UPFROnT
MOST ILL-ADVISED SPONSOR
2016: Romania’s football federation
suspends three coaches and 14 players
at a second division club because of
match-fixing allegations, after
previously making a decision to ban
betting on matches.
2019: Romania’s second division
unveil a new logo – ‘Liga2,thehome
of betting’ – after agreeinga shinynew
sponsorship deal with gambli fi
Casa Pariurilor.Motoball is a simple
game: 22 men drive
around on motorbikes,
and at the end, the
Russians always winBEST CROSSOVER SPORT
Do you like football? And do you like
motorbikes? If so, we have just the sport
for you: motoball.
The sport follows largely the rules of
football - apart from the fact the ball’s
a bit bigger and everyone’s riding
motorbikes, except for the goalkeepers.
The European Championships took
place recently in Germany, and Russia
(in action, right) lifted the title for the
fourth year in succession, at a sold-out
stadium in Morsch.
The Russian motorbikes must have
been on performance-enhancing drugs,
or something.MOST RELENTLESS RECORD-BREAKER
Big news: Sebastian Abreu is on the
move, yet again. The 42-year-old former
Uruguay World Cup striker was already
in the Guinness Book of Records after
representing a ludicrous 28 different
clubs during his long career, and now
you can make that 29.
Abreu has swapped Brazilian side Rio
Branco for the Montevideo club Boston
River. There’s a definite theme
developing - he’d previously had two
spells at Argentinian giants River Plate.
Loves a river, that lad.MOST DETERMINED TEAM
Life is far from easy for Palestine’s
amputee football team – not only are
they dealing with disability, they’re also
based in the Gaza Strip.
But that didn’t stop them making the
arduous journey to the Cote d’Azur
recently,totakeonFrance’samputee
teaminMartigues(below).Theywere
l d b k t G hBEST NICKNAME
Great news: Stoichkov is back in La Liga.
No, not that one - newly promoted Real
Mallorca’s front line includes Juan Diego
Molina, widely known as Stoichkov.
The 25-year-old wears the Bulgarian’s
name on his shirt, having been given the
nickname by his Stoichkov-obsessed
father as a child. No pressure, son.MOST GALLING OWN GOAL
Schalke made light work of pre-season
opponents Bottrop, but ex-Man City
defender Matija Nastasic still managed
to mess things up.
The Bundesliga side put 20 goals past
their beleaguered opponents, but they
were denied a whitewash after
Nastasic’s own goal got Bottrop on the
scoresheet. “FFS Nastasic!” City fans
joked on Twitter, remembering his
underwhelming spell in the Premier
League, as Schalke had to settle for
a disappointingly narrow 20-1 win.LONGEST RUNNING JOKE
When Zlatan Ibrahimovic was asked to
pick his best 11 of all time, everyone
knewwhatwas going to happen.
Yes,you’ve guessed it: he picked
Zlt ingoal, with Zlatan, Zlatan,
andZlatan in defence, Zlatan,Zlatan and Zlatan in midfield, then
Zlatan, Zlatan and Zlatan as his front
three. Zlatan Ibrahimovic: the home of
entirely predictable banter.LEAST PREDICTABLE COLLABORATION
Usain Bolt has made his first move into
dancehall music, but he had one
demand before he proceeded - it had to
feature a player from Bolton Wanderers.
Sadly Kevin Nolan wasn’t available, so
he asked Jamaican pal Ricardo Gardner,
who’d previously released his own
(frankly terrible) song Move To Your Goal.
This time he featured alongside Ding
Dong and Munga Honorable on the Bolt
produced project Olympic Rose Riddim.
It’s surely only a matter of time before
Donovan Bailey teams up with Henrik
Pedersen for his own musical release.MOST MUSICAL REF
It’s not just Usain Bolt who’s dabbling in
the music world: Bundesliga referee
Deniz Aytekin is at it too.
The 40-year-old is not just a FIFA ref,
but an internet entrepreneur and chilled
out entertainer. The official for Barcelona
6-1 PSG, he turned up to DJ at the recent
Tropical Beach Festival in Landau
(500km from the nearest, er, beach).
This gives Mike Dean an idea...FOOTBALL
nOTEBOOK
blingfirm welcomedbacktoGazaasheroes:
they’ll stop at nothing to playfootball.Zlatani
Zlatana