THE 2014 SHORTLIST OF FIFA PLAYER OF THE YEAR

The World football governing body, FIFA has released the names of 23 footballers who have been shortlisted for the organisation's player of the year. And they are as follows:



Cristiano Ronaldo (2013 Holder)

Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid & Portugal), Gareth Bale
(Real Madrid & Wales), Diego Costa (Chelsea & Spain),
Angel Di Maria (Man United & Argentina), Mario Gotze
(Bayern Munich & Germany), Thibaut Courtois (Chelsea & Belgium), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (PSG & Sweden), Andres
Iniesta (Barcelona & Spain), Eden Hazard (Chelsea & Belgium), Karim Benzema (Real Madrid & France) Toni Kroos (Real Madrid & Germany), Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich & Germany), Lionel Messi(Barcelona & Argentina) Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich & Germany), Mascherano Javier (Barcelona & Argentina), Neymar (Barcelona & Brazil), Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich & Germany), Paul Pogba (Juventus & France), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid & Spain), Arjan Robben (Bayern Munich & Netherlands), James Rodriguez (Real Madrid & Colombia), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich & Germany), Yaya Toure (Manchester City & Ivory Coast).

The Coach of the year shortlist

Carlo Ancelotti (Real Madrid), Antonio Conte (Juventus &
Italian national team), Pep Guardiola (Bayern Munich), Jurgen Klinsmann (US national team), Joachim Lowe (Germany, national team), Jose Mourinho (Chelsea), Manuel Pellegrini (Man City), Alejandro Sabella (Argentina national team), Diego Simeone (Atletico Madrid), and Louis Van Gaal (Man United & Netherlands national team).
Read also: Africanfootie.blogspot.com

SOME WEEKEND EUROPEAN LEAGUE RESULTS

EPL

Burnley          1  -  3   Everton
Tottenham      1  -  2   Newcastle
Liverpool       0  -  0    Hull
West Ham      2  -  1    Man City
Swansea         2  -  0    Leicester
West Brom     2  -  2    Crystal Palace
Soton              1  -  0    Stoke
Man United    1  -  1    Chelsea
Sunderland     0  -  2    Arsenal 

Dutch  Eredivisie

Ado den Haag  2  -  0    Dordrecht
Ajax                 3  -  1    G. A Eagles
AZ Alkmaar    2  -  2    Groningen
Heracles          1  -  3    Willem  11
Excelsior         2  -  1    Twente
Cambuur         0  -  1    Feyenoord
Vitesse            2  -  2    NAC Breda
Utrecht            1  -  5    PSV
Zwolle             2  -  2    Heerenveen

Didier Drogba of Chelsea

Italian Serie A

Empoli             0  -  4    Cagliari
Parma               1  -  3    Sassuolo
Chievo              1  -  2    Genoa
Cesena              0  -  1    Inter
Lazio                 2  -  1    Torino
Juventus            2  -  0    Palermo
Milan                1  -  1    Fiorentina
Napoli               6  -  2    Verona
Udinese             2  -  0    Atalanta
Sampdoria         0  -  0    Roma

French Ligue 1

Evian Thonon    0  -  2   Nantes
Bastia                 1  -  3   Monaco
Caen                   2  -  1   Lorient
Toulouse            0  -  2   Lens
Reims                 1  -  0   Montpellier
PSG                    3  -  0   Bordeaux
Rennes                2  -  0   Lille
Lyon                   1  -  0   Marseille
Guingamp           2  -  7   Nice
St Etienne           1  -  0   Metz 

Spanish La Liga 

Almeria              0  -  1    Athletic Bilbao  
Codoba               1  -  1    Real Sociedad
Eibar                   1  -  1    Granada
Espanyol            0  -   0    Deportivo
Malaga               4  -   0    Ray Vallecano
Real Madrid       3  -   1    Barcelona
Valencia             3  -   1    Elche
Getafe                 0  -   1    Atletico Madrid
Sevilla                 2  -   1    Villareal
Celta de Vigo     3  -   0    Levante

