Manchester United has declared a ban on players signing memorabilia. “[T]he players will refuse to sign footballs, shirts, posters, portraits or anything else that could constitute a collector’s item.” The club suspects that dealers are paying children to wait outside the training grounds all day for sale on the Internet….
Category Archives: Soccer
Freddy Adu : Just Going Out To Play
Last night’s 60 Minutes featured a segment on DC United player Freddy Adu. Ben Olsen was interviewed as the veteran of the team. Why was Peter Nowak, his coach, and who also started his pro soccer career at a young age, not interviewed? “Freddy’s $500,000 salary from D.C. United dwarfs even the game’s veterans. It has become a cliche that every rookie with a big contract buys his mama a house. Freddy may be the first one ever to do it…and then go home and live with her.”…
Beckham extends contract, gets his own logo
David Beckham was at adidas headquarters in Germany this morning to announce his contract extension and unveil his new logo to appear in merchandise later this year. Similar to Michael Jordan’s slam dunk, the free kick is Beckham’s well known pose….
FIFA 100
To celebrate 100 years of FIFA, the Federation Internationale de Football Association, Pele has chosen 100 living soccer players that represent the best, most outstanding, creative players of their generation….
Major Indoor Soccer League expands to Stockton
The Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) announced today that it has approved plans for expansion to Stockton, California. MISL teams play 162 games in 6 months….
Ireland ties Brazil in soccer
The Republic of Ireland has just tied world champion and #1 ranked Brazil 0-0 in Dublin. The game was just a friendly, but Brazil did bring their full squad. Brazil’s starting 11 were: Dida, Cafu, Lucio, Roque Junior, Roberto Carlos, Kleberson, Gilberto Silva, Ze Roberto; Ronaldinho, Kaka, and Ronaldo. Ireland was ranked #15 in the world as of this morning according to FIFA….
Jürgen Klinsmann joins Los Angeles Galaxy as Technical Advisor
Jürgen Klinsmann officially joined the Los Angeles Galaxy yesterday as Technical Advisor. Jürgen has been working witht he Galaxy for some time, but the new title gives the Galaxy and Jürgen more recognition for their work together. One of Jürgen Klinsmann’s new interests is how technology can be better used to promote soccer, and I hope to work with him on such projects in the future….
RFID on the soccer field
The Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits in Germany (yes, the MP3 and AAC people) is working on an RFID system for soccer balls and jerseys. The chip embedded in the ball has been worked down to the size of a fingernail. The biggest problem right now is suspending the chip in the middle of the ball to measure acceleration and protect against being pummeled as part of the outer skin. An article in German is available here, or you can use Google for the English translation. This technology would be a great coaching tool. Right now in pro soccer there…
John Wolyniec’s goal
I just saw John Wolyniec’s goal against the Columbus Crew on September 20. Wow. ( Windows Media | Real Video )…
Anschutz Entertainment Group to buy Manchester United?
The Anschutz Entertainment Group admits to a meeting with Manchester United officials, but no word whether a club purchase was discussed. Manchester has been unloading some big salary stars, which should make them more attractive for a takeover. Current market cap (MNU.L) is £488.4 million….