UEFA

One of the ironies of Samuel Eto’o playing for FC Barcelona is that he originally joined arch-rivals Real Madrid, who immediately put him out on loan; first to second division CD Leganes; then to first division Espanyol after playing just one league match for Madrid; and finally to Mallorca. He did so well at the latter club that they signed him for a club record and became the highest scorer in the history of the club with a total of 54 goals between 2000 and 2004.

The Cameroon striker signed to FC Barcelona after a series of negotiations between Barcelona, Mallorca and Real Madrid who had retained an option on him. On one hand Madrid didn’t require him in the team as they already had two strikers in the form of Ronaldo and Raul; on the other hand they didn’t want him to play for Barcelona, a club that was looking for a quality striker to cement the attack after they were unable to come to an agreement with midfielder Edgar Davids, who had spent the second half of the 2003-2004 season on loan to the Catalan club.

With Eto’o in place as striker and Ronaldinho as attacking mid-fielder, Samuel Eto’o quickly proved to be good value for money and scored a total of 24 league goals in the 2004-2005 season. Although he helped FC Barcelona to take the league title, he narrowly missed the title of top goal scorer in La Liga.

However, at the celebrations that followed at the Nou Camp he gave speech in which he openly criticised Real Madrid, apparently venting the bitterness he felt for being passed over by the club in favour of being put on loan. He later had to retract his statement and issue an apology.

The following year Samuel Eto’o was able to improve of his league score and with a total of 26 goals he narrowly took the “Pichichi” crown, just one goal ahead of David Villa from Valencia. His strong performance on the pitch saw him also score six Champions League goals, helping to propel Barcelona all the way to the final against Arsenal. He was strongly implicated in the result as first the Arsenal goalkeeper was sent off for a foul against Eto’o in the first 20 minutes; failing to capitalise on the one man advantage, Eto’o equalised in the 76th minute from a pass from Larsson and Belletti scored the winning goal a few minutes after.

On the basis of a strong season Samuel Eto’o was awarded the title of UEFA Champion's League Best Forward as well as Best African Player for the third year running.

UEFA

Big Match football programmes are those that are considered to be very widely collectable by supporters of any football club or international team. The sub-categories within this set are endless. A collector could choose to collect programmes for a specific team, country, competition, or any other weird and wonderful combination that can be imagined.

The most obvious type of Big Match is a cup final of a competition such as the FA Cup or League Cup. These collections can be limited to a certain date, depending on how ambitious you are with your collection. Another source of programmes are sponsored tournaments. Competitions such as the Autoglass Trophy, Watney Cup and Texaco Cup are a little harder to acquire and give us an interesting segment of the history of competitive football, especially when the cup is now defunct.

Programme collectors who are particularly enthusiastic about European based competitions will be interested in those printed for the European Cup, Cup Winners Cup, UEFA Cup, Intertoto Cup, European Super Cup. Those programme collectors who have a passion for non-league football would look for programmes relating to the FA Trophy, FA Vase Finals and the FA Amateur Cup Finals. In both of these categories, collectors would aim to go beyond the scope of finals, and may collected the varied styles of the semi-finals and quarter-finals programmes.

Also worth considering in this category are the programmes printed for international fixtures. British collectors will often collect the four home nations of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in friendlies, qualification and tournaments. Some may even decide to add a fifth nation to their collection and collect programmes for the Republic of Ireland. Of course, there are also several options within the context of international matches, when one considers Under 21, Youth and Schools level.

The proliferation of European soccer matches from the Champions League, UEFA Cup, Intertoto Cup and various others on television in recent years has increased the demand for programmes from this category of competition. There are many potential avenues to explore in this subset of programmes, such as home and away matches from a particular team’s campaign, or the involvement of British clubs within any given competition. One of the advantages of exploring this subset is the fairly recent development of these types of matches, having occurred only in the last sixty years.

All of the different sets described would make for a very interesting collection to a programme enthusiast. Due to the difficulty in obtaining match programmes from often quite remote corners of the globe for international matches, perhaps your greatest tool in acquiring additions to your collection is through programme dealers and shops. The Big Match issues will be well stocked as these are in demand from clients due to their contextual value, and potential added value they may acquire in the future. These sorts of programmes will be resalable in the future as they make up part of football history.

