League Spotlight: France / Ligue 1 / Le Championnat

Our first League Spotlight of the year focuses on France as Some People Are On The Pitch checks out Ligue 1 and asks the vexed question 'Can anyone challenge Lyon for the title?' Then, once we've answered with an emphatic 'Yes', we'll have a look at some of the other great clubs in Le Championnat, a league so good they named it twice.

It is impossible to start any round-up of French football with any other team except Lyon (seriously - I checked). It's also illegal for any Englishman to write about the French without referring to at least one tired cliché based on a national stereotype, so be warned.

The current French champions are leading the table once more, despite a recent blip in form. Recent defeats to Nantes and PSG plus goalless draws with Marseilles and Valenciennes has given the pretenders to their throne some hope. However, OL entered the Christmas break with a win at Caen. Furthermore with the Champions League group stages now successfully negotiated, top scorer Karim Benzema and the gang have a clear run until late February which should be plenty of time in which to get a stack of points under their belts.

One of the more interesting facts about Lyon's seven year 'Reign of Terror' is that they've gone through four different coaches in that time. Claude Puel is the latest, replacing Alain Perrin. You'd think that consistency at the coaching level would have been key to their success. Some credit should got to the Lyon board who, no doubt, have put their Champions League revenue to good and maintained their dominance. Another factor could be the decline of their rivals.

It has been a decidedly ropey 21st Century for Marseille. Once the daddies of French football, OM's decline can be traced back to the misdeeds of former president Bernard Tapie. Under the charismatic businessman, Marseille won the European Cup in 1993 (beating AC Milan in the Final). Unfortunately, allegations of corruption and match fixing meant the club were stripped of their French championship and were subsequently relegated. Worse was to follow after they signed former Millwall and Chelsea striker Tony Cascarino.

Since then, Marseille have never been able to hit the heights of before. In the early noughties they finished fifteenth for two consecutive years and have only finished in the Champions League places three times since the turn of the decade, two of those occasions being the last two seasons. Currently, OM lie fifth in the table, only three points off the leaders.

Above them are Paris Saint Germain. The capital's only top flight club are perennial under-achievers and rarely live up to the expectations that befit a club in their location. While they have done OK in the cup competitions, the closest PSG have come to winning the league was in 2000 and 2004 when they finished second. However, coach Paul Le Guen has slowly turned the club around and while a tilt at the top spot seems unlikely, they will fancy themselves to finish in those precious top three places.

That is, of course, if they can get past Stade Rennes who have only lost once so far this season. Rennes are on a roll, however their greatest concern is all those draws. Ten of their 19 games have ended in stalemate and coach Guy Lacombe will need to get a little more out of them if they are to truly live the dream.

Just one point above Rennes in second are Bordeaux. Laurent Blanc's team have enjoyed their season in the Champions League. Assuming they can keep hold of their manager, Bordeaux look well placed to challenge Lyon's hegemony.

Another team to look out for is St Etienne. This famous name of the past and ten times League Champions are not the force they were. However they enjoyed a brief renaissance last season and finished fifth, qualifying for the UEFA Cup. Unfortunately Les Verts had a terrible start to the season and have lost 12 games so for this campaign, only one less than bottom club Le Havre. Despite all his good work last time around, their coach Laurent Roussey was sacked and replaced by Alain Perrin. To his credit the former Pompey boss is turning things around and Saint-Etienne have one three from their last four. Nevertheless, they sit perilously above the drop zone with only Valenciennes , Sochaux and Le Havre beneath them.

Notable players in France include the aforementioned Benzema at Lyon along with Hatem Ben Arfur at Marseilles. Ligue 1's top scorer is Andre Pierre Gignac who plays for Toulouse. There is, however, a fantastic story in 30 year old striker Steve Savidan at Caen.

Savidan was a journeyman lower division striker for many years. In 2004 he pitched up at Valenciennes who were a third tier club at the time. Three seasons and forty two goals later, Savidan was a top flight striker and moved to Caen in a deal worth around £4 million. In November last year he made his debut for France as a substitute in Les Bleus' 0-0 draw with Uruguay. Quite a story.

