FOOTY FAIR

This is Eibar - A Look at the Small Spanish Club (Video)

2015-03-23T16:00:00.000-04:00

Our friends at Copa 90 are at it again and this week we feature their short documentary on tiny Spanish club Sociedad Deportiva Eibar. Located in Basque Country this club's stadium capacity is just over 5,000 and the team has never before enjoyed the success they are soaking in right now with some fantastic performances in Spain's first division, La Liga. But with success come certain risks as well. Here is a look at the smallest club in La Liga preparing to host storied giants Barcelona in Copa90's This Is Eibar.

Football Club Minimalist Posters to Decorate Your House

2015-02-12T20:00:00.000-05:00

Ever wondered how you could support your favorite club without breaking that minimalist style of your interior decor? Well, you are indeed in luck because Hungarian designer Balázs Varga has come up with just the right solution.

In this project Varga designed the perfect way to mix the passion of a football fan with the minimalist approach to a stylish home, office or even mancave. His club posters could probably be produced on canvas or framed prints and will not ruin that 'chique' design that you or your girlfriend/wife have so carefully put together.

Here is the collection of club posters from Germany, England, Italy and Spain.

Any Given Sunday: CR7’s List to Santa Claus

2014-12-21T08:00:00.000-05:00

Only four days away from Christmas and as the time runs out so does the chance for everyone to get their gift list sent to Santa Claus in time for the holiday season.

The big man needs some time to check the lists, see if the requester was naughty or nice and then have all the gifts ready in time for delivery during Christmas Eve.

Children of all ages around the world prepare their lists very carefully, and nowadays with email, you can afford to wait until the last possible minute to send them in. Children are not the only ones making lists and sending them to Santa Claus, adults do it as well. We might not physically type them or write them, but in our mind we all have a secret wish list that we would like to send to Santa Claus, and wake up on December 25th to find some of those items under our tree.

As we look forward to December 25th I can’t stop from wondering what items would be on Cristiano Ronaldo’s Santa Claus list. For the man who has everything and has won almost everything it must be hard to put a list together and even harder for Santa Claus to be able to get him what he wants.

After much deliberation, on my part, I think I have narrow down the three items that Cristiano Ronaldo would put on a wish list to Santa Claus if he was to sit down and send him one.

3rd Ballon d’Or

Cristiano Ronaldo wants to reach Messi and even surpass him, I don’t think anything else drives him, motivates him, as much as his desire to one day is known as the best there was. Winning a 3rd Ballon d’Or, which would give him back to back wins, would be a step in the right direction. This might be the one item on his list that he will indeed get; I would be shocked if he doesn’t.

Win Major Tournament with Portugal

He has won everything a player can win at the club level and individually. The only thing missing from his curriculum is a title with his country. He lost a Euro Cup final at home against Greece and since then he has only been able to reach the Semifinals of major tournaments. Winning a trophy with Portugal would help him elevate his status as the greatest Portuguese player of all time as well as one of the greatest of all time.

Win the Treble with Real Madrid

He has come close, last year winning the Champions League and Copa del Rey but letting the title escape to the city rivals Atletico Madrid. This year Cristiano Ronaldo would love nothing more than lead Real Madrid to a treble victory and break every single record that he can during that campaign and once and for all put to rest any claims that lives in the shadow of Messi.

I am not sure how busy Santa Claus is, but these wishes have some probability of coming true for him, at least two of them. Maybe this will end up being a Merry Christmas for Cristiano Ronaldo after all.

Barcelona under Fire for New Kit Design

2014-12-03T08:00:00.000-05:00

Barcelona has awakened to blockbuster news that has brought anger to its fans. No, Messi hasn’t signed with Real Madrid, instead the new kit that Barcelona will be wearing next season has the stripes horizontally instead of vertical.

The Catalan newspaper “Sport” has publish pictures and drafts of what the new kit will be in 2015-16 season for FC Barcelona. For the first time in their illustrious history the vertical stripes have been replaced with horizontal stripes.

The new design has been approved by club president, Josep Maria Bartomeu, and promoted by Nike. The kit manufacture wants to make a drastic change to the kits to promote sales and see their numbers increase from the past year. The project and idea to change the stripes seems to be the brainchild of Nike. Sales and decline in sales being the main reason behind this change.

I don’t think that Nike or Barcelona president; really understand the significance behind a team’s kit as well as the significance of the colors and design of the Barcelona kits.

It didn’t take long for Barcelona fans to make their voices heard. They were quick to turn to social media to show their displeasure with the new kit design and the change in the direction of the stripes.

Considering how loud the indignation of fans has been I wouldn’t be surprised if Barcelona and Nike backtrack on this design and go down a different road, because this indignation can quickly turn to anger and neither one will be very good for sales, which is the main reason behind this change.

I am just shocked that not one single person from Barcelona had the foresight to see the disaster and backlash that this kit designs would bring and advise Nike of it. All of this could have been avoided by using just some common sense. Unfortunately, common sense is not so common.