UEFA

Now the Fifa World Cup is out of the way, after yet another disappointing performance from the English team, focus is once again turning to the start of the Premiership. In this article, I write about the contenders for the trophy and give my opinion on who I think will end up as the champions in May 2007.

The English Premiership will be devalued this season after the relegation last time around of my favourite team Birmingham City. Well maybe not, I have to admit my team deserved to go down but at least I will never have to witness Mario Melchiott playing in the blue and white of Birmingham ever again. Steve Bruce still deserves a kick up the backside for sticking with players like Mario right up until the end. It was plain to see that these type of players were just going through the motions and in truth deserved a right hook, as they were basically robbing the club at the end of the day. A whole hearted player like Bruce surely could also see this and the fact that he kept on sticking up for these players week in week out is barely believable.

As for this years English Premiership, there are once again probably only four teams with a realistic chance of becoming champions.

Manchester United

United are entering this season with a bit of a problem after the World Cup. Rooney and Ronaldo in the same team after the events of that infamous quarter final could bring its own share of fireworks. Wayne has stated that there will be no comeback but that could easily be a ploy just to get Ronaldo to return. Go on Wayne stick one on the cheat!

Manchester United have a great team and will believe that they have a realistic shout for at least one trophy this year, whether this will be the Premiership is debatable. I personally believe that they will finish third this time around.

Liverpool

Steven Gerrard will be hoping to lead Liverpool to Premiership glory this season but in reality would have had a better chance if he had joined Chelsea when he had the chance. Gerrard had a very poor World Cup which may affect his confidence and there is likely to be some kind of hangover. Fourth place is in my opinion the best Liverpool can achieve this year.

Arsenal

Arsene Wenger will be desperate to bridge the gap between his team and Chelsea this season. Players like Fabregas and Henry have enough quality but I feel a number of new signings need to be made in order for Arsenal to make a strong challenge.

I actually think that Arsenal will finish second this year.

Chelsea

Yet again, I believe that Chelsea will win the English Premiership next season. They continue to make important and impressive signings and are likely to be even stronger than last season.

Frank Lampard had a poor showing in the World Cup in much the same way as Steven Gerrard did. Frank will have to improve or may well find himself left out of the team. I am sure however he will regain his form when playing in a quality team under a quality coach.

Finally I am hoping that Birmingham City can win promotion back to the Premiership this season, but I doubt that it will happen under Bruce the bottler.

UEFA

Without a doubt, the appointment of Sam Allarydce, Big Sam, as the new gaffer or manager for Newcastle for the 2007-2008 season had been greeted with cheers by the Toon Army. With his growing reputation of grooming of Bolton Wanderers that were challenging for Europe and giving the Big Four of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United, it is widely expected that Newcastle would finally challenge for Europe at least.

In the off season, Big Sam has radically transformed his Newcastle squad; making wholesale changes to his team and moulding it into his own image. Let take a closer view on the 2007-2008 squad below.

At the back, with Irish Number 1 Shay Given in goal, Newcastle is usually in safe hands. In front of him, there are the ever improving England U21 Steven Taylor and new recruit the Czech David Rozehnal, Newcastle has improved a previous weakness. Another indicator was the release of Craig Moore, Oliver Bernard, Alan O'brian and Titus Bramble from defence shows his determination to cut the dead wood from the team. Plus the transfer of or the addition of Geremi from Chelsea, Claudio Cacapa from Lyon, Jose Enrique from Villarreal and Habbib Beye from Marseille to the likes of Steve Carr, Peter Ramage and Celestine Babayaro , Big Sam has rebuilt up the defence and his options at the back.

