We' re very pleased to announce [drumroll please....] the launch of Forums Offside. We love (most of) the discussion that happen in The Offside and World Cup Blog community and think that a forum is an excellent and logical way to help that community grow further. So Forums Offside is exactly what it sounds like. Click to continue reading...

Something to read while your bank changes your password... Rapids leave their mark on Bryan Namoff (Behind the Badge) C-Ron to Real move back on? (Marca) Old Firm debut for Edu? (Rangers Offside) Shteve von McKlaijren's Dutch accshent ish back (101 Great Goals) Philly's MLS stadium, take a look (Yanks Soccer) Welcome back to Europe Old Lady (mCalcio) Senderos joins the rossoneri [. Click to continue reading...

The final 32 clubs who will partake in this year's Champions League campaign have qualified and are all set for tomorrow's draw - set somewhere in Europe which is easy for Michele Platini to travel to (oh it's in Monaco, how nice). And though the qualifying stages are a bit Champions League Lite, they still [. Click to continue reading...

The latest addition to The Offside is Pikum!, where you can pit your predicting skills against fellow football fans. If you're in the UK then you can put money on your picks, but if not you can still get involved for Pikles and bragging rights. Because here's how Pikum! is very different to gambling: All Pikum! Click to continue reading...

Credit goes where credit is due: FC Bunyodkor is not fucking around. Earlier in the summer you may remember they'd announced they had signed Samuel Eto'o on a six month contract, who went along with the ruse and even flew out to Uzbekistan for the royal treatment at the club's facilities before hunkering back to [. Click to continue reading...

We've decided we're going to buy a football team. Maybe a random club in Turkmenistan or something. Somewhere that we can truly start from scratch, and there, we're going to assemble a team with the sole task of gifting Champions League football to superstars currently resigned to UEFA Cup action. Finally time to do some [. Click to continue reading...

Liverpool's commercial director Ian Ayre is confident the club will feel the financial benefit of competing in the new Superleague Formula series.

The Superleague Formula is a motor sport series consisting of 17 teams all driving identical 750 brake horsepower cars, carrying football club branding. Click to continue reading...

Bless 101 Great Goals, for they do find us some fantastically odd strikes. Like this one. It's from the Campeonato Brasileiro Série B, where Avaí keeper Eduardo Martini kicks from his hands, launching a long one upfield. That long one got even longer when it bounced straight over the Parana keeper and in. Click to continue reading...

According to this Wikipedia entry, Fox Sports World, now Fox Soccer Channel (FSC), launched in late 1997. This was the beginning, as far as I know, of the current availability of decent Football programming in the US. I got the channel about 2 years after its launch, and from that time, it's had great coverage of England's Premier League - Arsenal and Manchester United in particular. 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...

(First half highlights above, second half after the jump.) It was "only" the Super Cup, but it's impossible not to think of this as a demoralizing, crushing blow for Valencia, and as a warning served to the rest of La Liga from Real Madrid. Yes, they've won the last two titles, but this was an absolutely [. Click to continue reading...

Stuff to read while you get arrested for not paying your library fines....... An interview with Cesc. (Guardian) Perhaps Africa's talent doesn't begin and end on the pitch. (Reuters Soccer Blogs) Two weekends on, parity ahead in the prem? (EPL Talk) "Don't Hassle the Hoff-enheim". (The Bundesliga Blog) Sheva heads back home to Milan. Click to continue reading...

In continuing with the theme of cool ass videos, the credit for this one goes completely to the player himself (and maybe a bit to the video editing team at Marseille). If you don't quite know who he is, Lorik Cana is a defense mid and captain for both Marseille and Albania. He's also a [...] Click to continue reading...

Much of the talk surrounding the Three Lions this week was focused on the positioning of Steven Gerrard (not unlike the discussion at Liverpool last year). Fabio Capello put him out on the left (supposedly), which was met by scores of criticism from people who know a lot less about football than Don Fabio. Click to continue reading...

Unless you happen to be a really big fan of a player or his club, chances are you don't get too excited about footballer autobiographies. Some are still very good, yes, but most are just a bunch of stories about lockerroom bustups and threesomes involving Kieron Dyer and Rio Ferdinand. But Ian Rush, he of [. Click to continue reading...

This a fantastic little video made by curious people in Edinburgh to see how the masses react to over a dozen unattended footballs left on the street. One which they should repeat many times over. In fact, they should do one in every major European city to see who steals them the fastest, making them [. Click to continue reading...

(Pardon the mess on the photos, spilled some garbage on them this morning.) This is one of today's Shocking! News! Stories!. That's Dimitar Berbatov at an airport signing a jersey. Guess what club it is...yup, you guessed it. I wonder if this would've made the press were it any other jersey but Manchester United. Click to continue reading...

Stuff to read while you give birth to your own grandchild....... The miracle that is Darijo Srna. (Guardian Unlimited) Does Fabio need an umbrella too? (101 Great Goals) A fantastic puzzle to waste away the work hours. (The Spoiler) Silvestre to Arsenal is being being digested very slowly. (Arsenal Offside) Cesc has his credit cards rejected; obviously needs a bigger [. Click to continue reading...

A couple weeks ago Andrei Arshavin's agent went on a bit of a tirade, joining the masses suffering from skewed perception and labeled his client a "slave". We all know Andrei, just like Cristiano Ronaldo, is not a slave - it was simply agent speak, more commonly known as "bullshit" - but we didn't know [. Click to continue reading...

Let's just say at this point in his career, the only way Mikael Silvestre could've generated more press attention is if he was found nude doing lines off Fergie's ass with a transsexual rodeo clown down a dark Mancunian alley. Thankfully for us - and especially the good people of Manchester's alleys - he's decided [. Click to continue reading...

And here we go: Sheva to Milan is back on. Again. After the early summer speculation and "imminent" move (the press does love that word), everything fell apart. Until now, as it seems Big Phil shares the feelings of his predecessors Avram and Jose: Sheva's just not cut out for the Prem. Serie A definitely, [. Click to continue reading...

Stuff to read while your gun shop gets held up by an 11 year old....... TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, Cinderella story in the making. (SoccerLens) Did Rafa mastermind Lucas' red card in Beijing? (Liverpool Offside) Championship ain't all it's cracked up to be. (Guardian Unlimited) Liverpool's incredibly perplexing summer signing. Click to continue reading...

For Australian football's sake...go! There comes a time in everyone's career when it is time to move on...for Graham Arnold, for his own sake if no-one else's it's now.

Arnie has had two Campaigns, an Asia Cup and an Olympic campaign, where he was the Coach.

Who ever gets two Campaigns to fail in World Football? Click to continue reading...

I have absolutely no evidence to back this up, but I'm guessing a second honeymoon lacks a bit of the zest and flair of the first edition. Certainly was the case for Marcello Lippi today in his second debut as head coach of the Azzurri because it, uh, didn't go so well. Austria, the team [...] Click to continue reading...

Even when getting beat Iker Casillas is in perfect form. (Anders Debel Hansen/AFP/Getty Images) Click to continue reading...