game it can be concluded that in the coming years the Soccer game will attain the new heights in the field of sports.

UEFA

I think you all who are a Liverpool's fan already know that Liverpool has a serious problem about their scorer. Almost in every game they had really good system and position, everything in the match always great except the striker.

Although, Dirk Kuyt ,Peter Crouch , Craig Bellamy or even Robbie Fowler had paticipated the game very well but they always loss the chance to score. When the goal was not coming, the pressure normally came to the player. The pressure will effected to decision of the player. The result is the play produce more mistakes and their rival use this mistake as opportunities to bring Liverpool down. No matter how strong Liverpool defender could be, it is not important if they can not score.

Liverpool will always have victory if they have the first goal. In other word, they always defeated when they loss the first goal to the rival. Eventhough, Rafael Benitez has incredible brain to solve any problem in every situation but the key is the players not the manager. I had been waited Liverpool to buy new striker so long time but he still not come for now.

However, I think Liverpool has fitting red engine in the middle area on the squad. Steven Gerrard and Xavi Alonso are do well in their position. Furthermoe, Javier Mascherano coming is a appropriate combination. During the close of this season I hope Liverpool will approach another striker to improve thier weakness.

Now I prefer English Premier League more than UEFA Champion League.

Please Leave your comment or vote my article. Follow this link below to find some news update of Liverpool. Thank you.

UEFA

Maintaining Team Spirit is often a big challenge for any coach, particularly of junior players who have not reached the maturity and don't have an understanding of the importance of the team. One thing that is vitally important is to make everyone feel as though they are contributing. Sometime this is not as easy as it sounds, because you will find the lesser skilled players feeling that they are not contributing because of their lack of ability. This puts added pressure on these players because they will feel the frustration that is felt by the more experienced and better players.

It is so important to get the team to function as a unit and there is no doubt that if you can instill a good team spirit between your players, the team will function much better as whole.

One method that I use and continually utilise is to take a good player aside and explain the importance of team spirit and his role as an experienced player in developing team spirit. So I ask the player "What is the outcome you want for the team?". More often than not the answer is along the lines of "I want the team to play to its best and to win more games than we lose"

With the outcome in mind it is far easier to explain to the experienced player the importance of their role as a mentor to the lesser skilled players and with their help, they will have a far greater impact on the team than just their individual performance,

If a senior player in the team takes on a mentoring role, the inexperienced players generally respond well and start to feel more involved as a team player.

Being a mentor for lesser experienced players basically comes down to leading by example and showing encouragement to players that are struggling. When a player makes a mistake, a reaction of abuse or negativity from other players rarely helps the confidence or demeanor of the offending player, where as simple words like, "Come on Johnny, don't worry we all make mistakes lets just try harder not to make any" will help the player through to wanting to play better and as a consequence probably will.

Also it is up the experienced players to ensure that other players adopt this kind of attitude and ensure that everyone feels part of the team and want the team to succeed.

Here is a gem that for you to send to your players as food for thought

Zvzn though my typzwritzr is an old modzl, it works vzry wzll - zxczpt for onz key. You would hardly think that with all thz othzr kzys functioning propzrly onz would hardly bz noticzd, but thz onz kzy out of whack szzms to ruin thz wholz zffort.

You may say to yourszlf, 'Wzll, I'm only onz playzr. No onz will noticz if I don't do my bzst'. But it dozs makz a diffzrzncz bzcausz to bz zffzctivz a tzam nzzds activz participation by zvzry onz to thz bzst of thzir ability.

So thz nzxt timz you think you arz not important rzmzmbzr my old typzwritzr.

You arz a kzy playzr...

UEFA

Ronaldo de Assis Moreira is a famous Brazilian football player who is better known as Ronaldinho Gaúcho. His name Ronaldinho was used to distinguish him from a fellow Brazilian football celebrity whose name is also Ronaldo. Gaúcho was used when the existing Ronaldo was also known as Ronaldinho.

He was born on March 21, 1980 in Porto Alegre, Brazil. He is the youngest among the three siblings. Miguelina, his mother, was a sales woman who soon decided to take up nursing. João, his father was a worker in the shipyard and a football player for Cruzeiro. He died due to a heart attack when Ronaldinho was at the age of 8. Ronaldinho’s brother Roberto was also a professional football player for Grêmio. But his career ended too soon due to his injuries. And now he manages Ronaldinho. His sister, Deisi, is his press manager.

During Ronaldinho’s childhood days, his interest in football was already evident. He started playing futsal and beach football which later lead into his passion for a more established football game. His character as a football player developed in his early years.

His career as a skilled football player started when he joined the youth team in Porto Alegre club Grêmio. His extraordinary ball control and capability to score was rapidly displayed which lead him to fame. Many clubs from all over the world attempted to get him to be part of their teams. Eventually Ronaldinho signed a 5-year contract with Paris Saint-Germain which he joined at the start of the new season.

During his years with PSG, there were still much larger offers from different clubs, but he opted to stay with the team. But after some time he decided to leave the team after their many unsuccessful attempts to qualify for any European competitions. This caused a bidding war among the many clubs. Finally, the bidding ended up with FC Barcelona as the winning club for Ronaldinho’s services. They acquired him for £18 million. He was a very high paid player in Barcelona. He has had his terrible times in his career but his many achievements was far more overflowing than that. He had also joined the Brazilan National team.

Ronaldinho is one of the most successful football players in the world. He had so many achievements in his arena which includes the FIFA World Player of the Year wherein he was awarded in 2 consecutive years (2004-2005), the European Footballer of the Year award and the FIFPro World Player of the Year award which was also awarded to him in 2 successive years (2005-2006).

UEFA

Brazil soccer team, the samba stars !

The Brazil soccer team are probably the most famous soccer team in the world due to their flair, imagination and most importantly their star players who play in the top soccer leagues throughout the world !

If we look at some of the Brazil soccer team superstars it is no surprise that the Brazil national soccer team are treated as gods in their home country. With legends such as Pele and current superstars such as Ronaldinho the soccer player, the Brazil soccer team will always be the most famous.

The current Brazil soccer players also have an impressive career....

Kaka

The AC Milan player is one of the best midfielders in the world

Robinho

Tricky player who plays for the famous Real Madrid

Ronaldinho

World player of the year, career wins include the World Cup, La Liga and European Champions league !

Ronaldo

One of the all time great strikers and a fantastic track record at clubs such as Barcelona, PSV and Real Madrid.

Cafu

Veteran full back who has played in three world cup finals !

Roberto Carlos

The left back is famous for his powerful free kicks but also an outstanding player.

These are just some of the brazil soccer team superstars and over the next few years you will also see more promising youngsters starting out in the Brazil soccer league and then moving onto famous teams in the European soccer leagues.

Playing for the Brazil soccer team is the ultimate accolade for any young Brazil soccer player as they will be respected around the world as being worthy of wearing the famous Brazil yellow soccer jersey alongside such greats as Pele.

UEFA

Throughout time, the Holland national soccer team gave out some truly outstanding players, most of them surpassing the status of Holland soccer stars and becoming famous on an international level. Here is an overview of Holland's all-time soccer stars that includes players such as Dennis Bergkamp, Johan Cruyff, Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard or Marco Van Basten, players that have changed the way the game is played and marked their name in the international hall of fame. But enough blabber, let's get down to business:

Holland Soccer Stars – Johan Cruyff
Cruyff is considered THE most important Dutch soccer player of all times and he gained legendary status wherever he played, be it for Ajax Amsterdam, FC Barcelona or even Feyenoord. Cruyff is also considered third in a list of the best all times soccer players, following Pele and Maradona closely (some even say he was over Maradona, as Maradona had feats of brilliance combined with poor games, whereas Cruyff kept a high standard for himself all throughout his career). He redefined modern soccer as we know it with his game style and vision on the pitch and many football specialists agree that Johan Cruyff was one of the smartest and most calculated players ever to feel the grass of a soccer stadium.

Holland Soccer Stars – Ruud Gullit
Gullit was one of the most important Holland soccer stars during the 80s and 90s and he was amongst the first to define the "complete midfielder". That meant that he could play almost any position in midfield his coach would place him in, from a defensive role to a supporting playmaker or an attacking midfielder. Together with Marco Van Basten and Frank Rijkaard, he succeeded in bringing Holland their first international cup ever, winning the 1988 European Championship.

Holland Soccer Stars – Frank Rijkaard
Together with Gullit and van Basten, Rijkaard formed an internationally renowned midfield triangle for both his club, AC Milan and his national side. Based on this triangle, AC Milan had a tremendously successful period, winning the European Cup (today's Champions League) twice and the Serie A championship on two editions. The same success soon came on at national level as well, as Holland won the 1988 European Championship with a team based on the three magnificent players. Although Frank Rijkaard didn't stand out as much as Ruud Gullit or van Basten, since he had a more defensive role in the squad, but playing alongside his two "side-kicks" he would form an unstoppable midfield for any team.