German Bundesliga

Augsburg            2  -   0    SC Freiburg
Dortmund           0  -   1    Hannover 96
Frankfurt            4  -   5    Stuttgart
Hertha                3  -   0    Hamburg
Hoffenheim        1  -   0    Paderborn
Liverkusen         1  -   0    Schalke 04
M'gladbach        0  -   0    Bayern
W. Bremen        0  -    1    Koln
Wolfsburg          3  -   0    Mainz

Portuguese Premeira Liga

Arouca              0   -   5    Porto
Boavista            1  -    2    Pacos Ferreira
Estoril Praia      1   -   2    Belenenses
Moreirense        2  -    0    Gil Vicente
Nacional            1  -    0    Academica
Sporting             4  -   2     Maritimo
Braga                 2  -   1     Benfica
Vitoria Setubal  0   -   1    Vitoria Guimaraes
Rio Ave                 -           Penafiel

Read also: Africanfootie.blogspot.com

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE RESULTS AND AWC SEMI-FINAL RESULTS

Atletico Madrid  5  -  0   Malmo FF

Olympiakos        1  -  0   Juventus

Liverpool            0  -  3   Real Madrid

Ludogorets Raz.  1  -  0   Basel

Monaco               0  -  0   Benfica

Leverkusen         2  -  0    Zenit St Petersburg

Galatasaray         0  -  4   Dortmund

Anderlecht          1  -  2   Arsenal


AFRICAN WOMEN CHAMPIONSHIPS

The semi-finals of the African Women Championships tournament that is on-going in Namibia were played on Wednesday at the Sam Nujoma stadium in Windhoek.

In the first semi - final of the day, the six time champions, Nigeria ladies nicknamed the Falcons laced their boots against their arch rivals Bayana-Bayana of South Africa.

Before the match the Falcons said that they want to revenge losing 1 - 0 to South Africa in the semi-final of the 2012 tournament.

The Falcons won the match 2 - 1 through a brace from Assisat Oshoala in either of the halfs.

Assisat who turned 20 years old last week, also played in the Fifa Women Under-20 World Cup in Canada this summer, where she won the Golden boot and the MVP of the tournament.

In the second semi - final game Cameroon won Ivory Coast 2 - 1 and will meet Nigeria in the final on Saturday. The three top teams in this tournament will represent Africa in the Fifa Women World Cup in Canada next year.

On Saturday, the third country to join Nigeria and Cameroon will be decided in the third place match between South Africa and Ivory Coast.
Read also, Africanfootie.blogspot.com

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE RESULTS PLUS ROBBERS BROKE INTO CLUB SAFES

CSKA                2  -  2   Man City
Roma                 1  -  7   Bayern
Apoel Nicosia   0  -  1    PSG
Barcelona          3  -  1   Ajax
Chelsea             6  -  0    NK  Maribor
Schalke             4  -  3    Sporting
Bate Borisov     0  -  7    Shaktar Donetsk
Porto                 2  -  1    Athletic Bilbao

Iker  Casillas (Real Madrid Goalkeeper)

Thieves Broke Into Football Club Safes

The Standard Liege football club in Belgium was robbed on Monday by three masked men who were armed with Kalashnikovs.

The armed men robbed the ticket office in the stadium, last Monday morning. The football club spokesman, Olivier Smeets, told the Press Agency Belga, that it was not yet clear how much the robbers stole.

Mr Smeets said that the thieves threatened about 15 workers in the office. He also said that they thought initially, that they were angry fans, until they produced weapons.

''As they were masked, we thought at first that they might have been angry supporters. However, they then produced weapons,'' Smeets said.

Two of the thieves went into the room containing safes and threatened the staff there and forced one of them to open the safes.

After robbing the club - FC Standard Liege ( a top club in the Jupilier League) the thieves escaped in an Audi car, which later found some kilometers away in a burnt state.
Read also: Africanfootie.blogspot.com

SOME WEEKEND EUROPEAN LEAGUE RESULTS

Dutch Eredivisie

NAC Breda  1  -  1   Ado Den Haag
Feyenoord    2  -  1   Heracles Almelo
PSV              3  -  0   AZ Alkmaar
Willem 11    1  -  4   Vitesse
Twente         1  -  1   Ajax
Dordrecht     1  -  3   Utrecht
G.A Eagles   3  -  2   Zwolle
Heerenveen  2  -  2   Cambuur
Groningen    1  -  1   Excelsior

