Asia

Earlier this year many of us heard the heartwarming story of Murtaza Ahmadi – a 5 year old boy from Afghanistan who admires Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi. When pictures of little Murtaza in his homemade Messi “jersey,” made from a blue and white striped plastic bag, went viral Messi and his team took notice. Messi autographed an actual jersey for his young fan and had it delivered to the boy in eastern Afghanistan. A touching gesture that shows the global reach of the beautiful game.

It's pretty safe to say that unless you're a Chelsea fan, you probably hate Diego Costa. His mastery of the dark arts of football tends to rub a lot of people the wrong way. He is the pantomime villain of the Premier League, the Loki of the world's game, the Iago to the Othello that is the Premier League referee. 

After seven largely successful years in charge of France’s AS Monaco, Arsene Wenger had certified his reputation as one of the most promising young managers in football.

He’d led Monaco to the Ligue 1 title in 1988 and a Coupe de France triumph in 1991. They’d also reached the semi-finals of the Champions League in 1994, leading to interest from Bayern Munich and Werder Bremen in the managerial services of Wenger.

He'd built his reputation as an astute, multilingual and forward-thinking coach who was capable of building and nurturing young squads.

Soccer is not just about goals. Goals are the object, sure, and the prize and the, um, goal, but goals alone do not make the game. This Oceania Champions League match between Kiwi FC (Samoa) and Nadi FA (Fiji) had goals, seven of them in fact, but it had way more than that.

Who doesn't love a good sending off? Few would argue a red card situation is not entertaining. This Oceania Champions League match between Kiwi FC and Nadi FA had, in addition to the seven goals, six red cards. 

Just let that marinate for a second.

Six.

Red cards.

In one game.

We'll admit we don't know much about the Hyundai A-League, also known as the Australian A League. We know that Alessandro Del Piero played there once, that it's presumably in Australia, there's probably some sort of soccer involved and that the games are at two in the freaking morning here in the USA. However, the end of this year's title race has drawn our gaze to that wonderful land down under because it is possibly the most intense title race in the world right now. 

The Ping Ping Chinese Football Association Super League, that is, China's first division soccer league, began play on Friday with 16 teams playing 30 games from now until December.

China wants to be a powerhouse in this sport. This country has made some efforts to be recognized in world soccer.

In fact, Chinese President Xi Jinping has made a state plan for China to host the 2030 World Cup and win the World Cup before the end of the 21st century. And he also has taken selfies with players like Sergio Aguero.

Brazilian Luciano Pereira, also known as Chiba, scored an absolute wonder goal for Sepahan, an Iranian club, against Al-Nasr of the United Arab Emirates in their opening Asian Champions League group match. It took all of 14 minutes for Pereira to smash this 30 yard golazo and send Sepahan on their way to a comprehensive 2-0 victory.  

This January’s transfer window was something of an oddity. Instead of the usual headlines involving the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea or Paris Saint-Germain, the biggest story came out of China. The Chinese Super League, CSL, spent $278 million during the winter transfer window, outspending the $250 million dropped by the Premier League. So, we decided to take a look at the top paid footballers in China today.