Holland Soccer Stars – Marco Van Basten
Although no one can reach Johan Cruyff's throne as the most important Holland soccer star of all time, van Basten came close enough and definitely closer than anyone else could. His tremendous career at Ajax and AC Milan as well as his goals for the Holland national soccer team made a lot of people see Cruyff's successor in van Basten. Unfortunately, after several successful seasons with AC Milan and winning the European Championship with his home country in 1988, van Basten suffered a career-ending injury at one of his ankles, when he was just age 30.

Holland Soccer Stars – Dennis Bergkamp
Dennis Bergkamp was part of a particular group of strikers: those guys that seem harmless 85 minutes of the match, only to blast the other team into oblivion for the remaining 5. Bergkamp will probably remain known in the history book of soccer by three things: his fear of flight that didn't allow him to join overseas matches, his incredible goals (fewer than many other strikers, but definitely more artful) and his loyalty for English side Arsenal London, for whom Bergkamp played for 11 seasons.

UEFA

Soccer practice is very important for the players to enhance their shooting skills. There are various soccer drills and games that can help improve and reinforce the shooting skills of the players. Let me give you a brief insight into the same.

Win The Ball And Shoot

This is a simple way to teach shooting skills. In this drill, the coach has to let the players stand in two lines – one on his right side and the other on his left side. Make sure that both these lines are at least eighteen to twenty from the goal. Now to start the drill practice, the coach will serve the ball to the players standing on his one side and one of the players have to take the initiative, get the ball and shoot the ball while attempting to score a goal.

Initially, you need not have a goalkeeper to defend the goals, but as you realize that the shooting skills of the players have increased, you can go ahead and have a goalkeeper. Adding a goalkeeper makes the drill a little tougher for the players because now they have to shoot the ball, attempting to score a goal saving it from the hands of the goalie.

Pass And Shoot

As the name suggests, in this drill, the players have to make certain number of passes before they shoot the ball and attempt to score a goal. The coach must go for this drill in a 30 yd x 30 yd grid with two opposing goalpost as in the actual game. There will be two teams and as per the rules of this drill, each team is supposed to make at least five passes before they attempt shooting, but again, they have to save the ball from stealing by the opponent team.

If one team loses the possession of the ball after less than five passes, they will have to again try to repossess the ball, make four passes, and then shoot the ball, attempting to score a goal. The team that does this successfully gets a point. At the end of this drill practice session, the team withy more points wins.

There are various other ways. For example, in the “cones instead of goal” drill, the coach will place five cones instead of goalpost and the players are then instructed to shoot at these cones. The team that knocks down three or more cones wins. Goalkeepers are not required for this soccer practice.

UEFA

While tickets are made available to the general public just 2 weeks before a match, the way that Futbol Club Barcelona distributes them means that the seats left by this stage are among the worst in the stadium.

There are 98,000 seats in the stadium and 140,000+ members of the club, which means that club members have usually cherry picked the best seats long before they are made available for general sale.

If you're travelling to Barcelona for a weekend when they play at home – and who wouldn't want to ensure that? – you can make sure of getting tickets by reserving in advance from an official ticket agent for FC Barcelona. Although they are expensive they are guaranteed tickets for every match and this is likely to be your only option for matches such as Barcelona v Real Madrid.

If you wait until arriving in Barcelona you do have the option of the ticket touts. They congregate around the entrance to the ticket offices a few days before matches and there prices also tend to be high, but if you wait until match night you may find people with extra tickets wanting to sell them for face value.

If you really don't mind what tickets you receive then you have a few options. The first is to simply go to the FC ticket office, either during the day or an hour before the match. Queues tend to be long, so do make sure you have enough time. You can also buy tickets for the club from the tourist offices locate on the Ramblas.

Your final option is to buy tickets from the cash machines of La Caixa. Not all their machines sell tickets, but if you look for the ones marked ServiCaixa you can select tickets and they'll be printed out for you instantly. There is a small booking fee and you don't have a good choice, but at least this option is easy.

The best advice for good seats is to book in advance. Although you pay over the odds, it is worth it for the convenience it brings.

UEFA

Offside Rule - Usually, soccer rules are easy to grasp even by someone that's watching the game for the first time in his life. You foul someone, you get penalized. You hit him in the box, his team gets a penalty. The ball goes beyond the marked area, it's an out throw. Everything is really basic, except the soccer offside rules. This is one tricky rule and although it's not in the original soccer cookbook (as in, it was added over the course of time) it's a much needed one, so that's why I'll try to explain it a bit.

The offside trap rule only applies to attackers and it is meant to regulate both team's positions on the pitch. Without an offside rule, an attacker could simply stay in the other team's penalty box, receive balls and try to score. This would pin down the defenders and they would virtually be unable to play anywhere else outside their own penalty box, since their main job would be marking the striker that is lazying off in there.

It's also a known fact that attackers generally don't have the same effort requirements on the pitch, since they only need to participate in one phase of the game (the offense), unlike defenders and midfielders who have to participate in both the offense and defense, thus having to run more. So now that you know WHY the soccer offside rule is there, let's see WHAT it is anyway.

There are two phases of the offside soccer rule: the offside position and the offside trap sanction. If an attacker is in an offside position, he will only be sanctioned if the ball is heading towards him and he has an intention to play it. Otherwise, if he skips the game, he will not be called, despite having a clear offside position.

An attacker is in an offside position if he is closer to the other team's goal line than the ball and the second last opponent. You'll often hear people say "he was in offside, because he was further towards the goal than the LAST defender". This is actually not a correct statement, since this doesn't take the goalkeeper into account, so the LAST defender is actually the second last, as the above mentioned offside rule shows.

So let's say that team "Yellow" is attacking and "Red" is defending. The ball is at the feet of Yellow's midfielder and the Yellow attacker is a few meters further to the Red team's goal line, than the last Red defender. Then the Yellow attacker is in an offside position, but the referee will only call an offside sanction if the Yellow midfielder passes the ball to the Yellow attacker while the latter is in the offside position.

If you're new to soccer, the offside rule might need a bit of getting used to, but you'll soon be able to spot exactly how and why someone was called offside if you watch a few matches. Note that sometimes, the position of the attacker and the other team's defender are so close together, that the referee will have hard time deciding whether or not an offside should be called.

UEFA

Offside Rule - Usually, soccer rules are easy to grasp even by someone that's watching the game for the first time in his life. You foul someone, you get penalized. You hit him in the box, his team gets a penalty. The ball goes beyond the marked area, it's an out throw. Everything is really basic, except the soccer offside rules. This is one tricky rule and although it's not in the original soccer cookbook (as in, it was added over the course of time) it's a much needed one, so that's why I'll try to explain it a bit.

The offside trap rule only applies to attackers and it is meant to regulate both team's positions on the pitch. Without an offside rule, an attacker could simply stay in the other team's penalty box, receive balls and try to score. This would pin down the defenders and they would virtually be unable to play anywhere else outside their own penalty box, since their main job would be marking the striker that is lazying off in there.

It's also a known fact that attackers generally don't have the same effort requirements on the pitch, since they only need to participate in one phase of the game (the offense), unlike defenders and midfielders who have to participate in both the offense and defense, thus having to run more. So now that you know WHY the soccer offside rule is there, let's see WHAT it is anyway.

There are two phases of the offside soccer rule: the offside position and the offside trap sanction. If an attacker is in an offside position, he will only be sanctioned if the ball is heading towards him and he has an intention to play it. Otherwise, if he skips the game, he will not be called, despite having a clear offside position.

An attacker is in an offside position if he is closer to the other team's goal line than the ball and the second last opponent. You'll often hear people say "he was in offside, because he was further towards the goal than the LAST defender". This is actually not a correct statement, since this doesn't take the goalkeeper into account, so the LAST defender is actually the second last, as the above mentioned offside rule shows.

So let's say that team "Yellow" is attacking and "Red" is defending. The ball is at the feet of Yellow's midfielder and the Yellow attacker is a few meters further to the Red team's goal line, than the last Red defender. Then the Yellow attacker is in an offside position, but the referee will only call an offside sanction if the Yellow midfielder passes the ball to the Yellow attacker while the latter is in the offside position.

If you're new to soccer, the offside rule might need a bit of getting used to, but you'll soon be able to spot exactly how and why someone was called offside if you watch a few matches. Note that sometimes, the position of the attacker and the other team's defender are so close together, that the referee will have hard time deciding whether or not an offside should be called.

