Yalla! The football stars of the future are on display in Israel - and they’re lighting up the UEFA Under-21 Championship in style.

Having spent the past week in Tel Aviv covering the tournament for CNN, it’s given me a great opportunity to take a look at some of the top prospects coming through onto the international stage.

Some of the biggest names in the game have forged their reputations at this tournament and I’ve picked out a few “ones to watch” following the opening week’s action. I'd also love to hear who has caught your eye. Any player born on or after January 1, 1990 is eligible to play in the tournament, which is held every two years.

While Spain and Netherlands have both looked hugely impressive in the group stage, Italy have also cruised through their opening fixtures.

iReport: Are you in Israel at the U21 tournament?

The “Azzurrini” have plenty of talent to choose from but it is Napoli’s Lorenzo Insigne who has stood out for me.

At 22, with the bad-boy haircut and a whole host of tattoos, the Naples-born starlet looks every inch the part - but where he differs is that he produces.

Against England, he ran defenders ragged before popping up with the winner.

The ball appears to be tied to his laces, he moves so effortlessly and his awareness is at a different level when it comes to decision making.

New Napoli boss Rafa Benitez has inherited an absolute gem in Insigne, who should he continue at this rate of progress, will surely go on to greater things.

Another player who has wowed the masses is the mercurial talent that is Isco.

Spain’s insistence on its top, young players taking part in this tournament has led to its national side dominating in recent years. It’s hardly a coincidence.

Bayern Munich’s Javi Martinez and Chelsea star Juan Mata shone for La Roja at this tournament in 2011. The likes of David De Gea, already a regular with Manchester United, Thiago Alcantara at Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao’s Iker Munian are already household names across Europe.

Isco, who shot to prominence during Malaga’s run to the quarterfinals of the Champions League, is seemingly destined to follow coach Manuel Pellegrini to Manchester City before the start of next season.

His eye for goal, exquisite first touch and ability to thread passes through the eye of a needle make him one of the most exciting talents in European football.

But it’s the performances of Real Sociedad's holding midfielder Asier Illarramendi which has got tongues wagging. His defensive positioning, especially in the opening 1-0 win over Russia, was sublime - as was his passing, which allowed Spain to move from back to front in rapid fashion.

By snuffing out attacks and shielding the defense, Illarramendi eased the pressure on his team before taking it upon himself to get Spain moving forward with devastating passing accuracy.

At 23, he is already being compared to Barcelona’s Sergio Busquets and, with Sociedad having qualified for next season’s Champions League, don’t be surprised to see a number of “bigger” clubs linked with Illarramendi.

The only team which appears ready to challenge the Spanish is the Netherlands, which has also won its first two games of the competition.

Should soccer boycott Israel's European Championship?

Midfielders Adam Maher and Leroy Fer have both furthered their cases for big-money moves, while forward Georginio Wijnaldum looks a class act in the making.

But Manchester United target Kevin Strootman is the one to watch. With 18 senior caps to his name and the captain’s armband, Strootman looks mature beyond his years.

At 23, he has progressed from a box-to-box midfielder at Sparta Rotterdam to a deep-lying playmaker at PSV Eindhoven. His vision and passing ability is at a level rarely seen in someone so young and he would easily adapt to the physical nature of the English Premier League.

One team which has really flown under the radar is Norway, which trounced England 3-1 in some style.

A solid defense and the goalscoring nous of Marcus Pedersen has seen the Norwegians all but qualify for the semifinals.

“He’s so big and strong, difficult to defend against,” one coach said of Pedersen. “He knows where the goal is and he’ll go back to playing in Holland next year with Vitesse after a year on loan in Denmark. Next season, there will be a lot of people talking about this guy.”

Harmeet Singh, Valon Berisha, Harvard Nordveit are all promising talents, while there is a lot of excitement over 19-year-old winger Havard Nielsen.

It’s difficult to see this tournament finishing without a Spain vs. Netherlands final - although Italy, with the likes of Insigne and Marco Verratti could run both countries close.

But which players have you enjoyed watching? Who has caught your eye? Make sure you join the discussion below and enjoy the rest of the tournament.

Alex Ferguson is a master of the post-match interview, but you have to wonder if he has maybe overstepped the mark this time.

The veteran Manchester United manager furiously demanded that the English football authorities take action after his star striker Robin van Persie was hit on the head by a fiercely struck ball when he was lying prone on the pitch during Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Swansea.

“He could have been killed,” raged the Scot in an interview with British match broadcaster Sky Sports.