Are you a fan of Ligue 1? Who is your team in France and which players do you rate? Fill in the gaps in our knowledge and leave us a comment...

League Of The Week: Israel / Premier League

Greetings football lovers and welcome to another League of the Week, this week focusing on the Israeli Premier League or Ligat Al, as it's often known.

Israel's top division consists of twelve teams, all of whom are situated in the northern half of the country. Number 1 on the list is Beitar Jerusalem, league champions for the last two seasons, six-time winners overall and current holders of the State Cup (Israel's 'FA Cup', if you will).

Impressive, you may think, but this season Beitar are finding it very difficult to maintain the high standards that saw them cruise to victory by a full nine points in the league last time around. So far in 2008/09, they find themselves struggling down in ninth spot in the IPL and are already out of the Champions League having lost 6-2 on aggregate to Wisla Krakow in the second qualifying round.

It's been a long time since Beitar have had anything amounting to European success, their last significant achievements being to reach the UEFA Cup First Round in 1998 and 1999 where they were knocked out by Club Brugge and Everton respectively. Given their current form, it may be a while before they take on the might of Europe again.

For a likely successor to Beitar's throne, look no further than Maccabi Netanya. Led by former German World Cup star Lothar Matthaus, they ended last season as runners-up to Beitar and have already started this season well, leading the IPL table by two points.

Sadly they, like all the other Israeli teams that qualified for European competition this season, have already been knocked out, so it's back to domestic duties once again. In the Israeli Premier League, there's a complicated system where the season is split into three 'rounds', the last being based on how well you did in the first two traditional 'home and away' exchanges with the other teams.

While we try to get our heads round the complexities of that, be aware that the IPL also enforces a limit of five foreign players for each team. Whether that will improve the quality of the Israeli national side in years to come remains to be seen.

So what of this season so far? We know that Maccabi Netanya lead the way with five games played, but what of the other runners and riders?

Well the surprise package so far must be Maccabi Petah Tikva who were promoted at the end of last season following their second place finish in the Liga Leumit (the equivalent of The Championship in England). They're currently fourth in the table and have only lost one game so far, plus they have the league's current top scorer in the form of Shimon Abuhatzira.

Petah Tikva will no doubt be feeling somewhat superior to the team that pipped them to the Liga Leumit title last season, Hakoah Ramat Gan, who are yet to win a game in 2008/09. Next week sees them travel to Maccabi Tel Aviv, currently third in the table and the only team never to have dropped out of the Israeli top flight. They're also the team that's won the most Israeli championships - a whopping 19, the last of which was in 2003.

Maccabi Haifa just missed out on a European spot last year but are currently second in the league, just two points behind Maccabi Netanya. Like them, Haifa are still unbeaten so far this season and may do well thanks to the goalscoring exploits of Dekel Keinan and Yaniv Katan, the striker that made six appearances for West Ham back in 2006.

Currently languishing in the two relegation spots are Bnei Sakhnin and Bnei Yehuda. Sakhnin have been a bit of a yo-yo team in recent seasons but have shown a fighting spirit at times, even winning a place in the UEFA Cup in 2004 where they were knocked out in the early stages by Newcastle United.

Yehuda have also found it difficult retaining their place in the top flight and have only ever won the Israeli championship once, back in 1990. They were relegated to the Liga Leumit in 2001 but came straight back up the following season where they've remained ever since. On current form, however, don't be surprised if either team ends up relegated or at best entering a relegation play-off.

FC Ashdod are somewhat of a curiosity. A team that usually scrapes by on limited funds, they always seem to get by unspectacularly while at the same time providing some of the IPL's top goalscorers. They’re currently eighth in the table which is where they ended up at the close of play last season.

Finally there's Ironi Kiryat Shmona, third last season and fifth at the moment. You can look upon them as the Israeli equivalent of Chelsea in some ways. They play in blue shirts, blue shorts and white socks, they were considered an ordinary club until a wealthy businessman recently ploughed his Sheqels into it and… well that's about it really. Still, they're a club that's going places, as is Israeli football generally, we think.

And on that positive note, let's draw a line under the Israeli Premier League but don't forget, if you want us to feature a country and its league in one of our future articles, leave us a comment. We'll do our best to accommodate your every whim...

