I’m not really a sports fan, but I found this interesting:

“The EPL [English Premier League] is the biggest league in the UK and is reckoned by some as the single most popular sports league in the world. Its product is considered among the best soccer played anywhere. It also comes stocked with enough tradition, style and intrigue to make American sports look like the junior varsity.”

I learned quickly that, with apologies to Manchester United, my beloved Chelsea is far and away the most hated club in England. This stems from the opinion that the Blues, as they’re called, essentially bought back-to-back league titles in 2004 and 2005 and are viewed kind of like the New York Yankees of the EPL, only without the decades-long tradition of winning.

After languishing in mediocrity for much of the 1980s-90s, Chelsea was purchased by Russian oil tycoon (and apparent crazy person) Roman Abramovich in 2003 and morphed into an overnight powerhouse. Abramovich brought both a hunger for winning and a willingness to spend money that makes George Steinbrenner look like a penny-ante grinder. He immediately pushed the payroll to more than $200 million and gobbled up a who’s-who of the world’s best players - forward Didier Drogba from Ivory Coast, goal keeper Petr Cech from the Czech Republic, defender Ricardo Carvalho from Portugal. The club even set an EPL record in shelling out an unknown sum between $60-100 million to bring in Ukranian striker Andriy Shevchenko from famed Italian club A.C. Milan.

Abramovich also hired Portuguese super manager (and apparent crazy person) Jose Mourinho to lead the team. Mourinho is widely acknowledged as brilliant coach, a snappy dresser and a complete egomaniac. “(There is) God,” he’s been quoted as saying. “And after God, me.”

[Chad Dundas @ the Missoulian: Link]

The Vatican may … field an international-level soccer team?

The idea of equipping the world’s smallest sovereign state with a competitive football club is the brainchild of one of its most influential officials: Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. Recently appointed as the Holy See’s new Secretary of State, the highest Vatican posting after the pope, Bertone is an enthusiastic football fan.

… Bertone said: “I do not rule out that the Vatican could in the future set up a competitive football team that could play on the same level as the likes of Roma, Inter, Genoa and Sampdoria.”

Italian football federation (FIGC) officials, as well as their colleagues at Europe’s governing body, UEFA, are not taking the matter lightly and are ready to welcome the white-and-yellow jerseys with open arms.

“We would not have a problem admitting a team from the Vatican, all they would have to do is apply,” a FIGC spokesperson told Deutsche Presse Agentur dpa on Monday.

“The Vatican is a sovereign state that is recognised by the United Nations, so we would have no problem accepting it as one of our members, as long as certain conditions are fulfilled,” [said] William Gaillard, UEFA’s director of communications and public affairs.

[The Raw Story]

Le cardinal italien Tarcisio Bertone devient secrétaire d’Etat du Vatican: Link

The Vatican: www.vatican.va

Wikipedia: Vatican City

US State Department: Holy See

United Nations and the Holy See

The Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations

Vatican makes first U.N. speech [September 2004, MS-NBC]
“Secretary condemns cloning, solo response to terrorism” — no word about football.

I find no indication from the United Nations itself that the Holy See is a member state –
United Nations: Member States : Press Release July 2006

USA Today reports:

TOKYO (AP) … A flock of [crows] dressed in soccer jerseys showed off their dribbling and shooting skills at a Japanese zoo as football fever gripped the nation.

The four young carrion crows at Tokuyama Zoo in western Japan used their beaks to dribble a miniature ball toward a soccer goal, sometimes tackling each other for possession before scoring, according to head zookeeper Satoru Tanaka.

The crows get tidbits every time they score, Tanaka said.

“We tried to coach owls and falcons as well, but the crows were the best. They’re such intelligent creatures,” he said.
[Link]

Via Fark