UEFA

Perhaps the most eagerly awaited matches of the year are against the two giants of Spanish football: FC Barcelona is one and Real Madrid the other. This year the first round match takes place in Barcelona and it's just before Christmas. That fact alone means that it will be a great opportunity in one of several ways:

1. Give you loved one an early Christmas present by taking them to see FC Barcelona versus Real Madrid at the Nou Camp. Tickets are like gold dust and it is one of the biggest football events in the world. True football fans will be thankful to you for the rest of their life!

2. Spoil yourself (option 1) with a pre-Christmas trip to Barcelona where you can do your last minute Xmas shopping and go and watch the football. We won't know whether the date will be the Saturday or Sunday yet, but you'll have plenty of time to take a trip to the museum and the stadium tour, get some great Barcelona style food and head to the stadium again for the match over the course of your weekend. Then you can head back home on Christmas Eve to spend Christmas at home.

3. Spoil yourself (option 2) by arriving on the Friday or Saturday, do some shopping and/or sightseeing including the museum visit and stadium tour. Enjoy Barcelona's famous food delights and the Christmas markets dotted around the old town before heading to the stadium on Saturday or Sunday night. Once the football is over you can spend a few more days in Barcelona, enjoying pampered existence in your hotel, while you'll find most restaurants are open on Christmas Day.

FC Barcelona versus Real Madrid really is one of the sporting calendar's top dates and if you are a complete football nut then it's a match that you should definitely not miss.

UEFA

Wearing The Proper Soccer Shoes Will Prevent Injury

When you play soccer, or any sport, you must ensure that you are wearing the proper footwear so that you do not injure yourself. Now, if you are playing in gym class, or in a situation where you are on a hardwood surface, any non slip gym shoe will do. However, soccer shoes are meant to be played on a grassy field. That means they have to be specially made not to slip on the grass so that the player does not get injured. For that reason, soccer shoes are made with cleats, or pointy metal barbs on the bottom, that are designed to dig into the grass, thus giving the player speed but they also prevent the player from slipping so that they do not get injured. When playing with cleats, though, you need to be careful that you don’t injure other players. With all that kicking at the ball, injuries can happen but with certain precautions you can play safely and have fun.

Dig In

Soccer shoes are built with cleats that are meant to dig into the field. This allows the player to gain traction where they normally would not have any. They can also pivot easier, which allows them to get past other players as they move for the goal. If they did not have cleats, they would slip and fall, especially if the grass was wet, and they would not be able to get around other players as much. That’s why soccer players can’t just wear any shoes if they hope to avoid injury and play well, they must wear proper soccer shoes with cleats designed to dig into the grass and dirt.

Avoiding Injury

Because soccer shoes have cleats, the possibility for injury is greater. If you’ve ever watched a group of soccer players vie for the ball, you probably saw them standing around the ball kicking at it. This brings those cleats awfully close to other players’ shins, which can cause bruising, cuts or even breaks. For that reason, you have to be careful when wearing soccer shoes. Keep your feet on the ground or on the ball but keep them away from other players’ shins so that everyone can stay injury free.

You can find soccer shoes at any sporting goods store or even on the internet. Just remember that if you’re playing with friends in a fun, friendly game, regular tennis shoes should do the trick. If you’re playing on an actual team, competitively, then you want to get real soccer shoes to prevent injury and so that you can play at your best.

UEFA

You want to practice some football on your own? Or maybe you're a coach who want to do new things in your football practice... I will try to give you some ideas here:

Panna game -

This one will improve each players individual technique. You can play this one 1vs1 or 2vs2. You set up a little pitch with cones and a goal on each side(basically it's a football pitch but a really small one). Every game can go on for as long as you want, but the game will be really intense and I would suggest some where around 5 minutes. The teams scores by putting the ball between the "goal cones". But they will win by knockout if they manage to do a panna on the opponent. A panna is to nutmeg the opponent(put the ball between his legs). After the panna it's very important to still have control over the ball, other wise it's not a real panna and the game goes on. This is a very fun game to play since there will be challenges all the time and they will also be more defensive. There is not only a goal to protect, but a hole between your legs.

2 vs 2 game -

Kind of the same drill as mentioned above, but in this one you get a point for doing a panna. So you get points both for scoring and for doing pannas. This might be good so the players doesn't concentrate solely on their legs. This will also be a very technical game with lots of challenges. There will be a lot more challenges in the panna game though. Because then they want to panna the opponent, in this example they also want to score lots of goals, so they will make it more as a team as individuals.

Juggling battles -

Either plain juggling(who does the most juggles) or who does the best tricks. Most football players are very competitive and want to win. So if they loose a battle they will go home and practice on more football tricks. And football tricks is good for a lot of things, some are concentration, eye coordination and your first touch. Juggling is also good as a warm up to loosen your body and muscles a bit.

Bulls eye -

If you're hanging out with your friends and want to play some football, then bulls eye might be a fun game to play. You create "goals" with your fantasy. So maybe a post 20m away is your goal, the one who hits it first gets a point. Another one could be to open the top of a trashcan, move 30m away and try and get the ball to land in the trashcan(here's an example of how it could look like: http://www.freestylefactory.net/video/tricks/trashcan.wmv). Just remember to not make goals that can result in trashing things, also no goals that might upset your neighbours or other people. Play with imagination and have fun.

UEFA

There's a saying: 'Money can't buy you happiness'. If you're a football club owner with the biggest budget on the market you can buy best players, that can make you happy. Now, if those players do not make you good profit, would that not make you happy? Not if you are a billionaire, what are millions in compare to billions.

With a net worth of $10, $20, $30 billion, are you to invest money and much of your time in something that may bring you profit over the years of no more than several hundreds of millions or losses in the same value? How could you spend a billion anyway?

You buy the most expensive cars, houses, yachts, airplanes, all that luxury still may not top $1 billion. Pleasure among machines, butlers, personnel, can make you feel like a saddened King from fairy-tales. There must be a more humanly joy.

You buy a media exposure, be in the spotlight where everybody are watching, you move masses of tens of thousands of people in the stadium as if they are marionettes and you are a wire-puller, you build your own fantasy world.

You make news headlines by being a super spender in the most watched sporting league in the world. Yes, you buy yourself a top football club and it wouldn't cost you more than a billion or so! You become a real-time Fantasy Football Manager.

Fantasy Football Manager is a football management simulation computer game first released in 1980s where you are the General Manager of your very own fantasy football team. Nowadays, most popular sports web-sites offer a chance for visitors to play the Fantasy Football League Management game.

In the real-time world, Chelsea FC was purchased by a billionaire in June 2003. Since then, the club is witnessing record losses, the billionaire's involvement with Chelsea is described by Wikipedia as 'to have distorted the football transfer market throughout Europe, as his wealth often allows the club to purchase players virtually at will (frequently at inflated prices), without regard for the effects on the club's financial outturn'.

How does this effect the reality of football? Football becomes a sub-real simulation of its own reality. With one club owner having limitless budget, his/her football knowledge, work and skills of managing a club do not effect his/her success in the business, billionaire can continue to bring in the expensive players, sack head-coaches upon his/her desire.

Even if the club suffers the biggest financial losses in football world, the club will not go to bankruptcy as the billionaire will add additional hundreds of millions since the football club's budget does not depend on its football performance.

How does this effect the game of football? There doesn't seem to be much sportsmanship for one club to buy world top players (so many that a half of them will be reserves) while many other clubs can't afford to pay one or two such players for their first team.

The beauty of the game suffers as well. In two and a half years with Portugal's FC Porto coach Jose Mourinho won 2 domestic titles, including the European Champions League title in May 2004 by eliminating clubs with far greater budgets. Several months later Mourinho, named the world's best coach in 2004, was brought to Chelsea.

In just 3 years he managed to win 2 league titles, including club's first championship in 50 years, 1 FA cup, 2 Carling Cups, along setting several Premier League records. Mourinho at Chelsea did more than simple buying world football super-stars like Real Madrid C.F. did at that time, he offered contracts to players who were to develop to some of the world's best team-players playing for Chelsea.

Chelsea as a sovereign ruler of England's football fields and a perfect football team was as if not offering enough excitement for the club's billionaire owner. After winning consecutive titles, Chelsea signed two major football super-stars, Shevchenko (for a British record transfer fee) and Ballack, both of which did not match Mourinho's concept of team play.

It was the beginning of one great football mind's end with Chelsea, Mourinho was fired as the most successful head-coach in club's history in the years of his success. Welcome to the real-time Fantasy Football Manager as a spectator, player or head-coach!

UEFA

Soccer moves are used by the player with the ball, when the first attacker to get past an opponent. The most important soccer moves for all players are control dribbling and shielding the ball, speed dribbling also called running With the ball, change of speed going from slow to fast or from fast to slow, change of direction starting in one direction so the first defender starts moving in that direction, and then quickly going in the opposite direction, or quickly reversing direction, and basic body feints such as a fake kick or turning the body as if to go left, but instead go right.