As for midfield interestingly enough, Allardyce has allowed the likes of Kieran Dyer, Scott Parker and Nobby Solano to leave St James Park. These three players have been the main stay of previous Newcastle midfield. In came Joey Barton from Manchester City and Faye from Sam's old club Bolton. Looking at it, it could be a wise move on Big Sam's part as Dyer had his injuries, Solano is getting older in age and Parker may not be in his mould of a player. Furthermore, with exciting youngsters such James Milner and Charles N'Zogbia added with the experience of Nicky Butt, Emre and Damien Duff, Big Sam has a strong midfield to choose from for every match. Only concern is the addition of Barton may test his abilities to the fullest as he had been a problem player at City.

Up front, what more can be said of a front line of Micheal Owens, Mark Viduka from Boro, Alan Smith from Manchester United, Obafemi Martins and Shola Ameobi. A combination of youth and experience. The major concern of Allarydce would be the health of his strikers at his disposal especially Owen's. Without a doubt, with Viduka and Ameobi, Sam may be trying to play a big-small combination up front if Owen is fit.

So far the performance have been encouraging though the recent defeat to Derby away is a wrong step down. Newcastle is current in 10th position, winning 2, drawing 2 and losing 1. At the moment, Newcastle is a team in transition as Big Sam is still moulding his teams to his ideals and playing styles. It can be strongly concluded once the team is consolidated to the playing style of Big Sam and gotten used to each other, performance should improve.

It can safely be concluded that Newcastle should be strongly challenging for a European Spot come end May 2008 with the current team and Big Sam's abilities.

UEFA

To British subscribers of BSkyB, and in particular Sky Sports, you might have noticed that the message that the Premiership is the place to be has been hammered down your throat on more than one occasion. Is the Premiership really that good, or is this just part of BSkyB’s attempt at successfully marketing their brand?

The Premiership is arguably one of the wealthiest leagues in the world, in part thanks to BSkyB’s massive TV deal, which eclipses any other league in the world. BSkyB recently agreed a new three year deal with the Premier League, and Sky will pay £1.314 billion for 92 games. Other revenue comes from Setanta, who are paying £392 million for 46 games, and foreign TV rights have been sold for £625 million (even Internet and Mobile Phone revenue will generate £400 million). This new deal will mean that the clubs in the Premiership will receive £50m (which includes prize money and TV revenue).

With such lucrative sponsorship deals, the Premier League has been able to attract some of the finest players in the world, mainly due to the high wages on offer. In turn better player enables clubs to compete more in the various European competitions, like the UEFA Champions League, and UEFA Cup. If the Dutch Eredivisie had such lucrative sponsorship deals, would the leagues various clubs see an exodus of talent each year? The question is undoubtedly no, as it would be able to compete with La Liga, the Premier League, and Serie A, in terms of attracting players, and offering them financial incentives.

More finance in the top tier of England’s league pyramid, is steadily creating a gulf (in financial terms) between teams from the Premier League, and teams in the lower divisions. This means that when a club is promoted from the Championship, they will generally struggle (with a few exceptions), and end up relegated back to the division where they have just come from. This statement seems a bit absurd, but you only need to look at the past few seasons in the Premiership to see the facts for yourself.

The gulf in finances is gradually seeing the rich get richer, and it is also seeing them pull more and more away from the rest of the pack, who are trying to keep up (and is some cases some have gone into administration as a result). If you think this is another absurd statement, just have a look at which clubs have finished in the top four (Champions League qualification places) over the past four seasons. Only one club (Everton in 2004/05) has managed to break into the top four, from outside the so called Big Four (Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United).

Sky’s argument and constant marketing that the Premier League is the best league in the world, to me seems a bit far fetched. Clubs which gain promotion into the Promised Land generally struggle, as they can not compete financially, and generally end up relegated within a season or two of promotion. The gulf between the rich and poor is getting bigger each season, and clubs outside the so called Big Four, are finding it harder and harder to gain a top four finish. At the start of each season, clubs outside the Big Four have their own mini league, and compete amongst each other for a UEFA Cup place, and trying to avoid the relegation places. Sound like an exciting league?