The subject of Fergie’s ire, Swansea’s Welsh defender Ashley Williams, was booked by the referee along with Van Persie after the Dutchman leapt angrily from the ground to confront his alleged attacker.

Ferguson called for Williams to be banned “for a long time” after committing “the most dangerous thing I've seen on a football field for many years.”

This accusation, from a man both feared and respected by journalists around the world, went unquestioned at the time – but Swansea’s kit man wasn’t having any of it.

Michael Eames took to Twitter after the match and pointed out that Ferguson – who famously hit his own player David Beckham in the face with a boot – should not be throwing stones from inside a glass house.

“Ferguson v Beckham (just a bruise) Cantona v fan (slight overreaction) Keane v Haaland (innocent mistake) Williams v RvP (attempted murder)” he wrote.

Eric Cantona, one of Ferguson’s most influential signings, was banned for nine months for launching a flying karate kick at a Crystal Palace fan after being sent off during a match in 1995.

Then there’s former United captain Roy Keane, who admitted that he purposefully tried to injure Manchester City opponent Alf-Inge Haaland in a match in 2001 as retaliation for comments the Norwegian made about him almost four years previously.

Williams insists that he did not intend to strike the ball at Van Persie’s head, that he was just kicking the ball away in frustration. Because the referee’s whistle had already blown, that in itself was a bookable offense.

United striker Wayne Rooney also played down the incident.

"I think it's one of those things," he said. "The whistle's gone, the defender has gone to clear and it's hit him in the head. I think probably the right decision from the referee."

Williams has copped abuse from angry United fans on Twitter – as has one woman in the U.S. who shares his name.

Ashley Williams, a lawyer who lives in Springfield, Missouri, went to the trouble of posting a split picture of their two faces.

“Yes, the resemblance is uncanny, really,” she wrote.

The incident has already split opinion among CNN readers.

“I think Ferguson's actions were right …If the ball wasn't there, he could have probably ended in the hospital!” wrote Eucamon.

Mark Milligan responded: “VP is a drama queen and so is Fergie.”

What do you think? Was Ferguson’s reaction justified? Or was he just trying to deflect attention from a disappointing result that meant his team was left with a four-point league lead rather than six?

One of Ferguson’s Premier League colleagues believes that the matter will blow over.

"He genuinely felt that, I should think, at the time. You do. If one of your players gets hurt or you think he was in danger, you are going to protect him,” said Alan Pardew, whose Newcastle team travel to United's Old Trafford on Wednesday.

"I think the one with Van Persie was perhaps not as bad as Alex at first imagined. Sometimes from the sideline, it looks a lot worse at the time.”

When Lionel Messi collided with Benfica goalkeeper Artur on Wednesday, the football world held its breath.

Introduced as a late substitute in the European Champions League tie, the Barcelona star left the field on a stretcher. Fans across the globe wondered if fate had put paid to Messi’s attempt to score the most goals in a calendar year.

The Catalan club later announced Messi, who has netted 84 goals for club and country in 2012, had bruised his left knee and, while he may miss Sunday’s match with Real Betis, he should be back to full fitness shortly.

After the Betis match, Barcelona have just two more league matches this year – at home to Atletico Madrid and away to Real Valladolid.

The assessment of his knee injury was good news for Messi, but bad news for Gerd Muller. Messi is chasing the German’s world record of 85 goals in a year, which has stood for four decades.

Muller began his Bayern Munich career with the team outside of the German top flight and ended it as a three-time European Cup winner following a golden age for the club. The unassuming goalscorer was a world champion with Germany in 1974 and also a Euro 1972 winner.

The fearsome striker, nicknamed “Der Bomber”, played in a Germany team led by fellow Bayern great Franz “Der Kaiser” Beckenbauer, nicknames that hint at a society still affected by two World Wars.

Muller and Beckenbauer helped usher in a bright new dawn for Bayern and an unprecedented level of dominance.

The Bavarians won three successive German titles between 1972 and 1974 and were crowned champions of Europe in 1974, 1975 and 1976, with Muller’s goals the ammunition used to gun down opponents.

“When I was a youngster and wasn’t sure what to do with the ball, I looked to get it to Gerd and he always managed to do something with it,” Muller’s former teammate and current Bayern president Uli Hoeness recently told the club’s official website.

Muller scored 68 times in 62 matches for Germany, including the winner which secured his country the 1974 World Cup final against the Netherlands.

For Bayern, he notched scored 365 goals in 427 Bundesliga fixtures - including 42 league goals in that landmark year.

It is an extraordinary goalscoring record, even more so given the back pass rule was not in operation, the offside rule had yet to be amended, while referees arguably offered players less protection than they receive nowadays.