League Of The Week: USA & Canada / MLS

By popular demand (sort of) League Of The Week travels to the US and Canada to check out the runners and riders in Major League Soccer.

If you don’t know anything about MLS then the first thing to explain is that the League is divided into two conferences as opposed to a single league ladder. Each conference is made up of seven teams. The top three from each conference goes into a play-off tournament along with two wildcards. The post season determines the Final, which will be played on 23rd November.

This year the Final will be held at the Home Depot Centre, a soccer specific stadium in Los Angeles and home to MLS sides Chivas USA and David Beckham’s LA Galaxy. A cynic might tell you that the choice of venue was informed by the fact that this was the first full season with the England legend and metro-sexual icon playing in MLS. What finer way then to spend all that hard-earned cash on the great man than by having him lift the Cup in front of thousands of adoring home fans. If there is any truth in this scurrilous accusation then it could backfire pretty awfully since Galaxy look unlikely to make the play-offs.

Galaxy started the season under new head coach Ruud Gullit. Unfortunately for them and despite the good work of Beckham and Donovan, “La-la land”, as they are less than affectionately known, have had a rotten season. The considered opinion by people who know a lot more about it than I do is that the whopping salaries paid to Becks and Landycakes has left very little from the salary cap to spend on other, better, players. The result is an unbalanced squad, which is languishing near the bottom of the Western Conference just above expansion team San Jose. Gullit plus the man who hired him, General Manager Alexei Lalas were both sacked and former US National Team coach Bruce Arena was hired to take on both roles.

The outcome has been pretty negligible frankly. Galaxy are still joint bottom of the table with San Jose Earthquakes who themselves pulled off a masterstroke in the transfer market by recruiting Darren Huckerby from Norwich City. The archetypal second tier flat track bully has scored a hat full of goals since his arrival and helped the Quakes go on a nine game unbeaten run which only ended last week against Kansas City.

Top of the Western Conference are the franchise that used to be San Jose Clash before they moved, Houston Dynamo. The current MLS champions are four points ahead of Chivas USA who in turn are ahead of Colorado Rapids, Real Salt Lake (who are about to move into their brand new stadium) and FC Dallas.

In the Eastern Conference, it’s been a disappointing season for Toronto FC. The League’s only Canadian club and second year expansion team have a great stadium in BMO Field and vociferous support. Yet their team are bottom of the pile with 28 points. Just above them are Kansas City Wizards who are a franchise in transition. They moved away from the cavernous Arrowhead Stadium to the Community America Ballpark Stadium. Being a baseball ground it looks a bit strange but the reduced capacity makes for a decent atmosphere and at least they don’t have to endure those hideous gridlines unlike teams who play on American Football pitches. A new stadium is under construction in Kansas and Some People Are On The Pitch tips them to be the team of the future.

Not for now, though, as this season belongs to Columbus Crew who are top on fifty points. This has already made them the first team guaranteed a play-off birth but also puts them in very good shape for the Supporter’s Shield, which is the award for the team that gains the most points over the regular season out of the two conferences. The winner gets an automatic spot in the CONCACAF Champions League along with the MLS Cup winners.

Immediately behind Columbus are the perennial losing MLS Cup finalists New England Revolution. Head Coach Steve Nicol has guided his team to three successive finals, losing to Galaxy, and Houston twice. In fact the Revs have been to four finals and never won. Third in the table are Chicago Fire who are six points above Red Bull New York and eight ahead of DC United.

There are four rounds left in the regular season. In the UK, there are no live games available on TV to the best of my knowledge although that may change for the post-season however highlights of ESPN’s televised Thursday games are screened in the wee small hours on Five. You can also watch selected games on the Bet 365 website for free and the MLS’ official site offers an online streaming service for around a fiver for the rest of the season. Otherwise, stayed tuned to Some People Are On The Pitch for further updates.

That concludes this week’s League Of The Week. Which league would you like to see featured in the weeks to come? Why not leave a comment and let us know...

SPAOTP is grateful to Dave at Football Watcher for the additional live coverage information. Cheers Dave.