If you listen to the constant advertisements on BSkyB regarding the Premier League and also to their football commentators, you will get a different story. Towards the end of the 2006/07 season, each week the matches involving Manchester United and Chelsea (the two teams competing for the league title) were hyped up to an unbelievable level. The fact that there were only two clubs competing for the title after Christmas, was brushed conveniently under the carpet. The clash between Chelsea and Manchester United at Stamford Bridge (towards the end of the season), was being billed as the match of the season, and one you just could not afford to miss. Unfortunately I wished I missed that match, as by that point the title was already at Old Trafford, and both teams played their reserve sides in a drab 0-0.

In contrast the Bundesliga, Eredivisie, and Portuguese Liga titles went down to the last match of the season, and proved to be more entertaining then the Premiership title race. Going into the last round of fixtures in the 2006/07 Eredivisie, AZ, Ajax, and PSV were all tied on 72 points; and their goal differences were +53, +47, and +46 respectively. During the course of the last matchday, the fate of the title swung between all three clubs, as the scores changed constantly. AZ only needed to win to clinch their first Eredivisie title since 1981, but they surprisingly lost 3-2 away at lowly Excelsior. Ajax beat Willem II away 2-0, but they lost out on the title due to goal difference. PSV thumped Vitesse 5-1 at home, to finish level on points with their fierece rivals Ajax, but clinched the title courtesy of a goal difference of +50, compared to Ajax's +49.

The 2006/07 Portuguese Liga also proved to be just as entertaining, with Portugal's Big Three (FC Porto, Sporting, and Benfica) all within two points of each other going into the last matchday. They all duefully obliged with wins on the last day, and the title was retained by FC Porto. A similar story to the end of 2006/07 season in the German Bundesliga was also unfolding, with VFB Stuttgart, SV Werder Bremen, and FC Schalke all battling for the title heading into the last rounds of the championship. Werder slipped up in their penultimate match losing in a shock 2-1 home defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt, knocking them out of the title race. On the last matchday, there were only two points separating VFB Stuttgart, and FC Schalke, and they both obliged with wins, meaning the title returned to VFB Stuttgart for the first time in 15 years.

BSkyB failed to mention in any of its programmes the exciting climaxes of the Dutch Eredivisie, German Bundesliga, and Portuguese Liga championships. This is understandable as BSkyB are solely interested in marketing their own brand - the Premiership; and to mention how entertaining other leagues are, could be seen as damaging to their product.

One of the most entertaining, and competitive leagues in the world is the Spanish La Liga. La Liga is similar to the Premiership, in terms of big clubs, and star players, but the main difference is how competitive the league is, and recent history has shown this. Unlike the predictable Premier League, were you find the usual suspects claiming a top four finish each season, La Liga have had eight different teams claim a top four finish in the past few seasons (compared to five from the Premiership).

La Liga had four clubs competing for the title with three matches to go (at time of writing) towards the end of the 2006/07 season. Valencia suffered a home defeat at the hands of Villarreal which knocked them out of the title race going into the penultimate match. Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Sevilla (with 72 points, 72 points, and 70 points respectively) are all still gunning for the title, and La Liga looks set for one of the most exciting climaxes in recent years.

La Ligas strength is also shown in the UEFA Cup, were mid table clubs fair well in the competition. At the 1/2 final stage of the 2006/07 competition, Spain provided three of the four clubs (Sevilla, Espanyol, and Osasuna). You can argue that England provided three of the four clubs at the 1/2 final stage of the UEFA Champions League during the same season (Chelsea, Liverpool, and Manchester United); but they all failed to claim the trophy (in comparison to the Spanish clubs who claimed the trophy for the third time in the past four seasons).

There is no arguing that the Premier League is a good league, and it is a joy to watch, but it is not the place to be. The league is becoming very predicable, with the same clubs competing for the same honours each season (in reference to the league and FA & League Cups), and some fans are starting to become restless due to this. This is evident in the drop in attendances for some clubs during the 2006/07 season (and some had to even slash ticket prices to attract fans).

Part of the Premier Leagues success worldwide is down to BSKyB's successful marketing, and not solely down to football. You will find numerous people who will argue this point, but a leagues true strength should be judged on how well their teams perform on the European stage. Sadly since the formation of the Premiership, English clubs have failed to perform on the European stage, claiming only two European Cups, and one UEFA Cup. In comparison Spain has claimed five European Cups, and three UFEA Cups, whilst Italy has claimed four European Cups, and five UEFA Cups during the same period.

