I hope you can kick these balls with some of the world's best players. Here's a brief guide to the balls used in some of the world's most popular leagues and how much they cost.
English Premier League: The Nike Merlin, at a cool $160. Looks and feels like a classic professional ball.
Imke Wübbenhorst became the first woman to coach in Germany's top five leagues, joining BV Cloppenburg after a professional playing career. She can also add G.O.A.T. to her running resume after her amazing clap back to a sexist question.
Granted this isn’t much, but there’s nothing else we can do until the Bundesliga returns from its winter break on Friday, Jan. 18, so these friendly matches will have to tide us over.
We can’t wait to see how Josh Sargent carries on with Werder Bremen after scoring two goals in his first three appearances, as well as how Christian Pulisic fares for Borussia Dortmund during his final four months at the club, but we’re equally as excited for the debuts of Canadian international Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich and USMNT midfielder Tyler Adams at RB Leipzig.
Talk about dropping the mic on your way out.
Robert Huth, a German footballer who won the Premier League title three times over his career, decided to announce his retirement viaTwitter on Friday. In doing so, he took some hilarious shots at a misinformed agent and retiring British tennis star Andy Murray.
Bayern Munich is by far the most successful club in Germany and one of the richest. Its power in the transfer market is hard to contend with, evidenced by its constant trophy haul every year.
Munich’s big club (sorry 1860 Munich fans) doesn’t seem to be letting up in its chase for trophies, although this season the club has struggled under new manager Niko Kovac.
Since 2013, the CIES Football Observatory has annually been releasing a list of the top 100 valued footballers from Europe’s “Big-5” leagues. It’s a fascinating concept because rather than just saying “Messi is the best, he’s No. 1. Ronaldo is second-best, he’s No.
Christian Pulisic had a difficult year. From missing out on the World Cup to dealing with injury to not being a consistent starter for Borussia Dortmund, you can’t blame the 20-year old for wanting a little change of scenery. Pulisic has been on the radar of big European clubs for quite some time now, and a summer move seems inevitable.
In a couple of days, it will officially be the winter silly season. But that doesn’t mean the silliness can’t start a little early, as with the latest Christian Pulisic transfer rumors.
According to German tabloid Bild, Chelsea will purchase Pulisic from Borussia Dortmund for $57 million in the summer.
BVB fordert Millionen-Ablöse - Pulisic einig mit Chelsea! https://t.co/Zv6sQ3zrQN
Just looking at the USMNT rosters from the past year, it’s clear Gregg Berhalter needs to find a consistent striker. With the retirements of Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan — joint-top goal scorers all time for the U.S. — in the last four years and Jozy Altidore’s inconsistency, the team lacks that out-and-out goal threat. But looking at the recent Josh Sargent stats, the 18-year-old redhead might be the No. 9 of the future.
A month ago Sargent couldn’t even get into a Bundesliga match with Werder Bremen. Now he can’t stop scoring.