Only four times in history, and again after 55 years! This is the statics behind the clashes between two capital cities in Champions Cup / Champions League finals in European football. Paris Saint-Germain – Arsenal London came for the first time after Ajax Amsterdam beat, 2-0, Panathinaikos Athens in the 1971 final, on Wembley, London….
Category: Football
Daniel Pancu at Rapid Bucharest in 2026, a story that needs to have a happy end
I remember like it was yesterday. In September 2011, after a 1-1 game between Rapid and Brașov in Regie – don’t know why it wasn’t played in Giulești, to be honest – I asked Daniel Pancu and Mugurel Buga for some pictures. They were two of my favorite players, even though the latest was playing…
What’s up with football in 2026?! Aarhus, LASK Linz, Lens and, oh… Hearts
In 2026, not only we will have the first 48 teams World Cup hosted in North America, but we do have a lot of surprises in European football, at club level. I have already explained the astonishment raised by FC Thun in the Swiss league, team which, by the way, celebrated their first title in…
FC Thun, another page for football history
FC Thun didn’t win anything in their entire history. Many don’t even know from which country these guys are coming from. Luckily, I remember their runner up run in 2005, so I remembered them for more than two decades. When they played in the UEFA Champions League group stage! They are from Switzerland. When we…
World Cup stories: Lukas Podolski, two decades apart
How well I remember the day, how well I remember Lukas Podolski rising! On 4th of July 2006, the independence day of USA, one of the co-hosts of the World Cup 2026, but two decades back things looked different, but did have some links we might not even expect to find. Germany was back then…
FIFA World Cup 2026 clicked in – all 48 participants
As of end of March, beginning of April in some parts of the world, FIFA World Cup 2026 has all its 48 participants decided. The first of its kind, about to start in June. I did make some predictions in December 2025, so now I stick with the colorful part of the story, the multicultural stuff…
Bodø / Glimt in Europe, a success story for many to learn from!
Bodø / Glimt is amazing Europe for more than four years. First, quarter finals of Europe Conference League, after notoriously beating AS Rome, future winner, 6-1 in the group stage. This happened in 2022. Three years later, they reached the semifinals of Europe League, and only one stage later, we are waiting to see if…
FIFA World Cup 2026: participating nations at the glamourous event
As I wrote before, the FIFA World Cup is on the process of becoming 100% a true festival, rather than a sports competition. From some regards, that is not necessary bad, but if you want still to scale the event in terms of competitiveness, that won’t be possible in a couple of editions. Actually this…
Arsene Wenger is right, because football is for the people!
Back in 2020, Arsene Wenger had a simple, but very interesting idea to change the way in which offside is judged: an attacker is only offside if their entire body, capable of scoring, is ahead of the last defender, creating “daylight” or a clear gap, rather than being level. The aim of this is to…
Rapid Bucharest, mixed 2025 feelings. What’s up for 2026?
Not admitting Rapid Bucharest has a profoundly shitty performance on the field, it would be an absolute no brainer. The good thing here still is the fact that all Romanian football is shaped from the same material, and then a poor behavior on the pitch is not something that ultimately can go as single blame…