CNN's Terry Baddoo thinks Chelsea's Didier Drogba should have been included in FIFA's team of the year.

The English Premier League may like to think it’s the biggest football league in the world, and certainly it spends the most money, but the 50,000 professional players, managers and journalists who voted for FIFA’s team of the year don’t appear to think it’s the best on the planet.

For the first time since the award was introduced, not one player from England’s top flight made the grade. Instead, the all-star team of 2010 featured six players from Barcelona, three from Inter Milan, with the other two coming from Real Madrid. Contrast that with last year, when the EPL provided five of the elite 11, and it would seem that its reputation has taken a bit of a bashing. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by: CNN World Sport Anchor, Terry Baddoo
Filed under: Football

The much-anticipated clash between neighboring Iran and Iraq was played in a half-empty stadium.

The Iran vs. Iraq game was billed as one of the highlights of the 2011 Asian Cup in Qatar. Two giants of Asian football with passionate support and a shared past that has been bloody and violent.

In anticipation of a bumper crowd, street hawkers gathered outside the remote Al Rayyan stadium, 15 miles from the capital Doha, to sell maroon vuvuzelas (the color of the Qatari flag), scarves, flags and packets of sunflower seeds. But business was surprisingly slow.

The supporters from both sides - largely ex-pat Iraqis and Iranians living in Doha mixed with several who had flown in from as far as Shiraz, Tehran, Oslo and London - were loud and vociferous outside the ground, chanting their teams' names as they entered the stadium. But inside, a different picture was painted. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by: CNN Digital Sports Writer, James Montague
Filed under: Football

Should Babel be free to Tweet about issues in the game?

In an age when social interaction is increasingly conducted digitally it is perhaps no wonder that superstars of the sporting world, like millions of other users around the world, are going online to convey their feelings and thoughts. But is this something that should be encouraged?

The internet is now truly global in scope and the communities that have formed around social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook number in their hundreds of millions. Communication has entered a new era where the public domain has been democratized ... and it's causing a few headaches.

Take the example of Liverpool's Dutch midfielder Ryan Babel, who currently boasts 166,000 followers to his personal Twitter account (and which, after the events of this week, are no doubt climbing). Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by: Ben Wyatt, CNN Digital Sport Producer
Filed under: Football

Roy Hodgson struggled to win over Liverpool's fans after replacing Rafael Benitez in July. (Getty Images)

So he’s gone. After just six months in charge Roy Hodgson has left Liverpool by “mutual consent.”

Mutual consent? I think not! What they really meant to say was: “Fired – you will walk alone – goodbye.”

On the day arguably England’s most successful club (a joint-record 18 league titles, five European crowns) made the announcement, Liverpool were 12th in the Premier League table and fourth points above the relegation zone. This is simply not good enough for a club of this stature at any time, least not past the halfway mark of the season. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by: Candy Reid, CNN World Sport Anchor
Filed under: Football

FIFA chief Sepp Blatter had a busy year as the boss of world football in 2010.

CNN sat down with FIFA president Sepp Blatter for an exclusive interview on January 11.

It's been a landmark year for FIFA, world football's governing body, and consequently a hectic twelve months for the organization's president Sepp Blatter.

In 2010 alone, the 74-year-old saw his long-held ambition for Africa to stage a World Cup come to fruition, while the decision over which countries would stage the 2018 and 2022 editions of the event were also settled.

A key tenet of Blatter's leadership has always been to move football into new territories, and by voting for Russia and Qatar to stage the event respectively, FIFA’s executive committee ensured new backdrops for the biggest show in world soccer for the coming years.

The Club World Cup - a FIFA-run competition for domestic sides - saw European champions Inter Milan defeat African hopefuls TP Mazembe to be crowned the planet's best by Blatter, marking a triumphant end to the year in Qatar for the Swiss administrator.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by: Ben Wyatt, CNN Digital Sport Producer
Filed under: Football

Do you agree with Candy Reid's choices? Tell us your favorite moments from 2010 below. (Getty Images)

The last 12 months have seen plenty of memorable moments, with huge sporting occasions such as the FIFA World Cup and golf's Ryder Cup providing some unforgettable moments.

Formula One provided one of the tightest drivers' championships in history, while Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer continued their epic rivalry on the tennis court.

As we wave goodbye to 2010, CNN's Candy Reid selects her top-five sporting moments of the last year.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by: Candy Reid, CNN World Sport Anchor
Filed under: World Sport Analysis

Will promising German Marko Marin follow the likes of Mesut Ozil and move onto a bigger stage? (Bongarts/Getty Images)

What do we have in common with football managers at this time of year? Well, we are all hitting the January sales looking for bargains.

When the New Year comes around, all football clubs are faced with one crucial question: To buy or not to buy? Getting in two or three different players can give teams the extra ingredients needed to push for a title or to escape relegation, but new signings can also disrupt team chemistry and cause unwanted headaches for managers at the business end of the season.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by: CNN World Sport Anchor, Pedro Pinto
Filed under: Football