The Pullback turn also called a Drag Back, the Hook Turn and the Cut using both the inside and outside of the foot are important ways to turn that should be taught to all players. All players should be taught to use the inside, outside, top and bottom of the foot to move the ball. Selected team players should also be taught the Scissors and Cruyff or the concept of pushing the ball behind the standing foot soccer moves.

The Soccer footwork and dribbling practice games, such as dribble across a square and dribble around cone and pass relay race, are a great way to teach the basic footwork and dribbling. If a child really loves soccer, he will play with a ball and teach himself other soccer moves. If you are a Rec coach, don't feel that you are required to spend a lot of time teaching soccer moves; you probably won't have the time and with the right practice games such as dribble across a square, are the best way to teach dribbling and fast feet.

UEFA

Soccer is famous among the layman by the name of ‘Football’. The term ‘Soccer’ has been derived from the word ‘assoc’ that in turn originated from ‘Association’. The game is basically about ‘playing ball with the foot’.

Today, football is played at a professional level all over the world, and millions of people regularly go to football stadium to follow their favourite team, whilst billions more watch the game on television. Since, soccer evokes great passions and plays an important role in the life of individual fans, local communities, and even nations; it is therefore often claimed to be one of the most popular sports in the world.

The game of soccer, played between two teams of 11 players each, is by far the most popular sports in the world. The game is played with a ball on a rectangular grass field with a goal at each end of the field. The object of the game is to score by manoeuvring the ball into the opposing goal. The team that scores the most goals by the end of the match wins. A game is officiated by a referee, who has "full authority to enforce the Laws of the Game in connection with the match to which he has been appointed" and whose decisions are final. The referee is assisted by two assistant referees. A standard adult football match consists of two periods of 45 minutes each, known as halves. There is usually a 15-minute "half-time" break between halves. The end of the match is known as "full-time."

The contemporary history of soccer dates back to more than 100 years. It all began in 1863 in England, when rugby football and association football branched off on their different courses and the world's first football association was founded - The Football Association in England. Both forms of football have a common base and both have a long and intricately branched ancestral tree. After the English Football Association, the next oldest are the Scottish FA (1873), the FA of Wales (1875) and the Irish FA (1880). Strictly speaking, at the time of the first international match, England had no other partner association against which to play. The spread of soccer outside of Great Britain, mainly due to the British influence abroad, started slow, but it soon gathered momentum and spread rapidly to all parts of the world and today it is an undeniable truth that the game has die-hard fans all over the globe.

Scholars might have conflicting views on the origins of the game and the influences that certain cults may have had on its evolution, but one thing is absolute truth: football has flourished for over a thousand years in diverse rudimentary forms, in the very region which we describe as its home, England and the British Isles.

Football is governed internationally by the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA). The most prestigious international football competition is the World Cup, held every four years. More than 190 national teams compete in qualifying tournaments within the scope of continental confederations for a place in the finals. Since 1900, Summer Olympic Games also holds a football tournamnet. After the World Cup, the most important football competitions are the continental championships, which are organised by each continental confederation and contested between national teams. These are the European Championship (UEFA), the Copa América (CONMEBOL), African Cup of Nations (CAF), the Asian Cup (AFC), the CONCACAF Gold Cup (CONCACAF) and the OFC Nations Cup (OFC).

UEFA

You ever heard the name "football freestyle" and wondered what it is, well... that's what I'm gonna try and explain in this article.

Freestyle is all about performing amazing football tricks. It's important to execute your tricks with style, consistency and attitude. It all starts from juggling, you have to really master juggling before you attempt freestyle tricks. How can you learn to juggle then? Practice, there is no secret formula on how to become good at football freestyle. Of course it's always good with a bit of talent, but except of that you need to practice a lot. Go outside and try to juggle. Always try to beat your record. When you can do 100 juggles every time you can proceed to the actual tricks.

If you're still not sure how freestyle looks like then I would suggest that you click on the link at the bottom of this article!

Now you know what football freestyle is and how amazing it really looks like.

To become a good freestyler I would say that the best abilities would be determination, dedication, love for the sport and a little bit of talent. It's also really really important that you enjoy what you do. And at some points it will become pretty boring to just stand there alone for hours and hours freestyling. The best way to keep it fun is to freestyle with someone. If you are two freestylers it will always become more fun. You can take a break and joke around, you can challenge each other for a trick and just hang out while practicing.

Freestyle will actually improve your game as well, so if you're a footballer you might want to try some freestyle. It will help your eye co-ordination and first touch a lot. Also there is more things you will get from freestyling.

Some pros that have achieved a lot through their amazing football skills are: Palle, Boomsjakie, Touzani and Abbas.

Football Freestyle basically is to entertain a crowd, whether it's in front of a real crowd or in front of a digital crowd(internet, tv and so on). You always have to entertain through your amazing ball control.

I hope you now have a better picture of football freestyle and what it is.

UEFA

Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo pictures immense soccer success as the best way for him to progress and improve as an all-round team player. Having won the Premiership in just his third season in English soccer, the Portuguese star had already identified some personal targets as the best way to improve his ability as a soccer player.

When Cristiano Ronaldo arrived in the English Premiership he appeared to try and over-perform in situations that weren't necessary, and often he would lose the ball trying fancy tricks in dangerous situations. The Manchester United players and coaching staff all offered advice to Cristiano, and he soon learned that he should try and play more like a team player.

This season has seen Cristiano Ronaldo really reach his set targets as a soccer star, the Manchester United winger has been the clubs best player by far, helping secure the Premiership title for the first time in 3 years and scoring 17 goals in the process; a superb success for a wide-midfield player. The Portuguese winger has learnt not to try his fancy tricks when the team is defending in their own half, and has shown that he is more of a team player by passing and moving the ball around with far more respect for his team-mates.

The season has not only seen club success for Cristiano Ronaldo; the United winger has also had great personal successes. Cristiano Ronaldo became only the second footballer in English history to receive both the PFA players’ award and the PFA young players’ award, two superb footballing awards to receive. Ronaldo has also been rewarded a lucrative new 5 year contract worth around £120,000 a week with Manchester United.

UEFA

So Man United could not complete the Double by losing 0 - 1 to hated soccer rivals Chelsea in the FA Cup Final. But I guess hardly anyone in the United camp is complaining as they have won the Premiership title for the first time since 2003 - by dethroning two-time champions Chelsea.

"It was a difficult task given the amount of money Chelsea have," Sir Alex Ferguson said of his ninth Premiership title. "They were also the most resilient opponents we have ever come across." Indeed, humble words for someone who has now won 20 major trophies in his 20 years at Old Trafford.

Despite being 65 years old, it remains difficult to quench the insatiable winning mentality of the sporting and affable Fergie. In any case, for the sake of posterity, here’s a blow-by-blow account of how the mighty Reds convincingly won the 2006 - 2007 season title:

1) August 2006
Soccer pundits predicted that after selling top goal poacher Ruud van Nistelrooy to Spanish rivals Real Madrid, Man United would blunt their attacking prowess. Defying the odds, by the end of August, the fortunes of the Reds read: 3 wins out of 3 played with 10 goals scored. Chelsea, on the other hand, fumbled to a 1 – 2 lost to mediocre Middlesbrough in only their second soccer match.

2) September 2006
Good times hardly last. Arsenal stole the thunder by defeating Man United 1 – 0 at Old Trafford and thereby ending United’s perfect start to the season. This allowed Chelsea to regain top spot but cracks in their title defence surfaced when they could only draw with another mediocre team, Aston Villa. Meanwhile, eternal soccer rivals Liverpool succumbed to their third successive away defeat at Bolton. Things were shaping up for a two-horse race for the Premiership title. September ended with a superlative solo goal at Reading by the irrepressible Cristiano Ronaldo.

3) October 2006
Hitting a rich vein of form, main United striker Wayne Rooney struck a hit-trick to condemn bogey team Bolton to a crushing 4 – 0 defeat. This ensured that United kept pace with Chelsea while Liverpool’s title hopes all but evaporated when they fell 0 – 2 at Old Trafford. Chelsea were dealt a massive blow when their first-choice goalie Petr Cech fractured his skull after a nasty tackle at Reading. As of this writing, he wears a reinforced rugby skull cap during soccer matches as medical specialists cannot guarantee that another blow to the skull will not result in irreparable brain damage.

4) November 2006
In the bitter cold, Man Untied outplayed Chelsea at Old Trafford but still had to settle for a 1 – 1 stalemate. Beaming with delight, Chelsea’s Jose Mourinho proclaimed that United blew a “big, big chance” to open up a six-point gap at the top. Big words, I would say. Careful – pride before fall.

