I support a team that no one likes.
– Why are Atalanta fans not friends with anyone? – A question on one of the football excursions in Bergamo.
“Historically, it was considered a rejected city, a city in which people were forced to fight for their lives and the right to happiness,” the guide’s emotional response hit everyone.
That phrase is like the image of all Atalanta fans. Milan with two superclubs is located very close to Bergamo, and some tifozy “Rossoneri” and “Inter” mockingly call Bergamo a suburb. But even in such conditions, “Atalanta” fights and defends its identity.
In 2002, in the next issue of Futbol magazine, there was material about the new season of the Italian Championship, and the first team in alphabetical order was Atalanta. Beautiful name, aesthetic coat of arms, favorite black and blue colors – life seemed to lead me to the “Goddess”. Then, as a nine-year-old boy, I just entered the world of football and did not even know how much pain Atalanta would cause me in the future. Continue reading
Veteran “Spartacus”, which still has not lit.
Many spoke of a small, fragile boy from the Spartak double. The head coach with a sonorous name failed, and instead the team was headed by a general director who had never coached anyone before. It seemed that such a rearrangement would not bring red and white anything but a new failure, but Karpinsky Spartak -2009 turned out to be perhaps the prettiest in the recent history of the club. Would he be a champion, but the cruel pragmatist Kurban Berdyev shattered all hopes to smithereens.
The guy from the double had already cut through the game for the home team. He scored his first goal at the age of 16 very beautifully in the Krasnodar Cup game, and in the derby with Lokomotiv at the age of 17 years and 8 days, he became the youngest scorer in the history of Russian championships. Continue reading
Not really football: what you need to know about the scandal “Dynamo” and “Mariupol”
The biggest scandal in Ukrainian football this summer – the non-appearance of Dynamo Kyiv for the 7th round match of the Premier League in Mariupol – only at first glance it has a purely sports basis. Ukrainian football is a long and complex history of relations between the powerful, a series of alliances, betrayals, offenses and backstage negotiations. Often intertwined with big politics and always tied up with big money and influence. What are silent, discussing the topic of “Dynamo” and “Mariupol” – in the material RBC-Ukraine.
Post-revolutionary decline
After 2014, the second Maidan, the start of the war and the annexation of a part of the Ukrainian territory, the once growing, albeit with oligarchic money, Ukrainian football entered a steep dive. Part of the Ukrainian oligarchs were cut off from budgetary flows and influence on political processes. Some of them were forced to flee the country, while others cost a significant drop in Forbes ratings. Continue reading
Offside: how football players get into political scandals
In the match against the Czech Republic, the players of the Ukrainian national football team came out in a game form, which depicts the inscription “Glory to Ukraine!”. This step immediately caused a negative reaction from Russia – the local football union complained about this to FIFA and UEFA. This is not the only case of political scandals in football. RBC-Ukraine recalls the loudest of them that have happened lately.
Who prevents someone else’s “Glory”
Ukrainian footballers were accused of politicizing the game. The Ukrainian national football team in a match on September 6 won the Czech team in the first round of a new tournament of European teams, the League of Nations. The day before the match, a new game form of the Ukrainian team was presented. The slogan “Glory to Ukraine!” Appeared on T-shirts, which caused a mixed reaction in Russia. Continue reading
London experiences “Arsenal” – “Leicester”
Arsenal: Czech – Bellerin, Mertezaker, Koselni, Montreal – Cokelen, Ramsey – Oxlade-Chamberlain, Yezil, Sanchez – Girou
Subs not used: Ospina, Chambers, Flamini, Elneny, Walcott, Welbeck, Campbell
Leicester: Schmeichel – Simpson, Morgan, Hoot, Fuchs – Marez, Drinkwater, Kante, Albrighton – Okazaki, Vardi
Spare: Schwarzer, Wasilewski, Chillwell, King, Gray, Dyer, Ulloa
Referee of the match: Martin Atkinson
It was a good game at Emirates. The first half was completely with the full dominance of the owners of the arena. Arsenal clearly bet on a quick goal. The hosts were determined. Continue reading