League of the Week: Russia / Premjer Liga

Welcomski once again to League of the Week, and before we start, no - this probably won't be the last comrade-like gag in this article because yes - this week we're turning our attention towards Russia.

First of all, a note to the more observant amongst you. It was suggested last week that we feature the American MLS as our next LoTW, but that will now be next week instead. (Apologies if you'd been gearing up all week for that.)

So, what's to know about Russian football and more specifically the Russian Premier League? Well first of all, you have to understand that in both cases, it's dominated by the Moscow-based clubs - Dynamo, Spartak, Lokomotiv, CSKA and FC Moscow. Between them (well, three of them), they've carved up the Role of Honour and taken 14 of the previous 15 titles. Spartak have been the most successful, winning nine times in the ten seasons between 1992 and 2001, while Lokomotiv won in 2002 and 2004 and CSKA won in 2003, 2005 and 2006.

Adding a touch of variation and interest to the proceedings, are Zenit Saint Petersburg, the team from the north-west of Russia who raised a few eyebrows by taking last season's Premier League title. A jolly close run thing it was too as they finished only two points ahead of Spartak, but it was good enough to earn them an automatic place in the Champions League this season where they were generously drawn in the same group as Juventus and Real Madrid. Lovely.

Back at home, Zenit, now led by Dick Advocaat, have struggled to maintain their amazing form of last season and are currently 8th in the sixteen-team league with only nine games left to play. Realistically, the best they can hope for is a UEFA Cup place for 2009/10 and their run-in begins tomorrow with an away tie against the team directly above them in the table, Lokomotiv Moscow.

Currently sitting on top of the pile are another surprise package a-la Zenit - Rubin Kazan. The team located south-east of Moscow have a very healthy nine-point lead ahead of nearest challengers, Dynamo, and have only lost two games out of 22 thus far. Ably assisted by the curious pairing of Sergei Rebrov and Savo Milosevic, they won seven straight games at the start of the season (thereby setting a new league record) and despite losing the plot temporarily, they're back, back, back in fine form once again. This weekend, they're up against FC Moscow, so we think that'll be another three points to add to their total.

As we said, Dynamo are desperately trying to close that rather noticeable gap between them and Rubin, and you can't say they haven't been trying. They're currently on an unbeaten run in the league that stretches back to July 20th (their season runs from March to November, by the way). This Saturday they're off to sixth-placed Krylya Sovetov where they may have to settle for a draw, we feel.

The Russians are particularly fond of an unknown quantity, and the team currently third in the RPL are another. Amkar Perm (insert a hairdressing joke of your own choice here) are situated east of Moscow and have battled their way to within a single point of Dynamo just above them.

And here's something for all you trivia fans out there: geographically-speaking, Amkar are the most Easterly-located team playing top flight football anywhere in Europe. You're impressed, we can tell...

This Saturday, Amkar are off to Saturn - Saturn Ramenskoe, that is. Occasionally known as 'FC Saturn Moscow Oblast' to their friends, their enemies call them by their full name - 'State-Owned Enterprise of the Moscow Region, Football Club Saturn Moscow Region.' Probably best to refer to them by their nickname: 'The Aliens'…

And what of the Moscow giants currently occupying fourth and fifth places in the table - CSKA and Spartak? Well, they finished third and second respectively last season and secured a passage through to this season's UEFA Cup (albeit as a second-best option, as far as Spartak were concerned).

Michael Laudrup's team were pitted up against Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League 3rd Qualifying Round but were beaten 4-1 at home and away, so they join CSKA in the competition they'll all be calling the Europa League one day. (Not until then, mind you.)

As for CSKA, they’re the Army club that actually won the UEFA Cup back in 2005 and with the likes of current top goalscorer Vagner Love and Russian international defender Yuri Zhirakov in their side, they may well do so again. They've already beaten Croatian side Slaven Belupo 2-1in the First Round first leg earlier this month and should make it through to the group stage when they meet again on October 2nd.

Elsewhere, Spartak aim to build on their 1-0 first leg victory over Banik Ostrava while FC Moscow (fourth last year) will have to come from 2-1 down against Copenhagen if they're to progress with them.

