Two-time Europa League winner Parma Calcio 1913 sold to Jiang Lizhang on Wednesday, adding to the growing trend of Chinese businessmen buying European socer clubs.
The following first and second division teams in Europe are now all principally owned by Chinese investors.
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No disrespect to Carlos Bacca, but the Colombian forward's status as AC Milan’s premier forward has somewhat come to symbolize the seven-time European champion's fall from grace. More industrious than stardust, Bacca simply isn’t cut from the same cloth of Andriy Shevhenko, Filippo Inzaghi or Marco van Basten.
Goals from Nestor Araujo and Hirving Lozano were enough to see Mexico through to the semifinals of the FIFA Confederations Cup. Russia took an early lead through Aleksandr Samedov, but Yuri Zhirkov’s red card in the 68th minute extinguished any hopes of a Russian comeback.
Portugal’s 4-0 victory over New Zealand consigned Mexico to a runners-up finish in Group A, setting up a semifinal match against, most likely, either Germany or Chile.
The final of Florence’s Calcio Storico goes down tomorrow between the districts of Santa Maria Novella (the Reds) and Santo Spirito (the Whites), and the road to the championship, as you might’ve guessed, has been paved with blood, guts and fisticuffs. If you haven’t heard of Calcio Storico, here’s a quick introduction to the most hardcore sport outside of Razor Scooters.
Arsenal and Chelsea will meet in the Community Shield in August, and both clubs will donate their match fees to victims of the Grenfell Tower fire. The match is expected to raise about £1.25 million. Both clubs announced their actions in statements on their respective websites.
From Chelsea:
With one match left for each of the eight nations in the Confederations Cup and no team yet qualified for the semifinals, the competition is tighter than Andy Carroll's man bun.
Despite sitting atop Group A after its less-than-convincing win over New Zealand, Mexico could go home early if results don’t go El Tri’s way. And while Germany and Chile are, as expected, in comfortable positions in Group B after their sedate draw Thursday, Australia and Cameroon are both still alive.
Arsene Wenger has done something special with his most recent Gunners team.
Despite missing out on the Champions League for the first time in his career, Wenger has managed to instill a sense of team unity that’s the envy of Europe.
Five minutes into the Confederations Cup group B match between Chile and Germany, two Arsenal players combined for the game’s opening goal.
Gunners defender Skhodran Mustafi passed to Arsenal striker Alexis Sanchez, who, after a one-two with Eduardo Vargas, fired home off the left post.
Torsten Frings is finally getting his comeuppance, 15 years and 24 hours to the day.
The former German international became head coach of SV Darmstadt in January, around the time American Terrence Boyd joined the team.
Darmstadt was promptly relegated to 2. Bundesliga.
On Thursday, 19-year-old Texan McKinze Gaines signed with the club. One can only assume he’s planning to help finish the job Boyd started.
Why might these young Yanks be plotting revenge on a new coach of high regard who spent a couple years in MLS before retiring?
With the Russia World Cup less than a year away, we here at The18 asked ourselves who are the best (and worst) fans in the world.
We’ve compiled a list below of superlatives to break down what makes each country’s fans unique, for better or worse.
Note: We limited results to nations that are or have been regular World Cup qualifiers. Scroll to the bottom for the best and worst fans.
China has a lot of people. And a lot of money.
Germany has a lot of soccer teams. And a lot of team owners who want more money.
It's a match made in heaven.
A league in Germany's fourth tier found a novel way to add a squad for a nice, even, 20-team table — they're bringing in a team from China.