5) December 2006
The full force of winter was felt as much as Chelsea’s mounting list of walking wounded. Without the ultra-reliable Cech still out injured, Chelsea could only secure draws at minor clubs Reading and Fulham. The pathetic Arsenal, meanwhile, wrote their doom script by losing to a single goal at struggling Sheffield United.

6) January 2007
New year, same relentless march by United, as they retained their six-point advantage at the top. Things took an interesting turn when a day after Chelsea fell 0 – 2 to Liverpool, Man United foolishly conceded two late goals to lose 1 – 2 to Arsenal. Chelsea’s injury problems complicated when it was rumored that Mourinho was denied funds to bring in a new centre-back during the January transfer window.

7) February 2007
Despite bagging the League Cup and boosted by captain John Terry’s return from injury, Chelsea were unable to cut into Manu United’s lead. A jaded United took on Fulham at Craven Cottage but were still able to bag full points, thanks to superb solo effort by Player of the Year Ronaldo. Undeniable resilience. Man United: Champions in the making?

8) March 2007
Man United’s Irish utility man John O’Shea scored a priceless last minute winner against Liverpool. This win boosted their title aspirations by defeating a major soccer rival. With Man United facing injury problems of their own, Chelsea quietly kept up the pressure by winning.

9) April 2007
With two uncharacteristic blunders made by United goalie Edwin van der Sar, United conceded 1 – 2 to Portsmouth. On the same day, Chelsea beat a resurgent Tottenham 1 – 0 to put their title challenge back on track ... only to be derailed at end-April. Then, United scored four goals in the final half-hour to turn over a two-goal deficit at Everton, while Chelsea could only manage a home draw to Bolton.

10) May 2007
United needed four points form their last three games to be crowned champions. Ronaldo’s dubious penalty at the Manchester derby cut the target to a solitary point. On 6 May 2007, Arsenal did United a massive favor by holding Chelsea to a 1 – 1 draw. This gave United an unassailable seven-point lead with two matches remaining.

And there you have it, Chelsea failing to live up to their favorite’s tag billing after splashing out last summer to sign Andriy Shevchenko and Michael Ballack. On the other hand, Man United captured the title despite making only one major signing in quiet workhorse Michael Carrick. Indeed, success need not necessarily go to the super-rich.

UEFA

If you're looking for ways to improve soccer skills individually, you've come to the right place. I know that soccer team practice sometimes just isn't enough if you want to become great. Just take a look at most of the great soccer players in activity. They always say that they spend a lot of hours off-pitch improving their soccer skills, which makes them so good in matches. But simply training after hours isn't enough, you need to train intelligently, after a rigorous program.

Best Ways to Improve Soccer Skills - DVD Programs

There's a lot of these babies around the Internet these days, so if you're planning on buying a DVD program for individual soccer practice, make sure it's a serious author that created it and it's not some lame compilation of soccer highlights with subtitles saying "Do this and you'll be great".

A quality DVD program is a great way to improve soccer skills, because it allows a certain level of interactivity to your learning. It's not like learning from a TV show, because with DVD's you can go straight to the chapter that interests you, you can go back and review stuff over and over again until you get the picture.

Best Ways to Improve Soccer Skills - Skill Focusing

If you notice that there's a certain area in your game that isn't on par with your other skills, focus on it to get it on level terms. Having an unbalanced skill set is extremely damaging to your game. For example, you could be very fast and strong, but if you don't have good ball control, you won't be able to use your physical skills for anything.

Same goes with players that are extremely technical but very weak on their feet, so improving your soccer skills in a balanced way is best. Also, you could focus on your best skill not your worst one. Are you a good long range shooter? Make that your trademark. Practice long shots over and over again and your teammates will soon know that they need to create space for your shots and you'll be able to score more often. You could also make a trademark of your heading, your passing, your set pieces and so forth.

Best Ways to Improve Soccer Skills - Variation

Never allow a particular exercise or drill become boring routine, or you risk entering a stalemate with your soccer skills. Whatever you're practicing, go for alternative techniques. For example, if you're practicing dribbling, don't just focus on a single type of dribble, effective as it may be. You will need to have a varied repertoire of dribbles if you want to stand up to your different adversaries.

In conclusion, you will probably want to combine these three methods, not just use them separately. Use a DVD program to cover the theoretical aspects of your practice and use the other two as practical methods of getting your skills up. You should be gaining an edge in no time!

UEFA

Futsal, 5 vs 5 is what it is. 4 players and 1 keeper. Futsal is famous in many countries, it's probably biggest in Italy or Brazil. In those countries you can earn really good cash if you play professionally. Of course far away from the money 11 a side football can offer, but still very good money.

Why should you play futsal, well... it's pretty easy. If you're serious with your football you definitely should also play futsal sometime every week. This will improve your skills in 1 vs 1 challenges and also you will know how to play a very fast game. It will require big skills to be a good futsal player. Even if you're just playing for the fun of it, I promise you that you will find futsal very funny. There is futsal clubs in most countries, they might not be to big, but they exist. Do some research in your area and I'm sure you will find something.

Just to give you an example, one of the most popular players of today... not to forget, he's also one of the best players of today, started his career in an indoor pitch playing futsal. Futsal gave him extreme skills and amazing tricks. He took these skills and tricks to the big pitch and he became one of the best players of all time. Ronaldinho!!! There is loads of big players who started with futsal but also played regular football. If you get a good balance between them you will get all the skills needed for a big pitch, you will also get those extra skills you don't really get from only playing 11 a side.

If you just love the game I really would suggest you to join a futsal team. You will have the ball so much more then in a football game.

Some of the best futsal players would be Falcao, Vanenburg and Edje. Search those names and you will see amazing skills!

It's also very common for futsal players to do some basic football freestyle, to read more about football freestyle I would suggest you to read the following article: http://ezinearticles.com/?What-is-Football-Freestyle?&id=714660

UEFA

The South Africa World Cup Preparations are on track! The 2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee met this week and announced that all stadiums are on schedule and outstanding disputes regarding a new stadium in Cape Town at Green Point have been resolved. Concerns that the World Cup venues in Durban and Cape Town may run over budget have also been addressed with all stadia now coming in on budget. All the 2010 World Cup stadiums are set to be completed by October 31st 2009.

It was also announced that Durban will play host to the 2010 World Cup qualifying draw. This will take place at Durban’s International Convention centre on November 23rd 2007. Preparations for the first World Cup on the African continent are already well underway, despite the last World Cup having been less than a year ago. The qualifying draw will be the official launch of the tournament and will be broadcast live to over 200 countries.

It has been said that South Africa is further along with preparations than Germany was at the same stage before the last World Cup. There were rumours that Australia would take over the role as host to the World Cup. Sepp Blatter, FIFA president, denied these rumours. He assured the world that this speculation was wrong and the tournament would remain in South Africa.

The 2010 World Cup will run from June 11th until July 11th. 13 European nations, 5 Asian and Oceania teams and a total of 8 qualifiers for the American continent will contest the tournament. Hosts, South Africa, qualify automatically. They take their place alongside 5 other African nations.

Neighbouring countries may be brought in to provide base camps for competing nations with Mozambique, Angola and Namibia possibly under consideration.

The 2010 World Cup will be held in South Africa after FIFA decided to host the competition on the African continent for the first time. South Africa won the nomination from unlucky bidders Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and Libya.

9 cities will host the games. Johannesburg, which will have two venues, will stage matches along with Cape Town, Durban, Pretoria, Port Elizabeth, Bloemfontein, Nelspruit, Polokwane and Rustenburg.

UEFA

There are reports in the press which are detailing the rise in popularity of unrest and hooliganism at Italian football (soccer) matches. Each week sees major disturbances at football matches amongst crowds.

There is thought to be a strong hooligan element amongst Italian supporters. The problem has become so rife that the press does not even bother to publish details regarding stabbings and other serious injuries.

However, recently, all football matches in Italy were suspended pending further evaluation after serious rioting and the death of an Italian policeman. The problem has got so bad that there is even the threat of all future matches being played behind closed doors.

Yet, at other times, families are seen bringing in Italian Christmas cake and there are even reports of the local bars serving mulled wine specifically for football supporters. So where does the polarity stem from?

On the one hand, there is the picture of a quaint afternoon out watching your favorite football team with your family, whilst at the other, there is the hooligan element who are hell bent upon disturbing as many people as they can and who have no regard whatsoever for watching the football. There was a time when England were most implicated in the rise in violence and mob culture.

However, England has now put itself in the position of having regulated their football both in the U.K. itself and abroad. So what is needed to help to regulate Italian supporters whose only goal is to create fear, havoc, and mayhem?