While Messi has amassed his total largely thanks to slalom runs finished with chips and flicks, Muller plundered his tally as a poacher who operated inside the penalty box and finished with clinical precision.

“You can’t learn it,” said Muller as he analysed the art of the striker. “You’ve got to have an instinct for it. You’ve got to be able to react quickly and shoot with both feet.”

Although different in playing style, to the casual observer Messi and Muller have more than immense talent in common.

Messi, who seems to reluctantly occupy the limelight, has been typically low key when asked about the record. Similarly CNN was informed by Bayern that Muller had decided a long time ago not to do any media work.

"As I keep on saying, the record is not an obsession for me," Messi told a press conference. "I've heard my teammates saying they are going to help me beat the record, but all of the goals I've scored are down to their help.

"I'm not worried about it. It would be very nice to do it because I am so close. If I do it I hope I can hold onto the record for as long as Muller but it doesn't worry me.

"If I can do it, great, if I can't it's no big deal. But now I am so close I'm going to go for it."

By contrast, Muller’s refusal to embrace celebrity could perhaps be explained by personal demons.

In the early 1990s, after his playing career had come to an end with a spell in the now-defunct North American Soccer League, he battled to overcome alcohol problems.

Rather than pursuing a career within football’s corridors of power like so many of his contemporaries, Muller works as an assistant coach for Bayern’s second team - which finished 12th in the German fourth tier last season.

Unspectacular surroundings for someone named by FIFA as the greatest goalscorer of all time in 2000, but probably just the way Muller likes it.

"Gerd can work for as long as he wants," said Hoeness. "He doesn’t need a contract. As long as he wants to come to the training ground then he can work for us.”

And you suspect that just as there will be no whooping and hollering from Messi if he successfully overhauls Muller’s 1972 tally, there won’t be any tears shed by the man who has silently stood unrivalled for 40 years.

When UEFA president Michel Platini declared any footballer who left the pitch as a result of racial abuse would be yellow carded, he set a dangerous precedent.

Platini, head of European football’s governing body and speaking ahead of June’s Euro 2012 tournament, was placing the emphasis on soccer’s referees to tackle an issue which has plagued the sport over the last 12 months.

The Frenchman declared match officials had the authority to halt a match and they would decide when discriminatory chants or behavior had reached unacceptable levels.

However, despite racist abuse being reported at matches during the tournament in Poland and Ukraine, no match was abandoned.

Likewise monkey chanting, Hitler salutes and anti-Semitic abuse have been reported at a number of matches in the intervening five months, but no referee has brought a match to a premature close.

Sunday’s English Premier League match between Tottenham and West Ham United was the latest in a litany of racial abuse scandals which have plagued soccer over the last 12 months.

“We'd like to see a proactive stance on this,” chairman of the Association of Black Lawyers Peter Herbert told CNN. “A vigorous approach, prosecute where possible, ban people from grounds and if incidents like that do happen, call a halt to the game.

“There is a UEFA rule which is never used where a referee can call off the game. That's the sort of initiative which has to happen.

“Do you want to watch a football game or do you want to listen to this abuse?”

So why has no referee ordered players off the pitch? And why are football’s lawmakers not taking a tougher stance against racism?

Italian team Lazio were last month fined $52,000 after their fans chanted racial abuse at Tottenham players, while the Croatian FA was hit with a $103,000 sanction after their supporters abused Italian striker Mario Balotelli at Euro 2012.

But both those punishments were less than the £126,000 fine handed to Denmark’s Nicklas Bendtner for displaying a bookmaker's name on his underwear in a guerrilla marketing stunt.

Increasing fines might encourage national associations to take a greater interest in the conduct of their own fans, but would it tackle the root of the problem?

Surely the long-term solution lies in educating fans, though changing outdated attitudes takes time, so a more immediate deterrent is also required.

Life-time bans like the one swiftly issued by West Ham to a season-ticket holder involved in Sunday’s events are a start.

If discriminatory offences persist, the docking of points and the banning of teams is the only way to make an impact.

Perhaps this is unfair, punishing a football club and the majority of its fans for the acts of a mindless minority.

But the minority, despite being rightly distanced from those whose behavior at football matches is exemplary, are still football fans.

They are emotionally invested in the fortunes of their football club.

In this instance, a points deduction for West Ham might be the only way to make these fans realize the gravity of their offensive chants.

Only when these fans realise their actions are hurting their own club will discriminatory abuse cease.

Why Rafael Benitez? A question asked by many upon learning Liverpool’s former manager would replace the axed Roberto Di Matteo as interim Chelsea manager.

