Rubin Kazan won their first ever championship on their 50th anniversary - albeit amidst minor rumbles of "championship fixing" - and they did so in dramatic fashion. It was always in the cards, they've won it with three games left due to a solid ten point cushion, but three goals in the final 15 set [. Click to continue reading...

If you've looked at the tables across Europe, you might find yourself doing double takes to make sure that is the name you saw up there above everyone else. And chances are you were correct the first time. Big money is taking a backseat to good football, intelligent strategy and shrewd business moves. Click to continue reading...

Andrei Arshavin's the now, but the future is fast approaching for the Russian National Team with 18 year old Alan Dzagoev on a meteoric rise. I'd bookmarked a video last week as a reminder to write something up and, of course, I forgot. So Alan took it upon himself to remind me today by scoring [...] Click to continue reading...

Two clubs who put up vastly different performances and perhaps equally undeserved results in the Champions League walked out of their domestic fixtures with "Well whaddya think of us now?" plastered all over their faces this weekend. Barca were a large disappointment in Ukraine for about 87 minutes until Leo Messi & karma took over; though [. Click to continue reading...

Week 22 FK Zenit Petersburg vs CSKA Moscow are meeting FK Zenit Petersburg vs CSKA Moscow in the 22nd round in the Russian Premier League sunday 21st. Pre-register at the NEW football site 11×2 today Don`t forget to sign up 11×2.com - the next big football site WATCH THE MATCH LIVE HERE! Click to continue reading...

UEFA Cup champs Zenit St. Petersburg just made the single biggest splash of the summer transfer window by putting down an insane €30m for one Danny Alves, also making him the first player to break the €30m mark this summer. I know what you're thinking: who the hell is this guy and why is he [...] Click to continue reading...

Andrei Arshavin, like Cristiano Ronaldo, Rafinha and Lionel Messi (since freed by his captors), is a slave. Held against his will by his rich vodka-drinking owners and forced to do unthinkable things like play football for millions of dollars and take cheesy glamour photos in a photo booth at a St. Petersburg mall. Click to continue reading...

"The season after next we will have three teams in the Champions League." So spoke Russia's sports minister, Vitaly Mutko.

An Observer piece titled "The Russians are coming" follows up on a story that I have been following closely (see here and here): the re-emergence of quality football at both the club and national levels in Eastern Europe. Click to continue reading...

According to the good people at European Football Statistics, here are the top 10 European leagues in terms of average attendance for the current season:

1). German Bundesliga - 39,644
2). English Premiership - 33,990
3). Spanish Primera Liga - 29,673
4). French Ligue 1 - 21,895
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