UEFA

Football Freestyle is today a pretty unknown sport, even though it deserves a lot more recognition! The sport is still young and the term "football freestyle" have only been official for a couple of years. But that does not stop the freestylers to develop new tricks all the time and brake all limits there is in the sport. Freestylers have made things that seemed impossible 3 years ago, possible!

There is not many freestyle organizations and freestyle companies out there, but there are some. I really want to give props to all of them. Most freestyle companies has invested a lot of money into the freestyle scene and they're always trying to involve other freestylers in different projects and performances. Many of the companies are arranging performances all over the world, starring in TV ads and so on. They are trying to make the sport well known. They all make a big effort since freestyle is not a big industry, like soccer for example. They invest with the purpose to inspire kids, to get kids to love the ball even more.

There are not many companies and organizations out there, but to all of them I want to give big props, they are really making a difference for a lot of kids. The freestylers receive fan letters and emails on a daily basis from kids who love what they're doing. In many countries there is not much to do, and then football freestyle is great, they take a ball or something round and do some tricks.

If you want to know more about the sport itself I would recommend you to read this article: http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Wonderful-Art-of-Football-Freestyle!&id=705885

Big props to all you football freestylers out there!

UEFA

Football juggling tricks...the official name of today for this is called "Football Freestyle". Freestyle is all about skills while having the ball in the air. People have always been fascinated about juggling skills. In the 90's some people took this to a higher level. Juggling with all parts of your body, juggling while sitting and even when you're lying down.

When of the pioneers of this "circus" style was Mr.Woo. A very famous freestyler who used to play professional football. He wanted to take juggling skills to a new level. Mr.Woo could do things with a football no one else could do. He worked with many professional football players making commercials. He also worked with many big companies, not only football related companies. Freestyle attracts attention so people wanted to see more and more.

In the beginning of the 21st century there was a new era of freestyle born, it was later to be called "the air moves era". People started to do tricks with their feet spinning around the ball. One of the first air freestylers out there was Soufiane Touzani. This guy released a freestyle video back in the days which got a lot of people in to freestyle.

Palle, a guy from Sweden took freestyle to another level around 2005. His skills belong to the air moves section but he started to do no touch tricks. No touch tricks basically is when you do one trick and then you go straight in to another trick without a touch in between. This was something that had not been seen before and it got very popular. This variation of air moves is very hard but some people master the art of no touch tricks.

This is pretty much were freestyle is 2007. Sometime soon there might come new people who will break the boundary's of freestyle and create a new era of freestyling. Only the future can tell!

UEFA

One of the best known football teams in Italy is Juventus, who are based in Turin, but despite of their impressive performance on the pitch the 2006-2007 season has seen them relegated to the Serie B for the first time in their history.

In fact Juventus finished the previous season at the top of the Serie A league, their relegation – and a starting deficit of 9 points – was all due to a scandal that rocked Italian football and saw sanctions applied to a total of 4 first division clubs, although Juventus was hardest hit and the only one to be eventually relegated.

Juventus and the other three teams – AC Milan, Fiorentina, and Lazio – were all found guilty of influencing game in their favour by having favourable referees appointed to important matches.

The sentence imposed on the four clubs was draconian to say the least – Juventus, which was hardest hit was stripped of its previous 2 league titles, banned from participating in Champions League, relegated to Serie C1 and docked 30 points, while the other teams were relegated to Serie B with fewer points deducted.

On appeal all the teams had their sentences reduced, so that only Juventus was relegated, but to Serie B, and the 30 point penalty was initially reduced to 17 and later only 9 - the equivalent of winning 3 matches with no points awarded.

The relegation saw several players leave Juventus; Emerson and Fabio Cannavaro both moved to Real Madrid, for where the Juventus manager, Fabio Capello, had already departed, while FC Barcelona signed Gianluca Zambrotta and Lilian Thuram.

Some players did remain loyal however, and the team's performance in Serie B has been impressive. Although they drew in the first match, Juventus won each of the following eight games with only one goal conceded and they remained undefeated until January.

At the time of writing in mid April, Juventus has only lost 2 matches, drawn 8 and won 22. With 10 more matches to play they are not unbeatable due to their 9-point deficit, but if they continue to perform at this level they are sure to re-enter the top division in the 2007-2008 season.

Let us hope that Juventus recaptures its previous glory, but perhaps more importantly, steers clear of behaviour that is in clear breach of good sporting conduct.

UEFA

It should be increasingly apparent to student athletes that if you want to get an athletic scholarship you must network. Unless you are one of the top prospects in your sport it can be difficult to get the sports scholarship that you are looking for. One of the best forms of networking is signing up for camps. Soccer offers a number of camps that are geared toward gaining exposure and assisting in the recruiting process. One may find lists of camps online or contact your high school coach, club coach or local universities for information on camps.

One camp is offered by Chigozie Offor, a former Nigerian National team standout, the camp is called Top Seed Soccer and takes place in central Florida. The camp was a success in it’s first year as it had three college recruiters attend and caught six soccer scholarships.

Offor’s camp offers information on soccer fundamentals, college recruiting and soccer combine testing. With a number of college coaches in attendance they have hopes of doubling the number of soccer scholarships this year. It is important for athletes to realize that college soccer coaches don’t have the budget to travel and see every high school game. It really is much more about networking and marketing yourself at tournaments and camps. The college scouts believe that the most talented and dedicated athletes will be the ones that attend camps and play on club teams. That is why those are the athletes that will be rewarded with soccer scholarships.

UEFA

Did you know that soccer is the most popular sport in the world? Being from America, neither did I. I guess like every other American I figured that football was the biggest hit with the people. As a matter of fact, soccer fans are the most loyal and dedicated fans in all of sports. I know a few people personally, who will wake up at 3 in the morning to watch the World Cup live on television. I have been to a few soccer games and although they were only youth soccer games, I found them a lot of fun to watch. It used to take me back to when I was in elementary school playing soccer. Every part of it was fun, from the youth soccer drills to the actual games.

I remember one youth soccer drill we used to do. It was called dribble across a square. The coaches would place 4 disc cones on the field to create an imaginary square about 10 steps wide. Of course, depending on the number of players we had or our ages, the size of the square would vary. After the square was made we would spread out on the outside looking in and each would take a soccer ball and dribble to the opposite end and back.That game was a lot of fun. It taught us how to dribble through traffic, how to look for open space and once we got to the other side we could use different techniques to turn with the ball. My favorite turn was the pullback. All you do is put the bottom of your foot on the top of the ball to stop it and then pull it back in the direction you came from. The first person to make 12 trips back and forth was the winner. Of course, this is only one of the many youth soccer drills that can be used.

Soccer sure is a lot of fun. I can't wait to get my kids involved in soccer. It is to me, the ultimate team sport. Maybe I will even volunteer to be a coach. A couple pieces of advice on how to have a good practice are: Make sure all the children stay active and participate. A couple ways to make sure this happens is to make sure every player has a soccer ball and that they all get a minimum hundred touches during practice. All this talk about soccer makes me want jump up and yell. GOAL! GOAL! GOAL!

UEFA

With the draw for the Spanish League now published we now know the full details of FC Barcelona's fixtures for the 2007-2008, listed below:

26 Aug Racing v Barcelona
2 Sep Barcelona v Athletic
16 Sep Osasuna v Barcelona
23 Sep Barcelona v Sevilla
26 Sep Barcelona v Zaragoza
30 Sep Levante v Barcelona
7 Oct Barcelona v At. Madrid
21 Oct Villarreal v Barcelona
28 Oct Barcelona v Almeria
31 Oct Real Valladolid v Barcelona
4 Nov Barcelona v Betis
11 Nov Getafe v Barcelona
25 Nov Barcelona v Recreativo
2 Dec Espanyol v Barcelona
9 Dec Barcelona v Deportivo
16 Dec Valencia v Barcelona
23 Dec Barcelona v Real Madrid
6 Jan Mallorca v Barcelona
13 Jan Barcelona v Murcia
20 Jan Barcelona v Racing
27 Jan Athletic v Barcelona
3 Feb Barcelona v Osasuna
10 Feb Sevilla v Barcelona
17 Feb Zaragoza v Barcelona
24 Feb Barcelona v Levante
2 Mar At. Madrid v Barcelona
9 Mar Barcelona v Villarreal
16 Mar Almeria v Barcelona
23 Mar Barcelona v Real Valladolid
30 Mar Betis v Barcelona
6 Apr Barcelona v Getafe
13 Apr Recreativo v Barcelona
20 Apr Barcelona v Espanyol
27 Apr Deportivo v Barcelona
4 May Barcelona v Valencia
7 May Real Madrid v Barcelona
11 May Barcelona v Mallorca
18 May Murcia v Barcelona

While the season gets off to a fairly easy start, the clash against Real Madrid at the Nou Camp will take place on December 23rd this year, a great time for anyone who want to make the most of a football and last minute shopping weekend, while Barcelona visit Spain's capital city on May 7th 2007.