EPL

Arsenal        2  -  2   Hull
Burnley       1  -  3   West Ham
C. Palace     1  -  2   Chelsea
Everton       3  -  0   Aston Villa
Man City    4  -  1    Tottenham
Newcastle   1  -  0    Leicester
Soton          8  -  0    Sunderland
QPR            2  -  3    Liverpool
Stoke           2  -  1    Swansea
West Brom      -        Man United (Monday)

G. Higuain of Napoli in action for Real Madrid

German Bundesliga

Bayern        6  -  0    Werder Bremen
Koln            2  -  1    Dortmund
Mainz          2  -  1    Augsburg
Hannover    0  -   3   M'gladbach
Freiburg      1  -   2   Wolfsburg
Stuttgart      3  -   3   Leverkusen
Hamburg     1  -  1   Hoffenheim
Paderborn    3  -  1   Frankfurt
Schalke        2  -  0   Hertha

Spanish La Liga

Athletic Bilbao 1  -  1   Celta de Vigo
Barcelona          3  -  0   Eibar
 Cordoba           1  -  2   Malaga
Levante             0  -  5   Real Madrid
Granada            0  -  1   Rayo Vallecano
Atletico M.       2  -  0   Espanyol
Deportivo         3  -  0   Valencia
Elche                0  -  2   Sevilla
Villarreal          2  -  0   Almeria

French Ligue 1

Lille                1  -  2    Guingamp
Bordeaux        1  -  1    Caen
Lorient            0  -  1    St Etienne
Metz                0  -  0    Rennes
Monaco           2  -  0    Evian Thonon
Nantes             1  -  1    Reims
Lens                 1  -  3   PSG
Nice                 0  -  1   Bastia
Marseille          2  -  0   Toulouse
Lyon                 5  -  1   Montpellier

Italian Serie A

Roma              3  -  0    Chievo
Atalanta          1  -  0    Parma
Cagliari           2  -  2    Sampdoria
Fiorentina       0  -  2    Lazio
Palermo          2  -  1    Cesena
Inter                2  -  2    Napoli
Torino            1  -  0    Udinese
Verona           1  -  3    Milan
Sassuolo         1  -  1   Juventus

Read also: Africanfootie.blogspot.com
        

Di Matteo Appointed The New Schalke Coach

Roberto Di Matteo (44), the former Chelsea manager has been appointed the new chief coach of the German Bundesliga clubside FC Schalke 04. He will be replacing Jens Keller who has been sacked as the team has been struggling with poor form since the beginning of the season.

The top German team is currently placed 11th out of 18 teams on the league table. It is 3rd on the Champions League table in Group G with 2 points out of a possible 6 points.

Ironically, the same year 2012, that Keller took over the reigns of Schalke as coach, Di Matteo won the Champions League with Chelsea, by defeating the German giants Bayern Munich.

This season Schalke is in the same group with Chelsea in the Champions League with the London club being on top of the group table with 4 points to Schalke's 2 points.

The two teams played a 1 - 1 draw at the Stamford Bridge, London during the first leg of the Champions League and will meet in the second leg encounter in Germany on the 25th of November.
In the Bundesliga, Schalke has 8 points from 7 matches due to their inconsistency this season.

In a statement release, the Sports Director of the club, Horst Heldt, said that they want to have a new impulse into the team hence the coach change. ''With the change in coach we want to give a new impulse.''

''We are absolutely convinced that Roberto Di Matteo can stabilise the team so as to reach its Bundesliga and Champions League goals.

''We are missing the necessary consistency to meet our targets. This is why we took this step,'' Horst Heldt added.

Roberto Di Matteo became Chelsea caretaker in March 2012, after the manager Andre Villa - Boas
was sacked. He then inspired and led the club to their first ever Champions League title and also won the FA Cup that same year.

After these successes he was given a long term contract as the coach of the club, but in the following season he could not relicate the previous season's performance and was sacked in November 2012.