FC Moscow are one of a number of middling clubs that may have to settle for just staying in the top flight this season. Among them are Terek Grozny, runners-up from the Russian First Division last year, currently twelfth in the table and doing somewhat better than the team that came up with them, First Division champions Shinnik Yaroslavl. Shinnik are two points adrift at the bottom of the current RPL table and occupy one of the two relegation places along with FC Khimki in 15th. This Sunday sees Terek playing Khimki while Shinnik play host to Spartak.

And that pretty much covers everything you need to know about the Premier League. We're heading Stateside next week to check out what's happening as the MLS season comes to an end, but for now don't forget that if you have any suggestions for a future League of the Week, leave us a comment or get in touch at our usual email address: info [at] spaotp [dot] com. Until next time, "do svidaniya"...

League Of The Week: Netherlands / Eredivisie

It is a matter of statistical fact that 89.7% of everything ever written in the UK press about Dutch football has been about the national team. Of that, 72% includes the words "turn" and "Cruyff". OK, that's probably completely untrue but it does reflect the relatively low profile of Dutch club football internationally. When we think of great Dutch footballers we don't always think of them in the club colours of Ajax or Eindhoven but of Barcelona or AC Milan.

So what better opportunity to, in a very small way, redress the balance than by making our second instalment of League Of The Week all about the Dutch Eredivisie?

The season started in the same week as the southern Europeans in Italy and Spain this year so is only into its second week. As is customary with early season tables, there is a distinctly unfamiliar look about the top of the table.

For starters, traditional powerhouses Ajax have not had the best of starts to the campaign. The Amsterdam club lost their first match to Willem II who are based in the south of the Netherlands.

Ajax did manage an unconvincing 1-0 victory against the south-western club Roda in the former mining town of Kerkrade. Expectations are high under new coach Marco van Basten that he will return this legendary club to its former glory and win the title for the first time since the 2003/2004 season. The club will point to the retention of Klaas Jan-Huntelaar (left) as a sign of their ambition.

In recent years however, the championship as gone to PSV Eindhoven who are doing a bit of a Lyon and hoping to ape their French counterparts dominance of the League. Eindhoven is another southern club and are two for two this season so far. Last weekend they squeaked past Sparta Rotterdam thanks to a single goal from Ibrahim Afellay. It was the Dutch international's third goal of the season after scoring a brace in the previous round against his home town of Utrecht, a game that ended 5-1 to PSV. Things didn't go too well for them in the Champions League, though, as they got thrashed 3-0 at home against Atletico Madrid.

Despite Eindhoven's good start, it was not enough to put them on top of the fledgling table. Above them are two other clubs with 100% records. In second place is FC Groningen. The northern club are there thanks to a 2-0 victory against the hapless Utrecht and an even more satisfying demolition at Vittesse Arnhem, 4-0. Groningen's next game is against the perennially strong Feyenoord who themselves have been no stranger to the back of the net.

The Rotterdam club were 5-0 victors last weekend but 3-1 losers the weekend before thanks to Heracles who are based in Almelo to the west of the country. Newcastle supporters will be dismayed to learn that Jon Dahl Tomasson is still banging them in for Feyernoord.

So that leaves newly promoted Den Haag at the top. The Dutch capital is not known as a footballing hotbed and they are not expected to maintain such a lofty position for long. However, they did beat the mighty AZ Alkmaar to get there and will be loving every moment. Striker Richard Knopper (right) has been among the goals with three in two matches.

That pretty much covers that but we couldn't possibly leave without giving you an update of Steve McClaren and his new club FC Twente. Well in fact its an unbeaten start for the former England coach with two 1-1 draws against Roda and NEC Nijmegen. The Enschede based club are ambitious and will be hoping for a good showing in the UEFA Cup this season after having been so narrowly beaten by Arsenal in the Champions League qualifiers 6-0 on aggregate. They travel to Stade Rennes in France tonight for the first leg. Strangely, the match isn't being carried here in the UK.

Eredivisie matches can be seen on Setanta Sports in the UK and for more information on those, check out our regular Some People Are On The Pitch TV Previews. If you have a request for the next League Of The Week, why not leave a comment below?