But when the Spaniard’s haul of titles across Europe is examined it begs the question, why not? And when a list of viable and available candidates is also surveyed, who else?

Chelsea’s Russian owner Roman Abramovich may dream of luring Josep Guardiola, the architect of Barcelona’s recent dominance of European football, to Stamford Bridge, but the Catalan is intent on completing his year-long soccer sabbatical.

Two more potential Chelsea targets are already firmly entrenched in other jobs. Despite the stated intention of Real Madrid’s Jose Mourinho, the most successful manager in Chelsea’s history, to return to the Premier League he is unlikely to leave the Bernabeu any time soon.

It is a similar story with Borussia Dortmund’s Jurgen Klopp. The German coach’s young side are blazing a trail through the Champions League and he must surely have reservations about working for the notoriously trigger-happy Abramovich.

Just as the Russian did when he fired Andre Villas-Boas in March, Abramovich now finds himself shopping in the sales, trying to find the best fit to provide a short-term fix.

And in the bargain basement who is better than Benitez?

True, his stock has fallen considerably since he masterminded Liverpool’s incredible, implausible Champions League triumph against AC Milan in 2005.

Despite having league titles and European successes on his CV, he has failed to establish himself at another club since being ousted by the Anfield board in 2010.

A disastrous spell as Jose Mourinho’s successor at Inter Milan followed immediately after his Liverpool exit. It ended abruptly in December 2010, just six months after he stepped through the door at the San Siro.

The intervening two years have seen Benitez linked with a host of jobs across the continent, but none came to pass - until now.

Eight years have elapsed since Benitez guided Valencia to their second Spanish league title in just three seasons.

Benitez’s Valencia, who also won the UEFA Cup in 2004, remain the only the team this century to have broken Real Madrid and Barcelona’s stranglehold on the Spanish league title.

Though his departure from Valencia - “"I asked for a table and they bought me a lampshade" – did signal his unnerving ability to fall out with the board members he worked under at the various clubs he has coached.

The following season he led an unspectacular Liverpool team to the ultimate European triumph, overcoming Mourinho’s Chelsea at the semifinal stage.

While Di Matteo was roundly condemned for his strategy during Tuesday’s 3-0 defeat to Juventus - which leaves Chelsea facing the prospect of becoming the first Champions League winners to exit at the group stage of the next tournament - Benitez has repeatedly proved himself capable of sending out teams to achieve results on the big stage.

His half-time decision to introduce defensive midfielder Dietmar Hamann in that Istanbul final against AC Milan proved a masterstroke.

The German nullified the previously rampageous Kaka and Liverpool overturned a three-goal deficit before winning a nerve-wrenching penalty shootout.

As he said of Liverpool’s unlikely European exploits: “The management of 180 minutes, the tactical preparation needed to overcome opponents expected to beat us.”

Benitez will also be working with a Chelsea squad which is the envy of most clubs in the world.

Brazilian playmaker Oscar, the effervescent Eden Hazard and the sublime Juan Mata are among the game’s top talents, while Benitez will hope he can return Fernando Torres to the scoring form he enjoyed under his tutelage at Liverpool.

And Torres’ exploits between now and the end of the season could decide both his and his new manager’s fate.

If Benitez, whose faith in Torres helped him become one the world’s most feared strikers, can’t bring the best out of the world and European champion, would Abramovich finally cut his losses where the Spanish striker is concerned?

It will take more than former glories and tactical nous to convince a Chelsea fanbase angered by the treatment of Di Matteo and disappointed with another short-term appointment.

The vast majority of Stamford Bridge’s faithful remember Benitez as the man who led Liverpool during three ill-tempered Champions League semifinals between the teams in 2005, 2007 and 2008.

And it is not just Chelsea’s fans who will need reminding of Benitez’s worth. During his spell with Liverpool he endured a fraught relationship with the English media.

Benitez’s defensive attitude was epitomized by one press conference in January 2009 when he unleashed a list of “facts” which he claimed proved the fixture list favored Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United.

The “Spanish waiter” tag which many surrounding the English game have cruelly attached to Benitez will take some removing.

But while this may represent his last chance in one of Europe’s top jobs, risking criticism and vitriol, the situation for Benitez is win-win.

A future with Chelsea seems unlikely, with Guardiola casting a long shadow from his Stateside holiday home. This would seem to rule out the possibility of Benitez strengthening his new squad in January.

But at worst, it is a short-term experiment guaranteed to swell his bank balance.

At best, it offers Benitez’s the chance to show prospective employers why he once ruled European football.