He has not coached any team since he was sacked by Chelsea. He will be hoping to revive his managerial career by doing well with his new club - Schalke 04. I wish him goodluck.
Read also: Africanfootie.blogspot.com

SOME EUROPEAN WEEKEND RESULTS

Dutch Eredivisie

Vitesse            6  -   1    Ado Den Haag
SC Cambuur   4  -   1    Dordrecht
Heracles          6  -   1    NAC Breda
Utrecht            2  -   3    G. A  Eagles
Willem 11       2  -   1     Heerenveen
AZ Alkmaar    2  -   2    Twente
Ajax                0  -   0     PEC Zwolle
Feyenoord       4  -   0     Groningen
PSV                 3  -  0      Excelsior

EPL 

Aston Villa      0  -   2     Man City
Hull                 2  -   0     Crystal Palace
Leicester         2  -   2     Burnley
Liverpool        2  -   1     West Brom
Man United     2  -   1     Everton
Chelsea           2  -   0     Arsenal
Sunderland      3  -   1     Stoke
Swansea          2  -   2     Newcastle
Tottenham       1  -   0     Soton
West Ham       2  -   0     QPR 

Spanish La Liga

Almeria           2  -   2     Elche
Eibar               3  -   3     Levante
Getafe             1  -   1     Cordoba
Celta Vigo      1  -   3     Villarreal
Espanyol         2  -   0     Real Sociedad
R. Vallecano   0  -   2     Barcelona
Real Madrid    5  -   0    Athletic Bilbao
Malaga            2  -   1    Granada
Sevilla             4  -   1    Deportivo de la Coruna
Valencia          3  -   1    Atletico Madrid

German Bundesliga

Hertha BSC        3  -   2    Stuttgart
B. Dortmund       0  -   1    Hamburg SV
Werder Bremen  1  -    1    SC Freiburg
Hoffemheim        2  -   1    Schalke
E. Frankfurt         3  -   2    FC Koln
B. Leverkusen     2  -   2    Paderborn
Bayern                 4  -   0    Hannover 96
B. M'gladbach     1  -   1    Mainz
Wolfsburg            1  -   0   Augsburg

Italian Serie A

Milan                   2   -   0    Chievo
Verona                1   -    0    Cagliari
Empoli                3   -    0    Palermo
Lazio                   3   -    2    Sassuolo
Parma                  1   -    2    Genoa
Fiorentina             3   -    0    Inter
Juventus               3   -    2    Roma
Napoli                  2   -    1    Torino
Udinese                1   -    1     Cesena
Sampdoria            1   -    0    Atalanta

French Ligue 1

Reims                    1   -    0     Bordeaux
Bastia                    0   -    2     Lorient
Caen                      1   -    2     Marseille
Evian Thonon        3   -    0     Metz
Nice                      1   -    1     Montpellier
Rennes                  2   -    0     Lens
St Etienne             0   -    1     Toulouse
Guingamp             0   -    1     Nantes
Lyon                     3   -    0     Lille
PSG                      1   -    1     Monaco 

Portuguese  Premeira Liga

Academica              0   -    0     Moreirense
Penafiel                   0   -    4     Sporting
Vitoria Guimaraes   3   -    0     Boavista
Gil Vicente              1   -    1     Estoril Praia
Benfica                    4   -    0     Arouca
Belenenses               1   -    1     Vitoria Setubal
Porto                        2   -    1     Sporting Braga
Pacos de Ferreira     3   -    2     Maritimo
Nacional                   0   -    0    Rio Ave 

Read also: Africanfootie.blogspot.com

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE RESULTS (30/09/14 & 01/10/14)

Wednesday:

Atletico Madrid   1  -  0   Juventus
Malmo  FF           2  -  0   Olympiakos
FC Basel              1  -  0   Liverpool
Ludogarets Raz.   1  -  2   Real Madrid
Zenit Petersburg   0  -  0   Monaco
B. Leverkusen      3  -  1   Benfica
Arsenal                 4  -  1   Galatasaray
Anderlecht            0  -  3   B. Dortmund

Champions League Trophy

Tuesday:

Apoel Nicosia       1  -  1   Ajax
Bate Borisov         2  -  1   Athletic Bilbao
CSKA                   0  -  1   Bayern Munich
Man City               1  -  1   Roma
PSG                       3  -  2   Barcelona
Sporting Lisbon    0  -  1   Chelsea
Schalke                 1  -  1    NK Maribor
Shaktar Donetsk   2  -  2    FC Porto

Read also: Africanfootie.blogspot.com