League of the Week: Italy / Serie A

By way of a complement to our weekly look at German football called Bundesbag, we're going to be regularly updating you on the other leagues vying for your attention around Europe and indeed the world at large.

This week, we're checking out the first weekend of action in Serie A, and we begin with reigning champions Inter who were playing away to Sampdoria on Saturday. It was Jose Mourinho's first league match at the helm of the Nerrazzurri and it looked for all the world as though he'd be on his way to a winning start when Zlatan Ibrahimovic finished off a one-two with Brazilian midfielder Mancini to score in the 33rd minute.

But Mourinho's injury-wracked Inter side capitulated in the 68th minute when Daniele Franceschini finished off a smart move to grab an equaliser and the game ended 1-1.

Though Inter may have felt frustrated at not picking up all three points, they'll be grateful not to have suffered the same fate as their close rivals Milan who were beaten 2-1 at home by newly-promoted Bologna.

Despite the appearance of new boys Flamini, Zambrotta and Ronaldinho as well as the returning Shevchenko, it was the 2007-08 Serie B runners-up that took the lead through Marco di Vaio after 18 minutes. Yet Ronaldinho was not to be overshadowed and it was he that crossed the ball for Ambrosini to head home just before half time.

The Brazilian continued to have a major impact on the game, setting up several unconverted chances for his team-mates but it was Bologna who found the breakthrough eleven minutes from the end thanks to a tremendous 25-yard strike from Francesco Valiani.

Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti put the result down to bad luck and didn't seem unduly bothered about his team's fortunes in the coming weeks, saying: "I'm optimistic, we were unlucky... We could have been more compact and together but from a physical perspective we couldn't have done any more than that."

Elsewhere, 2007/08 runners-up Roma had to settle for a 1-1 draw at home to Napoli. Alberto Aquilani put the home side ahead after half an hour and Mirko Vucinic should have made it 2-0 at the end of the first half when he missed an easy chance that was saved by Gennaro Iezzo.

Roma, who were without Totti and Perrotta through injury, continued to pile on the pressure in the second half, but the visitors had upped their game too. On 55 minutes, Slovakian Marek Hamsik finished off a goalmouth scramble following a corner to equalise just a minute after Napoli had Fabiano Santacroce sent off for a second bookable offence. Roma, however, were unable to score from any of their remaining attacks on the opposing goal and the game ended 1-1.

There were differing fortunes for the two remaining promoted teams that came up with Bologna. Serie B champions Chievo started well with a 2-1 home win over a Reggina side that only narrowly avoided relegation last season, while Lecce suffered a heavy 3-0 loss on their travels to Torino. Catania were another team that only just avoided the drop last time around, but they began their new campaign well with a 1-0 victory over Genoa.

Juventus caught the eye last year, finishing third and qualifying for the Champions League via the qualifiers, but they struggled to beat Fiorentina who finished last season just one place below them in the table and finished their game yesterday afternoon with only ten men.

Claudio Ranieri's black-and-whites were without David Trezeguet, Giorgio Chiellini, Cristiano Zanetti and Momo Sissoko to name but four, yet they opened the scoring through a 39th minute tap-in by Pavel Nedved despite some early pressure by the visitors.

Fiorentina looked sloppy for a while and looked the more inferior side, but they soon turned things around and had Juve on the back foot for much of the game. They had to wait, however, until 70 seconds from the end for an equaliser which came from some skilful play by Alberto Gilardino. It was disappointing for the home fans, but they, like their counterparts look set to have plenty to cheer about during the remainder of the season both at home and in Europe.

The top scorers this weekend were Lazio, 4-1 winners away to Cagliari. Two of their goals came from Argentinean striker Mauro Zarate and all four came in the last half an hour after fellow Argentine Joaquín Larrivey had put the home side 1-0 up after 32 minutes.

In other news from this weekend's games, Atalanta picked up a 1-0 over Siena while Udinese captain Antonio Di Natale scored two of his side's goals in a 3-1 win at home to Palermo.

That means Lazio lead the table on goals scored after one game ahead of Torino in second place. Udinese and Bologna lead the chasing pack while Lecce suffer the indignity of lying bottom, below Cagliari (19th) and Palermo (18th).