For BSkB to claim that the Premiership is the place, first the gulf between the Big Four and the rest of the league needs to close, and English clubs need to start performing on the European stage more regularly - once this is done, then BSkbyB can truly claim the Premier League is the place to be.

UEFA

Deco is considered one of the heavyweights of FC Barcelona and one of a small number of players who has won the Champions League with two different clubs. In fact when he won the UEFA Best Midfielder award for his performance in the 2005-6 Champions League he was the first player to have won the award twice, having won it first with Porto.

In his career Deco has won the 2006 FIFA World Cup Golden Ball, the 2003-4 UEFA Champions League Most Valuable Player, the 2004 Portuguese Footballer of the Year and the 2006 South American Sportsman of the Year.

Anderson Luis de Souza was born in Sao Bernardo, Brazil on 27th August 1977. His early professional career got off to a shaky start when he was playing for Corinthians, who didn't consider him good enough and he moved to Benfica in Portugal.

From there he moved to FC Alverca for a season where he performed well and almost renewed his contact with Benfica. However they failed to reach agreement and instead moved to S.C. Salgueiros in for the 1998-99 season, where he scored two goals in 12 matches. His performances were noticed by FC Porto staff, where he moved during the winter transfer window.

After assuming Portuguese nationality in 2002 after living there for 6 years, Deco was called up to play for the national squad; his first match for Portugal was against Brazil in which Deco scored. It was also Portugal's first win over Brazil in 37 years.

When Deco was on the verge of moving to Chelsea in 2004, a deal that was assumed to be concluded, Deco surprised everyone by announcing that he'd prefer to move to Barcelona. After intense negotiations he signed a four year deal with the Catalan club in July of that year.

When joining FC Barcelona he was felt by many to be surplus requirements as he was an attacking midfielder. However, when he was played in central midfield he strengths came out and he has been a popular member of the squad ever since.

UEFA

Players in:
Thierry Henry, Arsenal (£16.1m)
Yaya Toure, Monaco (£6.1m)
Eric Abidal, Lyon (£10m)
Gabi Milito, Real Zaragoza (£12.1m)

Players Out:
Giovanni Van Bronckhorst, Feyenoord (Free)
Maxi Lopez, FC Moscow (£1.3m)
Javier Saviola, Real Madrid (Free)
Ludovic Giuly, Roma (£2m)
Belletti, Chelsea (£3.7m)
Motta, Atletico Madrid (undisclosed)

The summer transfer window saw some interesting activity for Barcelona, including the signing of Thierry Henry from Arsenal after months of speculation. This addition to Barcelona's strike force should create a wealth of opportunities up front, although Henry has admitted to finding it difficult to get used to Barça's style of play, but his versatility should eventually work to the Catalan team's advantage.

Yaya Toure and Eric Abidal were also signed in the same week, arriving from Monaco and Lyon respectively and with Gio leaving for Feyenoord it seems that Abidal was brought in as a direct replacement. The club also signed Gabi Milito from Real Zaragoza to replace Motta who departed for Atletico Madrid.

Another player to depart was Maxi Lopez, who had been on loan to Mallorca during the last season. With Henry arriving on the scene the chances of first team appearances for Maxi didn't look good and so he made a move to FC Moscow. Saviola and Giuly were in a similar situation, the former moving to Real Madrid on a free transfer and the latter moving to Roma. Both players found themselves under utilised last season and the arrival of both new players and up and coming homegrown talent up front they seemed unlikely to do much this year.

Back in defence, Belletti finally moved to Chelsea after finding it hard to compete for a first team place with Zambrotta and Motta was put on the transfer list after apparently falling out with coach Frank Rijkaard. Eventually he was signed to Atletico Madrid on a one-year deal.

The summer also saw the emergence of two players from Barcelona's youth team who are beginning to mark on the first team. Giovani dos Santos is considered a wunderkind comparable with Ronaldinho, while Bojan Krkic, aged just 17, is hailed as one of the most exciting up and coming strikers in the game.