After months without it, it’s only natural to look at this weekend’s upcoming Bundesliga fixture list and lose your shit. The Revierderby between Schalke and Borussia Dortmund?! Cinderella side Union Berlin hosting mighty Bayern Munich?! It doesn’t get any better than this . . . until you remember it kind of does.
Joan Laporta has said he will seek to bring former manager Pep Guardiola back to Barcelona if his bid to return as president of the LaLiga club in 2021 is successful, Spanish media reported.
Laporta was Barcelona president from 2003 to 2010 and was at the helm when Guardiola was promoted from the youth team to manager of the senior team in 2008.
Current English commentator and legendary player Ian Wright said in a recent tweet that dealing with racism never gets any easier. The 56-year-old was senselessly attacked through Instagram messages from some absolute idiot. Wright then shared the screenshots of the horrible messages.
Professional soccer leagues around Europe are gearing up for a return to action following the novel coronavirus stoppage, but some are more advanced than others. Here is a roundup of the state of play.
GERMANY
The Bundesliga resumes action on Saturday, May 16, with the added intrigue of being one of Europe’s most tightly contested title races. Bayern Munich, in hot pursuit of its eighth straight Meisterschale, has a four-point lead over Borussia Dortmund with nine matches remaining, but both Leipzig and Gladbach are within six points of the leader.
Jill Ellis, who led the United States to back-to-back Women's World Cup titles, would make the ideal replacement for England head coach Phil Neville when he leaves the job next year, former striker Eniola Aluko has said.
England women's head coach Neville will exit the role at the end of his contract in July 2021 and Aluko told The Football Show that Ellis had the ability to bring silverware to the team.
A shy village boy who could not bear to leave his parents' bed, Andrés Iniesta may have seemed an unlikely candidate to become one of the best footballers of all time, but anyone who saw him play rarely had serious doubts.
Iniesta, who turns 36 today, weaved his magic for Barcelona for 16 years and was one of the architects of the club's greatest era, playing a defining role as they won 32 trophies including nine Spanish titles and four Champions League crowns.
The companies holding the broadcasting rights to Italy's top-flight Serie A soccer championship, including Comcast's unit SKY, have not paid the last installment of the 2019-20 season, which has been halted due to the coronavirus outbreak, three sources familiar with the matter said.
The National Football League has time on its side as the sports world prepares to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic and will use some it to observe German soccer's Bundesliga as a potential blueprint on how to deal with the outbreak.
On April 1, 2020, the Champions League was suspended until further notice due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Four second leg Round of 16 fixtures had been completed, but four remained to be played, including Juventus vs. Lyon in Turin following the French club’s shocking 1-0 first leg victory.