We're still awaiting details of the Champions League draw, which will kick off in September. After losing the League title to Madrid at the last minute and being knocked out of the European title Barcelona's supporters eagerly await the start of the season to see what difference the new signings, like Thierry Henry, make to FC Barcelona's fortunes.

UEFA

Liverpool Football Club is the most winning club in English football history, having won eighteen league titles and been crowned champions of Europe on 5 occasions, including the remarkable victory of 2005. Liverpool Football Club is a professional club based in Liverpool, in the north west of England. For millions, Liverpool Football Club is a special place and this is its own special story. Not wishing to offend anyone but supporting Liverpool Football Club is more akin to a religion than a plain interest.

Liverpool City

Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral is the largest cathedral in Britain and the fifth largest on the planet. Liverpool is home to the oldest Chinese and African community in Europe. Liverpool carried out and financed the 1st ever Atlantic telecommunication cable in 1886. Liverpool is home to the Grand National, the most renowned steeplechase in the world. The Liverpool Hotel and Hotel Liverpool as well as the Liverpool Adelphi are great places to reside and you'll be in reach of Liverpool Restaurants and other attractions. Whatever you do, you'll need a map of Liverpool to find your way around the old city. Don't forget to visit the excellent Tate Gallery in Liverpool, this is situated at the redeveloped Albert Dock.

Club

Club followers from Asia know as much about Liverpool FC as some of the best well-versed and most faithfull fans in the UK. Clubs that frequently win high-profile trophies make more coverage, both at home and aboard, and command much higher costs. On July 30, 2004, the Liverpool City Council gave the club planning permission to construct a new 60,000 seat stadium, nearby at Stanley Park. Numerous clubs have moved to new grounds in the last 10 years. Liverpool Football Club is the most successful club in the history of English football.

Football

Football has always been watched by all classes, this working class vibe is more attached to particular clubs than it is to the game as a whole. While the word Liverpool clearly denotes the city of Liverpool in the United Kingdom, and elsewhere, the name Liverpool FC is, in its ordinary signification, linked exclusively with the Liverpool Football Club. I count myself extremely lucky to have been around during the fabulous years after promotion back into the 1st Division, proud to have great memories of wonderful times, Bill Shankly, Joe Mercer, Don Revie and the players of the era and say good luck to the new world of scouse Football.

Anfield

Anfield itself is vastly different to what it looked like 2, 5 and 10 years ago not to mention 20, 50 or even 100 years ago. The highlight for many, however, is the possibility to walk down the famous players’ tunnel and touch the famous ‘This is Anfield’ sign. The Anfield atmosphere, history and fabric is all part of the club. The fact is that LFC is Anfield and Anfield is LFC. The club offers tours of its stadium, Anfield, which include a visit to the dressing rooms and a seat in the team dugouts.

European

European triumphs at the Stadio Olympico, Stad de Lutz and as recently as the Westfalenstadion are witness to what Liverpool Football Club is all about. The club was present at two of the biggest tragedies in European football — at Heysel in 1985 and Hillsborough in 1989. Liverpool made their first impact on the European circuit in 1973 with a UEFA Cup triumph, as well as winning another league title that season. In recent years, the city has emphasised its cultural attractions, winning the honour of European City of Culture for 2008.

UEFA

Real Madrid president, Ramon Calderon announced that his newly signed Italian centre-back Fabio Cannavaro had won the prestigious Ballon D’Or, or Golden Ball, and was to replace Ronaldinho as the European Footballer of the year. This came to the surprise of many and rose more than a few eyebrows. Not, through the fact that Cannavaro had been the selection, far from it given his dominant displays during the World Cup, but due to the fact that the winner of the much hyped award is not actually announced until 27th November. Surely this means one of two things. The first of these is that France Football, the magazine that actually host the prize, have a mole in the camp and need to seriously bolster their security, alternatively Senor Calderon is living up to the traditions of the Madridistas and filling newspaper columns with self gratifying propaganda.

If it was a media frenzy that Calderon wanted, then he will be a happy man. Italian newspapers were not slow in announcing: “Cannavaro, it's all true.” (Gazzetta dello Sport) and: “Golden Ball to Cannavaro.” (Corriere della Sera). Despite the excitable nature of the Italian media, it would appear that the issue is done and dusted. Which would change the purpose of this article from a preview of the front-runners, to a selection of the nearly men. However, the famous trophy is not yet causing the Italian skipper feng shui difficulties at chez Cannavaro and so I will continue with my initial intentions.

The Ballon D’Or was created in 1956 by France Football magazine. At a time when Europe had begun to come out from the hangover of World War II a decade earlier, and football was enjoying its progression as a worldwide game. The inaugural European Cup (now known as the UEFA Champions League) was played out in the same year, and Stanley Matthews, the Blackpool winger was pronounced as Europe’s first Player of the Year. In the years that followed, the awards were dominated by the all conquering Madrid side, their forward Alfredo di Stefano claiming the title twice. The very idea of the award showed that football was now a sport that could bring people of different countries together, such an important factor when we consider that much of the continent had been a battlefield little over a decade before. Despite being held by France’s leading football publication, the award is based upon the considered opinion of journalists Europe-wide.

The award has been pretty evenly distributed around the leading lights of European club football over the years, Juventus lead the way with a total of eight winners (a total that could well have been further extended had the Calciopoli match fixing scandal not intervened), AC Milan (seven), Barcelona (six), Real Madrid (five) and Bayern Munich (five) all follow. Of course we must take into consideration that the award ceremony is traditionally held in November of every year, so many victorious players may well have been at new clubs at the time of the award, having earned the plaudits that lead to the prize at another side (both Luis Figo and Ronaldo are examples of this, having only moved to Madrid a few months prior to the presentation). The only major change in the award since it began came in 1995 when it was decreed that the winner need not be European in nationality himself, merely have his contract held by a club that comes under UEFA’s jurisdiction (much to the delight of the Liberian forward George Weah who took full advantage of the rule change in 1995).

An obvious start point for such an award would be to begin where we left off last year. The Brazilian Ronaldinho, who won last years award (to sit proudly on the mantelpiece next to his World Player of the Year award) to reconfirm him as being regarded as the planet’s finest player. The Barcelona man, by his very high standards, had a disappointing year. Despite adding the Champions League to his collection of medals, he was relatively below par in the World Cup (a competition that usually can be considered the deciding factor for the award) as his Brazilian side (and pre-tournament favourites) limped out in the quarter finals having been widely tipped to take a sixth title. Of his compatriots, only really Kaka’ shone in Germany and unfortunately the AC Milan forward ended the season medal-less despite enhancing his growing reputation as a force to be reckoned with in world football, and possible future winner of the award.

As we have previously examined, major tournaments often have a large impact on who is to be the recipient of the award. Take, for example, Ronaldo’s Ballon D’Or of 2002. Following yet another injury plagued season in Italy with Internazionale, el phenominon (as he is known by his adoring fans) turned it on in the Far East to help Brazil claim a fifth World Cup, scoring an incredible eight goals along the way and exorcised the some of the demons of his breakdown in the 1998 competition. Although many commented that surely seven games does not make a season, Ronaldo, who had since joined the Galacticos of Madrid, took the coveted prize.

From this theory, we can assume that this year’s victor will most likely hail from Italy. As previously mentioned, all of this talk is fairly irrelevant as Fabio Cannavaro has been, although as yet unconfirmed, declared by his club’s president as the winner. In reality, should this be the case, few could argue. The Italian captain was a lion in the heart of the formidable Italian defence that provoked headlines of ‘campione del mondo’ (‘champions of the world’) across the Mediterranean peninsula. However, the 33 year old former Juventus man is himself not getting as excited as his President (at least not before the famous ‘fat lady’ has had her moment). Cannavaro has said: "Of course I would like to win it. It would be wonderful and very gratifying on a personal level."

As well as the Madrid man, Italy can boast strong claims for the award through both midfielder Andrea Pirlo and goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon. Pirlo, during the previous season with Milan, and the World Cup with his nation, enhanced the reputation that he had, in his early career at least, threatened without ever achieving. Some superb displays in the heart of the Azzuri’s midfield raised Pirlo’s profile to be rated amongst the continent’s finest in his position, although lack of success on the domestic front may have cost him. More interesting though, is the calls for the award to be given to Gigi Buffon. The Juventus and Italy stopper has long been regarded as the finest in the World in his position. In Germany, Buffon further embellished this claim. Some heroic performances, most notably in the semi final against the hosts and his penalty saving performance to claim the trophy in the final, gave credence to him becoming only the second goalkeeper to win the award. In claiming the Ballon D’Or he would truly claim a place amongst the greats as the only other ‘number one’ to have won the award was the Russian Lev Yashin in 1963. He also has the support of Italy legend, and former European Footballer of the Year, Gianni Rivera. Upon hearing of Cannavaro’s premature victory, Rivera proclaimed: "I would have chosen Italy keeper Gianluigi Buffon but if it is true that Fabio is to win it, I'm happy anyway."

