5 years ago, the Italian league was rocked by a scandal, the likes of which the footballing world had not seen before. A number of telephone interceptions showed a network between managers of several top-flight teams, and the referee organisations, with the teams effectively implicated of rigging games by selecting favourable referees.
Moggi, former Juventus manager given a lifetime ban following the scandal
The 2004-05 and the 2005-06 Seria A titles had both finished with Juventus 1st and AC Milan 2nd. Following investigation into the scandal, it was decided that Juventus would be relegated to Serie B, and that their two titles for 2004-05 and 2005-06 stripped from their record.
As such, no one was awarded the 2004-05 title- the only gap in records since World War II (when the Italian national team, world champions in 1938, retained the trophy for 12 years due to the Second World War stopping the tournament from taking place- one for the pub quizzes!)
In addition, the 2005-06 title was stripped from Juventus. As AC Milan, among others, were implicated in the scandal, and also deducted points and denied entry to the 2006-07 Champions League (at least, denied automatic entry), the title instead was awarded to the 3rd place team, Internazionale.
So, since 2006, Inter Milan have been accredited with the Serie A title for that season. But, recently, new evidence suggested that this too was the wrong decision. Inter have been under investigation since last year after lawyers suggested phonetaps implicated Inter in the affair also.
The club denied any wrongdoing, and despite a report by FIGC (the Italian football federation) prosecutors accusing Inter of fraud, the executive committee's majority vote, earlier today, that a revoking of the 2005-06 Scudetto was beyond its jurisdiction, has put the affair to bed, and it looks like Inter Milan will retain the title.
In what will surely be the most unexpected of transfers should it be completed, Tranmere Rovers of the 3rd tier of English football, have accepted an offer from Bayern Munich, Germany's most successful (and arguably famous) side, for their young striker, Dale Jennings.
The 18-year-old only made his debut for Rovers at the start of last season, scoring 6 goals in an impressive 32 appearances.
Having given him permission to speak to the German giants, manager Les Parry said:
"Bayern have made us a very good offer for Dale and we don't want to stand in his way of making this incredible move. When a club with the size and history of Bayern come in for you it's the opportunity of a lifetime and I wish Dale all the best should the transfer happen. It also says a lot about the club's youth system that one of the giants of European football is interested in signing one of our players."
Manchester United were delighted to confirm, today, that the Aston Villa winger, Ashley Young, completed his move to Old Trafford, signing a five-year contract.
A club statement read: "Manchester United is delighted to announce it has reached agreement with Aston Villa for the transfer of Ashley Young. The player passed a medical in Manchester this week and has agreed a five-year contract."
A short while after the season ended, Ashley spoke with the Villa board to inform them of his intention to play Champions League football. Having made 15 appearances for England, I feel he now realises his potential, and sought bigger challenges.
Young, 25, had just one year left on his deal at Villa Park and with the new Aston Villa (and former Birmingham) manager, Alex McLeish, resigned to losing Young, the deal has now been completed.
He joins Blackburn's England Under-21 defender Phil Jones who moved to Old Trafford for between £16.5m and £20.5m earlier this month and with Atletico Madrid goalkeeper David de Gea likely to move to Manchester before the new season, United have really begun to signal their intent for 2011-12.
Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo has won the prestigious Ballon d'Or trophy for 2008, polling 446 points from a maximum of 480, to oust his closest rivals, Lionel Messi and Fernando Torres into 2nd and 3rd place respectively.
The Portugese winger scored an incredible 42 goals as Manchester United won the Champions League and Premier League double last season. Despite a less than spectacular performance at Euro 2008, the world's football journalists had no hesitation voting him for the most prestigious individual award in world football, awarded by France Football magazine.
"It is one of the most beautiful days of my life, something I dreamed of as a child," said the 23-year-old winger.
Ronaldo becomes only the third Portuguese player to lift the famous trophy - after Eusebio and Luis Figo - and the fourth Manchester United player to take the prestigious gong. He is the first Premier League player since Michael Owen in 2001 to scoop the award.
Cristiano Ronaldo is the favourite for this year's Ballon d'Or
France Football Magazine has published the list of nominees for the prestigious Ballon d'Or or European Footballer of the Year award for 2008 and the list is dominated with players from the English Premier League and Spanish La Liga, each with 11 nominees.
