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Olympique Lyonnais: Failure, Success, and Everything in Between
It’s difficult to look further than the dominance of PSG in recent years, the club was acquired by Qatar Sports Investments in 2011 and have embarked on a relentless spending spree in an attempt to obtain silverware. To some degree, it has been successful as Les Parisiens have won eight Ligue 1 titles since the…
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Bayer Leverkusen: Germany’s Unluckiest Club?
Rival fans and football snobs call them a plastic club and pill pushers, but Bayer 04 Leverkusen is an institution of football that has stood for more than 100 years. As the more eagle-eyed of you might have spotted, the club has a 04 in their name and their badge, marking the year 1904. One…
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Fulham’s Unlikely Run to the 2009/10 Europa League Final
Fulham are the oldest professional football club founded in London, but have not had a history as glamorous as clubs like Arsenal, Spurs or Chelsea have. Despite this, they are, if nothing else, a very likable club. The atmosphere at their stadium, Craven Cottage, is just what a football romantic could wish for. The Cottagers…
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When Montpellier Ruled France: A Look Back at the 2011/12 Ligue 1 Champions
Since the arrival of Qatari money, PSG have mostly dominated Ligue 1, but during the first few years of their Qatar Sports Investment takeover, it’s fair to say Les Parisiens struggled. In the 2011-12 campaign, the newly super-wealthy club spent €82 million under Carlo Ancelotti’s leadership. The Ligue 1 champions that year? Montpellier. Yes, La…
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Curses, Gods and Fate: How Argentina Finally Broke the Cycle of Suffering
Arthur Schopenhauer, a German Philosopher in the 19th century stated in his work “On the Sufferings of the World” that “unless suffering is the direct and immediate object of life, our existence must entirely fail of its aim”. Being born as a human means that suffering is the general rule of life and not the…
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Glitz and Glamour in the ‘90s: How Chelsea’s Superstars Made the Roman Abramovich Era Possible
Long before the takeovers of Roman Abramovich and Todd Boehly, another Chelsea takeover would create an arguably even bigger shift in the club’s fortunes. In 1982 businessperson and former Leeds owner Ken Bates acquired the club for one pound. The price tag may seem like a bargain to many, especially knowing the monster Chelsea are…
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When Smaller Clubs Broke Footballing Dynasties
The debate has raged online about the most dominant and competitive leagues in Europe for some time now. Premier League fans love to throw the “farmer’s league” moniker around to show the perceived superiority of their league over its continental counterparts. But as we will see, the Premier League is one of the least competitive…
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Players Who Have Crossed the El Clasico Divide
Few rivalries have captured the attention of the entire world quite like El Clasico. Barcelona’s 3-1 victory in the Supercopa de España on January 15 was the 251st time that Real Madrid and their Blaugrana rivals faced off against each other in official competition, with Real winning 101 of them, Barcelona claiming 98 wins, as…
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A Nod to Loic Perrin and Other One-Club Men
A one-club man is essentially a player who spends his entire career at a single club, largely out of loyalty and love for the club. The player often becomes synonymous with the ethos of the club and the community. The idea of a one-club man is becoming less and less common as football becomes increasingly…
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Wolverhampton Wanderers, Champions of the USA
Soccer, as the Americans call it, has had its fair share of ups and downs in the land of the free (spending) and the home of the brave (rule changes). Highlights of them trying to make the game more appealing to American audiences include replacing the offside rule with a “Blue Line”, penalty shots that…