And what better way to start than with a win over Premier League leaders Manchester City on Sunday?

When Lionel Messi declared this week, at the relatively young age of 25, that he wants to spend the rest of his career at Barcelona, it provided an insight  as to why the Spanish club has dominated world football in recent years.

A hot favorite to be named the world's best player for an unprecedented fourth time in January, Messi has already won every title that Barca have competed for - surely at some stage you'd think he'd like a new challenge?

Compare his stance to that of his biggest rival Cristiano Ronaldo, whose future at Real Madrid seems constantly under speculation - not least because of the Portugal star's comments earlier this season that he felt "sad" at the Bernabeu. The latest rumor is that he and his manager Jose Mourinho will join big-spending French club Paris Saint-Germain.

Messi has the football world at his feet, but he is happy to remain at a club where he moved from Argentina as a boy blessed with undoubted talent - but held back by a slight body that required growth hormone treatment if he was to make the grade.

He is not the only player so committed to the Nou Camp. The club's famed La Masia academy has produced a conveyor belt of talent that has helped win three Champions League crowns in the last six years, plus four Spanish titles.

Victor Valdes, Carles Puyol, Xavi and Andres Iniesta were either in the starting XI or among the substitutes on each occasion for the European triumphs of 2006, 2009 and 2011, while Messi, Gerard Pique, Pedro and Bojan Krkic (now of AC Milan) featured in the latter two.

Add to that octet the 24-year-old Sergio Busquets - who like Xavi, Iniesta, Pique and Valdes was in Spain's victorious 2010 World Cup and 2012 European Championship squads - plus a new generation of La Masia graduates and you have a core of homegrown talent throughout the squad.

With such conviction from their star player Messi and such continuity in personnel, it begs the question – is loyalty the most potent weapon in Barca’s considerable arsenal?

The list of nominations for the 2012 Ballon d’Or suggests the answer is yes. Messi, Iniesta, Xavi, Piquet and Busquets are all in the 23-man shortlist. 

Consistency has even been maintained in the dugout, with former assistant Tito Vilanova taking over when all-conquering coach Josep Guardiola ended his trophy-laden four-year reign at the end of last season.

Its a club where loyalty swings both ways - many coaching and administrative appointments are made from within the Barca family. Guardiola joined as a 12-year-old and spent more than a decade there as a senior player before finally moving overseas.

The familiarity which exists between the squad could also go some way to explaining why some big-name recruits have struggled to settle at Barca.

Samuel Eto’o may have scored for Barca in the 2006 and 2009 Champions League finals but, despite his undoubted talent, Guardiola was eager to ship out the reputedly disruptive Cameroonian, which he did in a swap deal with Inter Milan in 2009.

In exchange for Eto’o and a reported €46 million, Barca received the equally mercurial Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The Swede is another undisputedly world-class goalscorer who was jettisoned from the Camp Nou after just one year in the famous scarlet and blue shirt.

Recent arrivals in the Barca dressing room who have succeeded include Pique, Cesc Fabregas, David Villa and Jordi Alba. It is not hard to see why.

Pique and Fabregas both rejoined their childhood club after attending finishing school in England with Manchester United and Arsenal respectively, while Villa has played alongside many of the Barca team in Spain's national team and Alba recovered from being released from the youth ranks in 2005 to make his name at Valencia.

Barca’s stability is at odds with archrivals Real Madrid, whose policy has been to buy up the world's biggest names and create a stable of "Galacticos" - and their coaches don't have much time to bring success.

Since missing out on the title in 2005, Real have been through seven coaches compared to Barca’s three, collecting just four trophies in that time: three league crowns and one Copa del Rey.

Last season Mourinho delivered Real's first La Liga title in four years, but now finds his team eight points behind Barca after only nine matches amid reports of dressing-room discontent.

The prize Real crave above all others is a record-extending 10th European crown, and first since 2002. In Mourinho, they have a coach with proven pedigree - he is seeking to become the first to win the Champions League with three different clubs - but his task has not been helped by constant reports of a split between the Portuguese and Spanish players in his camp.

If Real are to achieve their ultimate goal, they could do worse than than following the Barca blueprint.

With the Olympics afterglow now starting to fade, football is stepping back into the breach to fill the sporting public’s thirst for entertainment.

The big question has been, in Britain at least, whether the positive vibes created by the buzz of athletes giving their all for victory will survive now that the focus has returned to a group whose behaviors have generally been decidedly more questionable.

An Olympian who trips at the last hurdle is usually applauded for having a go, but spoilt millionaires whose off-field indiscretions are regularly reported in the tabloid press don’t get much sympathy when they writhe around on the pitch trying to con match officials.