Mid-Week Rants: 5 Reasons Why Sociedad is Not the Right Move for Moyes

2014-11-12T12:00:00.000-05:00

Football fans all over England have been speculating about David Moyes' next move since the very day he was let go of his duties as Manchester United manager. And although this is just my personal assumption, Real Sociedad was most likely on nobody's radar as his next employer. A fresh start is of course a great thing for anyone that has recently lost their job, but here are my 5 reasons why a move to the Spanish club is not the right one for Moyes.

Hidden Expectations

There are numerous reports out of Spain that expectations of David Moyes in his first year as coach at Real Sociedad are 'mild'. Avoiding relegation and perhaps finishing in or close to the top half of the table is what the club seems to want our of the Scotsman as far as expectations go, but looking at the club's surprising record over the past two season and the amount of talent they have in their roster this may not be so true. After spending three seasons in the second division between 2007 and 2010, Sociedad finished in 4th place in LaLiga in 2013 and in 7th last season. Currently sitting in 15th place, Moyes will most likely be expected to turn it right around as the club gotten used to European football over the past two seasons.

Running Scared

Sure it may only seem that way, but a move to Spain may look in the British public's eyes as a run and hide move from David Moyes. First he took a break without taking on another job right after being fired and now that he is taking up a managerial role again, he is moving to a different country. This is a great way to lose faith from whatever fans Moyes still has left back in England.

Managers Turnover at Sociedad

It seems that the former Everton bench-boss has forgotten to do his research, because if he did he would see that in the last twenty years his new club have gone through 18 different managers. Out of those, the longest stint was that of Austrian manager Bernd Krauss which lasted 2 years and 3 months, and the shortest was a 10 match (less than two months) stay of Spaniard Periko Alonso. As a matter of fact, in the 105 year history of Real Sociedad there hasn't been a single manager that was able to match Moyes' record of years spent as a manager with one club; even Welshman John Toshack who managed the Spanish club on three different occasions is about 2 years shy of Moyes' stint with Everton.

Welsh footballer and manager John Toshack spent 9 years with Real Sociedad in his 3 stints as club manager

No Hablo Inglés

This is pretty simple. It is very likely that Moyes will hear the exact words of this title on many occasions as it seems that very few of his newly adopted players speak any English. Only one footballer in Moyes' squad does not come from a Spanish speaking background and that is Alfreð Finnbogason of Iceland, which will probably be little to no help for the new manager.

Forgotten in the Kingdom

Of course for the first little while there will be people all over Britain who will follow the "middle-sized" Spanish club just to see how Moyes is doing. But after a while the interest is very likely to subside. Even if his club does well, they are no Barcelona or Real Madrid and will not be televised outside of Spain on many occasions. A long enough stint in Basque Country could not only hurt Moyes' popularity with the average football fan, but also drop his name in the pecking order of future opportunities in the EPL.

Saudi Athletic Bilbao Fan's Dream Trip to San Mamés

2014-10-05T21:00:00.000-04:00

Saeed has been a devoted Athletic Bilbao fan for 11 years. Since 2003 he watched the club on television and even named his son Andoni, to honor the club's star full-back Andoni Iraola.

This year the man from Saudi Arabia was able to visit his beloved club at their home stadium San Mamés for the very first time and the experience was full of emotions.

As a sign of respect the supporters, media and the club greeted Saeed in a fashion only seen in movies, or perhaps in real life, but very rarely. Watch Saeed's story, one that many football fans around the world can relate to.

Santiago Bernabeu Naming Rights Worth €500 Million

2014-09-23T06:00:00.000-04:00

According to reports from Marca, Real Madrid is close to a deal that would see them sell the Santiago Bernabeu stadium naming rights for about 500 million euros.

The stadium is currently named after former player and President, Santiago Bernabeu, who was largely responsible for Real Madrid’s to prominence in European football during the 20th century. This deal if indeed goes through, will be something that not every Real Madrid fan and purist will see as a positive. While the money injection to the Real Madrid safes will be important, losing the epic and iconic name of Santiago Bernabeu, in replacement of something else will not be an easy pill to swallow for most.

The Spanish newspaper, Marca, reports that the deal could be reached with International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC), which is owned by the Government of Abu Dhabi. It would a 20 year contract, worth around 500 million euros which turns out to be about 25 million euros per year until 2034.

IPIC also owns the Spanish multinational oil company CEPSA (Compañía Española de Petróleos), so when looking at possible names for the stadium, CEPSA could be one of the names or even Abu Dhabi, since the oil company is owned by the government of the country as I mentioned above.

Real Madrid will be using the money to refurbish the stadium, and the new name won’t be agreed upon until the work on the stadium is completed. There is a possibility of a merger of names that would still see Santiago Bernabeu on the name with the addition of another name to it. Florentino Perez knows that the fallout from changing the stadium name could be massive, but he also knows that the club needs the funds to be able to refurbish the stadium.

Selling of the naming rights to a stadium is very common in modern football, most teams have taken that path, but fans do not always want to see it happen, especially when you are talking about a stadium as iconic as Bernabeu. It won’t be an easy sell for Perez, but perhaps the solution will come by having two names associated with the stadium allowing the current one to still be part of the new stadium name.

I hate to see stadiums like this lose their name over a large sponsorship deal, but I also understand the business side of it. Having said that hearing commentators like Ray Hudson calling a game and referring to the stadium as CEPSA stadium or Abu Dhabi stadium will be without a doubt strange.