If the Golden Ball is to head to Italy, it will be the country’s forth winner after Rivera himself (1969), Paolo Rossi (1982) and Roberto Baggio (1993).

However, not all are in agreement that the award should be given to an Italian. Upon hearing Ramon Calderon’s claims, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger reacted in typically defiant fashion: "Congratulations to Cannavaro if that's the case," Wenger said Friday. "But for me there's only one candidate this year, it's Thierry Henry. He just deserves it.

In retrospect, this is a fair argument. Henry appeared in both of the showpiece events in world football during 2006, and despite being on the losing side in both the World Cup and Champions League finals, getting to both is a testament to the man. Henry is widely regarded to have been the best striker in world football of the past few seasons. Consistently the English Premiership’s leading marksman and considered amongst the finest ever to have graced these shores, so perhaps, for once, Mr Wenger has seen something, he went onto say: "What does he have to do? Just to keep going. Sometimes you get rewarded at the moment where you expect it the least. That's as well the sign of a superchamp."

Other possible contenders are pretty thin on the ground. Samuel Eto’o of Barcelona was at his explosive best helping propel his side to titles in both La Liga and the Champions League, although not appearing in the summer’s festival of football due to Cameroon’s failure to qualify did not help his cause, as neither did the long term knee injury that will keep the striker out of action until the new year. The Portuguese midfielder Deco is another who has been mentioned in relation to the award. The diminutive string puller was considered to have been as, if not more, vital than Ronaldinho to Barcelona’s success last term. Another option, and one for the romantics, would be if the award was to go to Zinedine Zidane. The mercurial Frenchman finally hung up his golden boots during the summer after dragging his nation to the final. Some imposing performances from the one di Stefano dubbed ‘the maestro’ won Zizou the World Cup Golden Ball for being the tournament’s most outstanding player. However, we all know how it ended and, head-butts aside, the play-maker had a relatively poor season with Real Madrid.

With all considered, I feel I am largely discussing the competitors in a race already won. From a personal perspective I find this somewhat disappointing as it appears to be the closest competition for the award for some time. Not that I do not perceive Cannavaro a worthy winner, we have to go all the way back to Franz Beckenbauer in 1976 to find our last defender to have won the prize in a roll-of-honour dominated by players more accustomed to creating and scoring goals rather than stopping them. In this similar vein it would appear that given our three perceived favourites of Cannavaro, Buffon and Henry, only one is a striker. Perhaps a reflection upon the changing face of football? Perhaps merely a reflection of an Italian World Cup win? Either way, for me it is sad that such a prestigious award may not be announced with all of the pomp and ceremony that the eventual winner would undoubtedly deserve.

UEFA

If you would like to have access to over 3000 satellite television stations on your PC or Laptop but are not sure how to do it, this article will enlighten you by explaining some of the issues you must know in order to be able to make informed choices when buying or downloading Internet television software.

Most sites online making claims of providing clients with software for watching satellite television on their PCs or Laptops may not truly be in a great position to deliver on their promises. So, you must be careful, ensuring that the particular Internet television software package has the following attributes before committing your cash:

* A good Internet television provider must be one whose product is popular with a lot of satisfied customers, some of which you can reach and get testimonials from.

* The company should provide ready expert guidance from their staff from start to finish and during use of the said software.

* Number of satellite television stations and programs in the software package should be in thousands, including radio programs.

* Downloading instructions should be seen to be easy

* Package cost should be low and one time, with life time free upgrade clause

These are what you should look out for when considering buying or downloading Internet television software for watching satellite television on your PC or Laptop, which will ensure that you get benefits.

Aside from providing you with the opportunity of watching thousands of satellite television stations from around the world, wherever you are and whenever you want so long as you have Internet connection, a good Internet television provider should be able to provide you with specialist programming such paid sports programs for free:

To name only a few of such sports:

* American NBA

* American College Football

* European UEFA

* CCTV soccer event

* World Cup Channel Dream

* US College Sports

* NHL American National Hockey League

* ESPN NFL

* ESPN Sports

* NFL News

With a good Internet television software, you have the opportunity of watching all sorts of satellite television programs including sporting live events, like never before! And all of this should be for one low price, without fancy hookups, or expensive hardware to add to your computer.

UEFA

Manchester United Football Club is an English football club, sited at the Old Trafford stadium in Trafford, Greater Manchester, and probably the most admired football club in the world, with over fifty million supporters worldwide. Manchester United Football Club is a world-famous English football club, with a capacity of over 76,000 and the highest average crowd in the league. Manchester United Football Club is perhaps the single thing for which the city of Manchester is most famed. The heritage of Manchester United football club is wonderful and most supporters have a real empathy to the club. Manchester has a tradition of excellence in sport. Manchester United Football Club is less than 2 from the University, first class cricket can be seen at Old Trafford, and Salford has one of the best Rugby League teams in the country, the renowned Salford Reds.

Football

Since the late 1990s, the club has been one of the richest in the world, and until recently had the top revenue of any football club for several years running. Nearly overnight, English football re-invented itself as a sensational sport with enormous commercial appeal. The enormous power and reach of television is turning football into one of the world's most lucrative sports. The club is one of the most successful clubs in England, having won the FA Premier League/Football League fifteen times, FA Cup 11 times and the European Cup/UEFA Champions League twice.

Cup

They also became the first English teams to participate in the European Cup, at the request of the FA, who had denied Chelsea the same chance the previous season, and got as far as the semi-final, only to be knocked out by Real Madrid. Tragedy hit the following season, when the airplane transporting the team back from a European Cup match crashed on take-off at a refuelling stop in Munich, Germany. The plane skidded off the end of the runway, through a fence and into an empty home. Despite the accident, they reached the FA Cup final again, where they lost to Bolton Wanderers. Manchester United have won silverware on a frequent basis throughout their proud and thriving history and on the domestic front have won the both the old First Division Championship and the Premier League, the old Second Division, and the FA Cup and League Cup. By the time Matt Busby left in 69 United had won five First Division titles, 2 FA Cup Finals and of course became the first English team to win the European Cup in 68.

Fans

When Manchester United went to Thailand in 1997, 1000s of United fans went to the national stadium in Bangkok to see their heroes for real; but the closest most of The Clubs Asian supporters got to seeing their team is on national TV, where the whole English Premiership is promoted almost daily.

Up to 67,500 fans often pack into Old Trafford to see Manchester United play football. Like mentioned before, the biggest group of fans can be found in Asia. This has enabled Manchester United to make an interactive, on-line football society that will become the ultimate match and club experience for all its fans, on match days, during the build up, and then the after-match analysis. Maintaining their position could not have been done without the fans worldwide that have turned into United-consumers in the meantime. Of course, when in Manchester, Manchester United football club is one of the first things that jumps to mind for nearly everyone, so a visit to their stadium at Old Trafford is a frequent pilgrimage for fans.

UEFA

With an away victory against Real Betis on Saturday night and a clash between Real Madrid and Sevilla on Sunday resulting in a victory for Madrid, the most important question for many Barcelona fans is whether their team has what it takes to finish the season with the 2007 La Liga title.

Prior to this weekend, May 5th and 6th, FC Barcelona was in top position with Sevilla just one point behind and Real Madrid trailing two points. While Barcelona's victory at least gave room to breath a little, the result they were hoping for between their two closest rivals was a draw. Instead Madrid moved up into second place although they still remain two points behind Barcelona. That margin is too close for comfort and the fight looks like it will go on right to the end.

Barcelona's form has been rather patchy at some points during the current season, including a period when a run of five matches saw them score one goal in each, drawing four times and winning just once; and one of the lowest points in the domestic calendar must surely have been in January when fellow Barcelona team RCD Espanyol beat Barcelona 3-1 at the Estadi Olimpic.

The team definitely lacked something when Lionel Messi was out of action through injury and perhaps Ronaldinho's lack of form at times is due to the immense pressure there must be on all the players. And so, back to that big question; does Barcelona have what it takes to win this year's Spanish League title?

Whatever the answer, it's not going to be easy to do. As winners of both the Spanish League and Champions League titles in 2006 the pressure has been on the repeat their performance and after being knocked out of the UEFA competition the focus has been purely domestic. With clear focus, determination, hard work and a little luck the team does have what it takes to hold on to the title for another year, but if they make anything more than the smallest mistake then their ambitions will be thwarted.