Three English players have been shortlisted for the award and they are: Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard and the trio also happen to be the only British representatives.
Other Premier League players include Michael Ballack, Didier Drogba (both Chelsea), Edwin van der Sar, Nemanja Vidic (both Manchester United), Arsenal's Emmanuel Adebayor, and Fernando Torres of Liverpool.
And of course, the hot favourite for this year's award, 42-goal Manchester United and Portugal winger, Cristiano Ronaldo. He is tipped to be challenged by Barcelona's Lionel Messi who has been in inspirational form for his club.
Notable absentees from the list include Barcelona striker Thierry Henry and AC Milan's Ronaldinho - who received the accolade in 2005 - after disappointing campaigns last season.
Only three Serie A players have been nominated - AC Milan's Kaka, Inter Milan's Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon.
Full list of nominees:
Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal), Togo
Sergio Aguero (Atletico Madrid), Argentina
Andrei Arshavin (Zenit St Petersburg), Russia
Michael Ballack (Chelsea), Germany
Karim Benzema (Lyon), France
Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Italy
Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Spain
Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United), Portugal
Didier Drogba (Chelsea), Ivory Coast
Samuel Eto'o (Barcelona), Cameroon
Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal), Spain
Fernando Torres (Liverpool), Spain
Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), England
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Inter Milan), Sweden
Kaka (Milan AC), Brazil
Frank Lampard (Chelsea), England
Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Argentina
Pepe (Real Madrid), Portugal
Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich), France
Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), England
Marcos Senna (Villarreal), Spain
Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Spain
Luca Toni (Bayern Munich), Italy
Edwin van der Sar (Manchester United), Netherlands
Rafael van der Vaart (Real Madrid), Netherland
Ruud van Nistelrooy (Real Madrid), Netherlands
Nemanja Vidic (Manchester United), Serbia
David Villa (Valence CF), Spain
Xavi (FC Barcelone), Spain
Youri Zhirkov (CSKA Moscow), Russia
I feel as bad as anyone while I write about Ronaldo's transfer sitcom. It has run a lot longer than what it deserved to have. But this presents and opportunity for us to look at certain aspects as far as transfer in the world of Football are concerned.
In todays footballing world we have players that can basically demand transfers regardless of the contract that they have signed. The reason being that the clubs are getting richer, which itself is open to debate. But above all the money and the fringe benefits we have to look deeper into the whole issue. Cristiano Ronaldo, when he came to Manchester United was a 18 year old kid with a lot of potential. Under the guidance of the club and Sir Alex Ferguson, he has achieved a lot and has converted that potential into reality.There are a lot of players who have as much potential as Ronaldo did, but not everyone converts that into something of this level, that I believe is exactly where the team, manager and the rest come in. Since he is only 23, an age which is considered to be very young in football, does he not think that he should reward United for all that they have done in converting his potential into reality? He has played a significant part is the last two years and has immensely contributed to their success but does it all end there? Should he not be serving United for a few more years and then probably move on and fulfill his personal dreams. Lets admit it that Real Madrid would take a player with that calibre at whatever age and even if he does eventually decrease his standards because he will most likely never fall below a certain level which itself is pretty high. All we need to do is look at David Beckham and Zinedine Zidane. They are both fabulous players and both of them joined Real Madrid in their late 20's and I believe contributed immensely. If Ronaldo does move to Real Madrid for whatever sum of money it maybe, I would feel that he has in some ways cheated Manchester United. Where he could have given a few more years, he has run elsewhere to achieve only and only personal glory, maybe who knows if Real Madrid get the double he might move to Inter Milan or somewhere else to probably as he says conquer another league. The fact of the matter is that a single player only makes so much of a difference to the team and I dont think too many will argue when I present the example of Real Madrid.
My personal opinion in the end would be that Ronaldo be at Manchester for a few more years and then move onto Real Madrid to fulfil his personal goals. Remember I'm not tell him to sacrifice his personal ambitions, I am just asking him to give his due to Manchester United. If he indeed is the great player he is cracked up to be, and I believe so too, then he will be playing at the highest level even when he is 27 or 29.
Most of the time, moving to a new club for a player is like a new lease of life - the chance to kick-start a stagnating career, for a new challenge etc. and are usually happy times.
Australian star Harry Kewell has joined Turkish giants Galatasaray on a two-year deal from five-times European champions Liverpool but instead of spending all his time talking about his new club and what the future holds for him in Turkey, he has spent a lot of time defending what many people think is a money-grabbing move to Turkey.
