Manchester United ‘Expansion Plan’ May Be Divisive
The sale of Manchester United to Rupert Murdoch is not yet a reality, but already the English club is flexing its economic muscle in ways that have some soccer leaders concerned.
In its latest move, the club announced it has reached a cooperative agreement that would turn Belgium’s oldest team, Royal Antwerp, into essentially a minor-league team where young talent will be groomed before eventually being shipped across the North Sea to the Premier League.
“We have to face reality,” Royal Antwerp Secretary Paul Bistiaux told the Associated Press. “The smaller clubs have to align themselves with the big ones to survive. It’s either sink or swim.”
Not content with that addition, Manchester United plans similar feeder teams in other countries.
“This is just part of the expansion plan,” Manchester United Coach Alex Ferguson said. There will be deals with clubs in Australia, Ireland and Sweden.”
Already, reservations have been expressed by the Belgian soccer federation and others. “In principle, we don’t like it,” said a spokesman for UEFA, European soccer’s governing body. “There might be more disadvantages than advantages to this.”
FIFA has steadfastly rejected the common ownership of European clubs by one person or company and is watching Manchester United’s move very closely.
“We have to wait and see what such cooperation entails,” spokesman Keith Cooper said.
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Geoff Hurst, the only player to score a hat trick in a World Cup final, was knighted by England’s Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday and from now on will be known as Sir Geoff. Hurst’s three goals were scored in England’s 4-2 overtime victory against West Germany in the 1966 World Cup final at Wembley Stadium in London.
WORLD TOUR
SCOTLAND: Collectors of soccer memorabilia with $25,000 or so to spare for a $90 item might want to attend next month’s auction in Glasgow, where a particularly rare item will come under the hammer.
The ball that Emmanuel Petit slammed into Brazil’s net to secure France’s 3-0 World Cup victory at Stade de France on July 12 is to be auctioned on Dec. 10 by Christie’s auction house. The ball is being put up for sale by the match referee, Said Belqola of Morocco.
BRAZIL: Defender Julio Cesar, 35, is leaving Botafogo to return to Germany, where he will rejoin Borussia Dortmund, the club he helped lead to the European Champions’ Cup in 1996.
ITALY: Inter Milan striker and 1997 world player of the year Ronaldo appears unable to shake the after-effects of Brazil’s World Cup loss to France and has missed six of the club’s last nine games because of injury or unfitness. Ronaldo, 22, suffers from tendinitis in both knees.
“We have been off to an unlucky season start,” Inter Milan Coach Gigi Simoni said. “But we must learn to live with injuries, and without Ronaldo. His absence must not be an alibi. We must win without him, while waiting for his comeback.”
SPAIN: It took Celta Vigo a half-century to accomplish the feat, but the Galacian club finally managed to defeat Real Madrid at the latter’s Santiago Bernabeu stadium. The 2-1 victory, during which Real Madrid and Croatia striker Davor Suker, the top goal scorer in World Cup ‘98, missed a penalty kick, gave Celta Vigo the Spanish League lead.
Meanwhile, another drought was broken when Espanyol defender Nando, a former star at Sevilla, Barcelona and Real Madrid, scored the first goal of his 12-year professional career.
It came in a 3-0 victory over Real Zaragoza and was Nando’s first goal in 246 games.
GREECE: After coaching Romania to the World Cup in 1994 and 1998, Anghel Iordanescu resigned to become Greece’s national team coach. But he appears ready to be ousted after only three games in charge--a tie with Slovenia, a victory over Georgia and today’s game against Albania.
Iordanescu, who had a $320,000-a-year contract with the Greek soccer federation, has been offered, and reportedly will accept, a $534,000 salary to coach AEK Athens in the Greek League.
“In any case, the next national coach will be a Greek. We won’t get another foreigner who will abandon us when a better offer comes up,” one federation official said.
ARGENTINA: Boca Juniors forward Martin Palermo tied an Argentine league record by scoring his 16th goal of the season in the closing seconds to give the club a 2-1 victory over Talleres in the rain at sold-out La Bombonera (“Chocolate Box”) stadium and keep it in first place in the league. Boca needs two wins and a tie in the season’s final five games to clinch the championship.
POLAND: Not content with their club’s one-year ban by UEFA, fans of Polish league-leader Wisla Krakow again are in trouble.
The ban came after one Wisla fan threw a knife at Parma’s Dino Baggio during the teams’ UEFA Cup game in Krakow last month. Baggio was struck on the head, but returned to the game after treatment.
In the latest incident, police stopped a group of 50 Wisla fans traveling by train to the Baltic port of Szczecin for a match against Pogon eand confiscated knives, axes, meat cleavers and wooden clubs.
JAPAN: The Kashima Antlers defeated Vissel Kobe, 4-1, in the final game of the regular season. Kashima now plays the first-stage winner, Jubilo Iwata, in a two-game series for the league championship. Jubilo striker Masashi Nakayama finished as the J-League’s top scorer with 37 goals.
COLOMBIA: In yet another example of the strange nature of the game in Colombia, Gustavo Upegui, president of first-division Envigado, was being held for questioning near Medellin on suspicion that he participated in kidnappings and setting up right-wing paramilitary groups, Colombian prosecutors said.
Colombian club officials, coaches and players have been implicated in several criminal investigations, mostly concerning the influence of drug money in the sport.
CHILE: Striker Sebastian Rozental, 22, is leaving Glasgow Rangers in Scotland and returning to Universidad Catolica on loan for a season in a bid to save his career. The injury-plagued national team forward, bought by the Scottish club in 1996 for $6.64 million, flew home to Santiago for the latest operation on his knee.
FRANCE: Jean-Pierre Papin, France’s most prolific goal scorer, announced his retirement at 35. “It is not an easy decision to take after 13 years spent as a professional player,” Papin said. “The job gave me a lot of joy but everything has to come to an end.”
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FIFA World Rankings
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Rank Team Rating Pts. 1997 Final Change/last poll 1 Brazil 73.67 1 0 2 France 69.21 6 0 3 Germany 67.75 2 0 4 Croatia 66.64 19 0 5 Argentina 65.29 17 0 6 Czech Republic 64.79 3 0 7 Italy 64.53 9 +1 8 Yugoslavia 64.16 20 -1 9 Netherlands 62.77 22 0 10 Mexico 61.89 5 +2 11 England 61.36 4 -1 12 Chile 59.49 16 +3 13 Romania 59.08 7 0 14 Spain 58.63 11 0 15 Morocco 58.60 15 +1 16 Norway 58.31 13 -5 17 United States 57.04 26 +1 18 Denmark 55.91 8 -1 19 Egypt 55.49 32 +1 20 South Korea 55.49 27 +2
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