5 Things I Want to See in Football in 2016


Struggling to shake off the effects of a festive final evening of 2015 and collect my thoughts enough to deliver a New Year's Day article for our loyal readers, I thought about what I'd like to see in the wild world of football this year and here are my top five: 

1.) FIFA Get's a Real Cleanup


The past twelve months has seen a number of developments involving FIFA, with several high profile arrests of the beleaguered organization's officials and the spectacular banning of Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini, but I'd like this sham of a football governing body to be completely overhauled. FIFA has been a joke for decades, with corruption running rife, and only with transparency and proper oversight will it ever be taken seriously.


2.) English Club's Improve in Europe


The Premier League has long trumpeted itself as the best league in the world, but results in the Champions League in recent years suggest that it's anything but. With the wealth of television money pouring into English clubs there's no reason why sides can't properly improve their squads and compete with the world's best again.


3.) A Fantastic Euro 2016


The European Championship, with it's previous 16 team structure, was a terrific tournament with football of a higher quality than what you see in the World Cup often on display. Next summer's competition will feature 24 sides for the first time and with that comes the danger of a weaker tournament. Hopefully though sides like Iceland and Wales, along with the other unlikely qualifiers, will bring something new to the party and be part of a great competition.


4.) Canada Qualifies for the Final Round of CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying


Grouped with Mexico, El Salvador and Honduras in Round 4 of CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying, with only the top two sides going through, Canada has a mountain to climb if they want to qualify for the final qualifying round and a tantalizing chance to get to Russia 2018. But the national side at least making it into this final round would provide a huge boost for soccer in this country and would give us a few massive home fixtures to look forward to. Let's hope they can do it.


5.) Leicester Win the Premier League


As my club, Manchester United, are a disaster at present, for myself and many neutrals it would be simply amazing to see Leicester City win the title. The story of the season so far, the Foxes battled their way to the top of the table at Christmas and have won over a lot of admirers with their exciting play. It would be one of the greatest stories in the twenty plus year history of the Premier League if Leicester were to go on and win the championship. 
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