Football Mania

So far throughout this year’s edition of the UEFA Champions League we have seen some very interesting matches. The group stage has just ended with familiar faces advancing towards the last 16 knock-out stage. The draws were held on the 17 th of December 2018, in the UEFA Headquarters in Nyon. In the knockout phase, teams play against each other across two legs on a home-and-away basis, up until the final. In the round of 16 draw, eight group winners are seeded, and the eight group runners-up are unseeded. The seeded teams are then drawn against the unseeded teams, with the seeded teams hosting the second leg. The advanced teams consist of: four English clubs which are; Manchester United F.C., Manchester City F.C., Liverpool F.C. and Tottenham Hotspurs F.C., three Spanish clubs which are; F.C. Barcelona, Real Madrid C.F. (current holders) and Atletico Madrid, three German clubs which are; F.C. Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and F.C. Schalke 04, two Italian clubs which are; ...

A new phenomenon which has recently graced us in the football industry is the VAR (Video Assistant Referee). "This is a football assistant referee who reviews decisions made by the head referee with the use of video footage and a headset for communication. In 2018, VARs were written into the Laws of the Game by the International Football Association Board (IFAB) following trials in a number of major competitions. FIFA officially approved the use of VAR for the 2018 FIFA World Cup during the FIFA Council meeting on 16 March 2018 in Bogotá. This tournament became the first competition to use VAR in full (at all matches and in all venues)." We have seen this phenomenon’s true colour in this year’s FIFA World Cup which was held in Russia between the 14 th June till 15 th July 2018. During this edition we have seen various decisions made by the referee of a particular game being reversed or omitted due to an intervention from the video assistant referee. The VAR acts as an aid...

During the following week many rumours have emerged regarding Manchester City F.C. and Paris Saint-Germain F.C. being suspended from the upcoming UEFA Champions League in the 2019/2020 season. Football fans around the world know the incredible financial stability which these two football clubs have. Throughout the last five to ten years these clubs have created a project to improve every aspect possible such as; premises, staff, players, marketing, etc. All this has been done with the help of their respective management teams. Manchester City had been purchased by the Abu Dhabi United Group for £210 million in 2008 while PSG had been purchased by the Oryx Qatar Sports Investments in 2011. These two clubs have been specifically targeted for the Champions League ban because they have breached the Financial Fair Play regulations stated by the UEFA. Throughout the past years these two clubs have bought players from other teams in exchange for astounding millions in money. For exa...