But perhaps even more controversial is that the pacy winger has also had to defend his move to Istanbul, stressing it was not disrespectful to the two Leeds fans who were killed in the city eight years ago during a UEFA Cup semi-final match between Galatasaray and former club Leeds United in 2000.
In fact, the outrage in Leeds - where Kewell spent his best years - has forced the player to issue an open letter to Leeds fans insisting he has not been disrespectful.
Kewell's open letter to Leeds' fans:
'My love and respect for Leeds United and what the club has done for me will never change, no matter what anyone says about me and whatever their motives are
'My sense of sorrow and sympathy for the families and friends of Christopher Loftus and Kevin Speight will always be with me.
'I chose the number 19 shirt when I signed for Galatasaray as a sign of respect for Leeds because that was the number I got when I first became a regular member of the Leeds starting XI.
'I felt that it might be a way to demonstrate that I had not forgotten where it all started and I was hoping that in a small way it would help the healing process of the tragedy that occurred on the April 5 2000.
'For me, sport should first and foremost be about the love of your game. But equally important is the respect for not only your team-mates but all those who you compete against.
'For this reason I have always objected to any form of discrimination in any sport and football in particular, as that is the sport that is the most near and dear to me.
'To blame the Galatasaray club for the tragedy in Istanbul is simply wrong and discriminatory.'
Russian champions Zenit St Petersburg has won the UEFA cup in a largely one-sided final against Glasgow Rangers at the City of Manchester Stadium overnight.
The Scottish giants were able to hold on despite the Russians dominating the first-half with onslaught after onslaught but the pressure became too much in the second half and the Russian's class began to shine through.
It took until the 72nd minute for Zenit to make the breakthrough - striker Andrei Arshavin played a neat one-two with Igor Denisov who rushed into the box to slot the ball past the helpless Neil Alexander for the opener.
With a quarter of an left, Rangers piled forward in search of a dramatic equaliser but to no avail as Zenit held firm at the back and managed to take full advantage of the exposed Rangers' defence for Konstatin Zurianov to score his side's second goal of the evening.
Congratulations go to both teams with Zenit deserviing winners of the competition and the galant effort Rangers put up not just in the final, but throughout the long journey to Manchester which encompassed some 18 European games.
There are too many overseas players in the English Premier League. We don't have enough of our players playing at the top level. Our players don't get to play Champions League.
These are all familiar cries in the rush to find excuses for the failure of the English national team. I have to admit that I've been drawn towards that argument at times, and I can see that it has some merit.
Last night however, for me, the argument fell apart at the seams. Inter played at Liverpool in the Champions League, and they had only one Italian player in their ranks. There were several South Americans and a Swede, but only one Italian.
Inter are eleven points clear at the top of Serie A and are clearly the best team in Italy. None of their country's top players play for them.
I look at AC Milan, European champions, and I see some top Italian players but I see Serginho, Kaka, Dida and Cafu from Brazil, Simic from Croatia, and the great Clarence Seedorf from Holland.
All of these 'foreign' players at the two Milan clubs must be holding back the chances of the Italian national team, mustn't they? Oh no, Italy are the World Champions.
Looks like several people, including me, had better try to think of a different excuse.
English clubs have it tough in the first knockout phase of Europe's Premier club competition with Arsenal and Liverpool drawing reigning European champions AC Milan and Serie A leaders Inter Milan respectively.
Manchester United faces a tricky tie against French champions Lyon while Chelsea has the easiest of draws against Olympiakos.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is optimistic that his young side can overcome champions Milan.
"It's an exciting draw. If you look at last season's results then it's the hardest draw because they are the champions.
"It's a big challenge but if you ask me do we have a chance to knock them out then I say 'yes'." he said.
Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez said his team will draw on the experience of winning the tournament in 2005 and finishing runners-up last year while Sir Alex Ferguson described Lyon, who knocked Rangers out in the group phase, as the toughest opponents they could have been drawn against.
Full draw:
Celtic v Barcelona
Lyon v Manchester United
Schalke v Porto
Liverpool v Inter Milan
Roma v Real Madrid
Arsenal v AC Milan
Olympiakos v Chelsea
Fenerbahce v Sevilla
Ties will be played on 19/20 February and 4/5 March, 2008.