In fact, a recent report suggests that footballers may have more in common with another particularly reviled - and yet also highly envied - section of society: Bankers.

While high-flyers in the financial sector have long been getting year-on-year pay rises much greater than the average workers they employ, it has not gone unnoticed that men who kick leather about a pitch have also become estranged from the fans who pay to watch them.

Since the English Premier League started in 1992, its stars’ pay packets have apparently ballooned by 1,508% - compared to a 186% rise for the average UK worker. Is it any coincidence that the Premier League is sponsored by a bank?

A study by think-tank High Pay Center revealed that the prices supporters pay to watch top-flight English matches have gone up by more than 1,000%.

While once you could have got into a Liverpool game for £4, the cheapest seats are now £45 ($70). At Arsenal, which has upgraded stadiums in that time, it’s gone from £5 to £51 ($80).

Meanwhile, player wages now make up 70% of clubs’ turnover as opposed to 48% in 1997. It’s little wonder that teams are increasingly in debt.

"Bankers and company executives frequently make the comparison between their own pay and that of professional footballers,” says High Pay Center chairman Nick Isles.

"There are similarities. For both the pay is extremely high, excessively complex and in many cases, secret. In football as in business, the money could be better invested in training and infrastructure, rather than unsustainable salary increases.”

Needless to say, a lot of Olympic tickets weren’t cheap. Or even available, it seemed. And much of London 2012 was subsidised by taxpayers. But the wholehearted support of the athletes taking part seemed a far cry from the abuse and chants – some of it admittedly more amusing than not – that regularly features in football grounds.

Whether that’s a reflection of the difference between the people in attendance, or a reflection on the nature of the competitors, it’s hard to say. But the only abuse I recall from London 2012 was aimed at Uruguay’s Liverpool star Luis Suarez during the football tournament. The striker was booed every time he touched the ball at Wembley, no doubt related to his eight-game ban for racially abusing an opponent last season.

But obviously any such criticism doesn’t apply across the football board. For every Winston Bogarde raking in £2 million ($3.15 million) a season for not playing at Chelsea – as the Dutchman managed for three whole years – there are many more honest players plying their trade every week.

Secret footballer reveals life inside EPL

And many do give something back. Craig Bellamy might be best known for threatening a former Liverpool teammate with a golf club, but the Team GB striker has set up a children’s charity in Sierra Leone with a significant investment of his own money.

The players’ salaries may be mind-boggling, especially to Manchester City’s accounting team, but everyone has to make a living - and who would turn down such sums?

Like the bankers and company bosses who greedily pocket ever-growing remuneration packages, top footballers can hold out for bigger and bigger pay packets because the money is seemingly on tap.

While broadcasters such as Sky pay billions for coverage rights, and fans keep filling the stadiums, the trend is not likely to end even as the rest of the world tightens its belt.

Though the revolution against fat-cat bankers has apparently started, as customers take their accounts to smaller institutions with less history of money-laundering and fixing loan rates, it remains to be seen how the football public will vote.

The opening weekend of the Spanish and English seasons has left London 2012 behind a bit, seeming now to be a cloud of warm fuzzies rather than the all-encompassing excitement it provided at the time.

But the John Terry race case is yet unresolved as far as the English Football Association is concerned, despite the Chelsea captain being cleared in a court of law, and there is plenty of time for footballers to get back on the front pages with their extra-marital affairs, nightclub antics and lighting of fires in their bathrooms.

Already Arsenal’s Brazil international Andre Santos has been arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving – having been caught speeding the day before the London club’s EPL opener.

Hopefully there will be plenty of moments of magic on the pitch too, otherwise it’s going to be a long season ahead - and many people may just decide to spend their hard-earned cash elsewhere.

Just as you can change banks if you want, the power is there to not renew that expensive satellite TV subscription or maybe go watch your local lower league team instead.

Maybe then clubs will start thinking twice about spending hundreds of thousands of dollars a week on just one player.

While it’s unlikely that Europe’s new financial fairplay rules will have too much effect, as big clubs will always find a way to get around them, mass action from the lifeblood of the game – the fans who fund it – could actually make a difference.

While the soccer world sharpens its hyperbole for Wednesday’s European Champions League semifinal first leg between Chelsea and Barcelona, another arguably more important match will take place on the other side of the world between two teams from two troubled countries.

In the neutral environment of the United Arab Emirates, the Egyptian national team – led by former U.S. coach Bob Bradley – will take on Iraq, a side now being marshaled by Brazilian legend Zico. There will be few column inches to elucidate the result.

 The friendly game will give both teams an opportunity to test themselves before June’s busy schedule of 2014 World Cup qualifiers. Iraq has impressed under Zico, winning its Asian qualification group and reaching the final round of qualifiers. A handful of games were even played on home soil as Iraqi football, for the first time in almost three decades, tasted some semblance of normality.

Bradley, on the other hand, has been operating in a chaotic post-revolutionary environment. Almost as soon as he took the job last year, Egypt's former president Hosni Mubarak was ousted in a bloody uprising in which Egypt’s football ultras – politically minded, organized groups of fans – played a crucial role.

The league was suspended before finally being canceled after February’s Port Said tragedy, where 74 Al Ahly fans were killed after a league match against home team Al Masry.

Many of Bradley’s best players were on the pitch that day and saw death close up. With no league and his squad’s most important players traumatized by what they had witnessed, football seemed to be the least of Egypt’s worries.

Yet Bradley has transformed the national team’s fortunes over the past two months, organizing training camp after training camp to knock his players into shape while navigating the choppy political waters in a country where some still view an American in charge of the national team as bordering on sacrilegious.

After the Pharaohs beat Mauritania 3-0 last weekend, Bradley’s record stands as played eight, won six, drawn one, lost one. The single loss was against Brazil last year.

When I met Bradley in Cairo in February, he spoke passionately and eruditely about the political problems in the country, his love of Egypt, his new life in Cairo and the soul searching that the Port Said tragedy had provoked.

But he also spoke about how the game could be a genuine force for good while politicians squabble for relevance in post-Mubarak Egypt. As several candidates were excluded by Egypt’s Electoral Commission ahead of a historic, if fraught, presidential election, the national team has been quietly building momentum using a squad drawn from across Egypt’s social spectrum.

And for Bradley, qualification for the 2014 World Cup – the first time arguably Africa’s greatest team of the past two decades would qualify for the finals since Italia '90 – would be the game’s own important contribution to Egypt’s revolution.

The 54-year-old doesn’t have to look far past his next opponents for proof of the power that football can have on a country struggling to find itself. In 2007 I spent a week with the Iraqi national team as they trained in Jordan, in exile, in preparation for the Asian Cup – the region’s equivalent of the European Championships.

Under threat of assassination, as hundreds were being slaughtered back home every day, a united team made up of Sunni, Shia and Kurdish players somehow won the continent’s top competition even as celebrating football fans were being targeted by insurgent suicide bombers.

That victory took place in Iraq’s bloodiest month. But it proved to be an apex. The Iraqi flag was seen to be proudly flown on the streets of Baghdad for the first time in years.

Psychologically it proved to a conflict-jaded country on the verge of partition that, yes, Iraq was still greater than the sum of its parts. The deaths fell after that famous victory in July, and they kept falling.

Last week Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone – under fire over the hosting of the Bahrain Grand Prix as the Gulf Kingdom tries to come to terms with its own uprising – declared that sport and politics should never be mixed. He was wrong, of course. Sport can no more exist in a separate universe from the rest of society than can art or music.

But as Iraq proved in 2007, football can succeed where politicians fail. Victory against Iraq will be noticed by few outside of the two countries. But as Bradley continues to build momentum towards Brazil 2014, the Pharaohs could yet prove to be an example that others should follow.

So Carlos Tevez has come crawling back to England, offering apologies to his club Manchester City.

Just over a week after his return to the UK - on Valentine's Day – the Argentina international has finally said sorry for going missing for the past three months, having fallen out with City manager Roberto Mancini.

It’s hard to tell exactly what has gone on behind the scenes in the past seven days at the English Premier League leaders, but Tevez now appears ready to show a commitment that he has notably lacked so far in his highly-paid stint at the Etihad Stadium.

"I wish to apologize sincerely and unreservedly to everybody I have let down and to whom my actions over the last few months have caused offense. My wish is to concentrate on playing football for Manchester City," he said in a statement released on the club’s website on Wednesday.

This is some turnaround considering that last week he told a South American TV show that he had been treated “like a dog” by Mancini when asked to continue warming up as a substitute during a European Champions League match in September. There was no apology in that interview.

Apparently the Italian had been less than polite with his words following a verbal altercation with striker Edin Dzeko, who he had just hauled off the pitch with City losing to Bayern Munich.

Mancini countered last week by saying he had treated Tevez “too well” – alluding to City’s efforts to keep the 28-year-old at the club despite his transfer request midway through last season and constant complaints of being homesick and missing his children. But he said he would give Tevez another chance if he said sorry.