AC Milan's Brazilian playmaker, Kaka, has won the prestigious Ballon D'Or as European Footballer of the Year for 2007.
The Brazilian, 25, was the Champions League's top scorer last season with 10 goals as he led his team to the title, beating Liverpool in Athens in the final.
"This is very special for me - it culminates an astonishing year for me," Kaka said.
The Ballon D'Or is awarded annually by France Football magazine who poll 96 prominent football journalists for their votes on who they think is that year's best player from a shortlist of 50. In the end, Kaka won by a large margin on 444 points with second placed Cristiano Ronaldo, 22, on 277 points. Barcelona's Lionel Messi came third.
World Champions Italy have been drawn in the same group as France and Holland for the European Championship finals next summer in Austria and Switzerland.
The draw is based on European qualifying so the Italians will play France in a repeat of the 2006 World Cup final in the last Group C game despite progressing from the same qualifying group. Group C is the tournament's ultimate group of death.
France coach Raymond Domenech had complained of the seeding system before the draw and he will now have a tough task to get his team through to the quarter-finals.
The draw was made at a ceremony in Lucerne, Switzerland which featured former European Championship winners such as Franz Beckenbauer, Michel Platini, Marco Van Basten and Jurgen Klinsmann.
AC Milan 1 - 0 Celtic
Shakhtar Donetsk 1 - 2 Benfica
SUMMARY:
Scottish champions Celtic are through to the knock-out stages of the UEFA Champions League for the second season on the trot despite going down 1-0 to AC Milan at the San Siro.
Milan striker Filippo Inzaghi broke the deadlock on the 70th minute with his 63rd goal in UEFA club competitions - a new record - to seal the win, and top spot in the group, for his side.
In the opening stages, the visitors looked nervous knowing that a draw would seal their place in the next phase of Europe's premier club competition. Once the nerves had settled, Celtic were happy to sit back and hit Milan on the counter-attack but lacked the incisive cutting edge to break the Rossoneri defence.
However, the Scottish champions were stunned 21 minutes from time when Brazilian Cafu squared the ball inside the area for Inzaghi to score his record breaking goal.
Despite the loss, the Scottish side were still able to celebrate qualification after Shakhtar Donetsk's 2-1 loss to Benfica in the other Group D match.
England's Premiership stars will be spending the next Northern Summer somewhere on a beach in the Maldives after failing to qualify for the Euro 2008 Championship finals this morning (AEST).
Needing only a draw to go through, an English 4-3-3 attacking side were 2-0 down against Croatia, a side that had already qualified, inside 14 minutes after goals from Niko Kranjcar and Ivica Olic.
Manager Steve McLaren paid a heavy price for dropping regular 1st choice goalkeeper Robinson and former captain David Beckham as it was the former's replacement that made a howler to set the visitors on course for victory.
After David Beckham was introduced for the second half, team spirit and morale seemed boosted which launched England into a comeback through a Frank Lampard penalty and a 65th minute strike by Peter Crouch following an exquisite Beckham cross.
Thereafter, England chose to sit back and protect the scoreline as a draw would have been sufficient. But alas, the Croatians had other ideas when Mladen Petric came off the bench to fire in a 77th minute winner to send England packing.
Consequently, Russia were the 16th and final team to reach Euro 2008 in Switzerland and Austria next June after Guus Hiddink's men leapfrogged England in Group E with a nervy 1-0 victory in Andorra.
Sweden, Turkey and Portugal all made it through to next year's final via the final round of qualifying with a win over Latvia in Stockholm, a 1-0 home over visitors Bosnia and a 0-0 draw against Finland respectively.
The 16 teams to make it through to the Euro 2008 Championship Finals are:
Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Netherlands, Greece, Spain, Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Croatia, Italy, France, Sweden, Turkey, Portugal and Russia.
Israel's surprise 2-1 win over Russia in a Euro 2008 qualifier has boosted England's chances of making next year's finals dramatically.
Omer Golan scored the vital injury-time goal in Tel Aviv which means Croatia qualify for next year's tournament where they will be joined by England if they manage to avoid defeat against the Croatians at Wembley on Wednesday.
Had the Russians beaten Israel, England who have had next to no chance in qualifying for next year's finals with lowly Andorra their next opponents in the final game of the qualifying campaign.