And now, after failing to engineer a move to AC Milan, Inter Milan or Paris Saint-Germain during this season’s January transfer window, Tevez says he is ready to help City try to win a first English title since 1968.

In fact, he has decided not to appeal the hefty fines – reportedly almost £10 million ($15 million) in withheld wages and bonuses – that City imposed for his unauthorized absence.

He was the club’s top scorer last season and has an incredible record of 43 goals in 62 league starts for City, but does Mancini really need such a potentially disruptive influence at this vital stage of the campaign? Someone who has already shown that his first priority is himself, and the team second?

City’s title charge may have slowed in recent weeks but there is still a two-point advantage over rivals Manchester United with 13 games to go, and the squad is getting back to full strength after the Africa Cup of Nations.

Tevez’s compatriot Sergio Aguero has proved a more than capable replacement as both a goalscorer and inspiration up front, while the unpredictable Mario Balotelli – when he is not injured, suspended or sulking – is also a match-winner.

Dzeko has been less consistent but has still contributed 12 goals, even if 10 of those came before the start of December.

Given Tevez’s lack of match fitness – City reported that he will be going on a special program to remedy that situation – he might struggle to get a game anyway.

So what would you do in the position of Mancini – who last year said his former captain Tevez was finished at the club? Would you give a leopard the chance to change his spots? Or leave him in the doghouse?

If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, then football’s transfer windows are a super highway to sporting madness.

The concept of defined periods of buying and selling players has been enshrined in international law for nigh on a decade now, but every time January 31 comes around, whenever August 31 looms on the calendar … well, I don’t look forward to it with any joy.

It’s a system that’s supposed to stop big clubs with big budgets gaining an unfair advantage over smaller teams. But, unless UEFA’s new financial fair play rules are more strictly adhered to, that is plainly a nonsense in Europe at least.

Just look at last January when Chelsea forked out $80 million for Fernando Torres as the minutes ticked down to the deadline, and Liverpool reinvested some $55 million of that in unproven England striker Andy Carroll – whose previous club Newcastle then had no time to replace him.

Not only did both clubs pay over the odds for the players, but it heightened the stakes in a game where transfer fees and wages keep rising and rising. Not surprisingly, Chelsea announced on Tuesday a loss of £67.7 million ($107 million) for last season despite record turnover of £223.3 million ($350 million).

Add Manchester City’s Abu Dhabi billions – and huge operating deficit - into the equation and you have a vastly distorted transfer market.

Admittedly none of these clubs were busy buying last month, as the new financial requirements are starting to take effect, but smaller teams have been indulging in the usual last-minute frenzy - especially in England.

When you see struggling sides – such as Bolton and Queens Park Rangers in the EPL – forking out millions of dollars on far-from-top-notch targets, you have to wonder at the sanity of it all.

Quite contrary to promoting sensible transfer policies, the windows – especially the January one – encourage teams to stock up on players they can’t necessarily afford in case injuries hit in the second half of the season.

So maybe it’s time for change.

Why not have a system where all permanent transfers between clubs in the same region are completed before the season starts, then allow loans to take place at any stage when and where they are needed? Temporary deals are very restricted at the moment.

Internationally, there would have to be some flexibility.

If Real Madrid wanted to buy Neymar from Santos, then in my ideal scenario the move could only take place in between Brazilian seasons - to protect the selling club from unwanted mid-campaign approaches – but he could still join in the middle of the Spanish campaign.

There would be similar situations in countries which have a different calendar, such as Scandinavia, Russia and Ukraine - plus China and the Middle East, two places increasingly on the radar for international players.

Obviously that means there would still be one deadline day for each region, but it would take a lot of pressure off managers and players – and the accountants.

Out-of-favor footballers can these days spend months kicking their heels in the reserves waiting for the next window, especially at clubs with big squads. It was depressing, for example, to see proven internationals such as Roman Pavlyuchenko, Sebastien Bassong, Vedran Corluka and Steven Pienaar struggling to get a game for most of this season at Tottenham, the club I support, before finally being shipped out on deadline day.

Imagine how quickly the Carlos Tevez saga would have been solved if Manchester City could have shipped him out straight away (assuming a loan was agreed). The wantaway striker would by now have been at AC Milan for a couple of months, he wouldn’t have fled home to Argentina and he wouldn’t now be appealing a six-week fine for that absence.

Smaller clubs wouldn’t feel backed into a corner as the big boys try to poach their top players at cut-price rates, and the footballers themselves would have some sort of security about their future.

What do you think? Do you enjoy the buzz and hype of the transfer window, or would you prefer that clubs could sign players whenever they want? Is there a better option?