The home side took the lead through Elyaniv Barda's goal, but Russia hit back and Diniyar Bilyaletdinov scored a deserved equaliser with half an hour to go. By this time, the Russians were dominating and had a shot hit the post before Golan beat the keeper in a one on one in the 92nd minute to put England in the driving seat for qualification once again.
Scotland suffered qualification heartbreak when Italian defender Christian Panucci's injury-time header from a harshly-awarded free-kick saw Italy and France qualify.
In Group C, Turkey leapfrogged Norway into second place after a 2-1 victory in Oslo while reigning European champions Greece demolished Malta 5-0 with Theofanis Gekas hitting a hat-trick in Athens.
In Group D, Germany claimed a 4-0 victory over Cyprus but the Czech Republic beat Slovakia 3-1 to retain top spot in the group.
In Group E, Estonia won 2-0 in Andorra while Macedonia claimed a shock win over leaders Croatia.
In Group F, Denmark's qualification hopes were ended by Northern Ireland after they failed to hold on to the lead given them by Nicklas Bendtner.
In Group G, Holland secured qualification after a 1-0 win over Luxembourg while Bulgaria boosted their own hopes with a 1-0 win over Romania in Sofia.
AC Milan goalkeeper Dida has had his two-match suspension reduced by UEFA following an appeal by the club.
The 34-year-old Brazilian was initially banned for two games for his theatrics following a very minor 'altercation' with a Celtic fan that had gone onto the pitch during the 2-1 defeat at Celtic Park.
The initial two-match suspension has now been reduced to just one with a further game suspended for a year.
AC Milan's grounds for appeal were that the keeper's actions was nevertheless a mistake but his error did not hinder anyone, not Celtic, nor any player. The club were also unhappy that Celtic were fined only £25,000 which, in their opinion, was lenient compared to the suspension Dida received.
The decision by UEFA to reduce the suspension is an absolute disgrace. The initial two-match suspension was by no means harsh by any standards - some would say that Dida deserved to have been heavily punished for tarnishing the reputation and integrity of the game.
By reducing the length of the suspension, UEFA has effectively condoned the keeper's actions and that any other player thinking of doing the same in the future can expect just a one-match ban.
Who else thinks Celtic should reduce the fan's lifetime banishment from the club's matches now? They might as bloody well!
Germany became the first team to seal a place at the Euro 2008 Championship when they drew with nil-all with Ireland.
Despite the draw, the result left the Germans three points ahead of the Czech Republic in Group D and eight clear of third-placed Ireland, who have two games left and are very unlikely to qualify.
Group B remains the most enthralling with Italy and France in danger of missing out on a place at the finals despite wins. Scotland defeated Ukraine 3-1 and are the surprise leaders of the group on 24 points.
Italy beat Georgia 2-0 while the French recorded a comprehensive win over Faroe Islands in a 6-0 rout. Goals from Nicolas Anelka, Thierry Henry, Benzema (2), Rothen and Ben Arfa all got on the score-sheet.
England recorded their fifth 3-0 victory on the trot in their game against Estonia at Wembley Stadium. Chelsea winger Shaun Wright-Phillips opened the scoring in the 11th minute thanks to a superb through ball from defender Micah Richards.
In the 32nd minute, Wayne Rooney finally ended his England goal drought with a somewhat fortunate deflected goal and a minute later Taavi Rahn completed the scoring -albeit an own goal - with a superb diving header from outside the box.
AC Milan are through to the final of the UEFA Champion's League for 2007 with a crushing win over Manchester United at the San Siro.
The Red Devils were distinctly off-colour for such an important game and Milan's Brazilian maestro Kaka duly punished them with a goal inside the first 11 minutes to add to the brace he scored in the 1st leg.
Confusion in the United defence between Gabriel Heinze and Nemanja Vidic gave Milan their second goal of the evening with Clarence Seedorf the scorer.
It took until the hour for United to really get going but they still did not manage to break down the Milan defence and shortly after, it was all over - game, set and match Milan when substitute Alberto Gilardino was released down the middle and he ran 40 yards before coolly curling the ball home.
While a Liverpool - Manchester United would have been absolutely mouth-watering, we will now witness a rematch of the epic 2005 final between Liverpool and Milan which the mighty Reds came out on top after coming back from 3 - 0 down to win on penalties.
The Champion's League final 2007 will be in Athens on May 23rd.
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