The Future of Ukrainian Football – who can replace Andriy Shevchenko?

Sheva

The False Nine’s David Dodds assesses the state of the game in Ukraine and asks who can fill the shoes of the legendary Andriy Shevchenko…

Euro 2012 was a prime opportunity for Ukraine to have the international football media spotlight shined on their tantalising Premier League and the development of domestic football within it during the past couple of decades. Instead, coverage of the country was dominated by explorations, investigations and exposés of racism in their stadia. Continue reading

Can Brazil make home advantage count in 2014?

logo-copa-brasil-fifa01-entropy

With the countdown well under way for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Rory Macdowall assesses the host’s chances of winning the tournament on home soil…

On 16th July 1950 in Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana, Alcides Ghiggia completed a storming run to fire in a goal at the near post, securing a Uruguayan victory in that year’s World Cup. The goal was met with near silence in a primarily Brazilian crowd of 173,850, stunned into submission by one of the greatest upsets in football history. The loss burned in the hearts of the biggest footballing nation on the planet, their right to win thwarted by their tiny neighbour to the south.

Continue reading

Shakhtar Donetsk: When East Met West

9728_Logo

False Nine debutant, Harry Catharell-Hargreaves, charts the origins of Shakhtar Donetsk’s creation and journey that has them flourishing in the Champions League and routinely picking up the domestic honours in Ukraine…

Towards the end of the Russian Empire, vast amounts of British industrialists seized upon the unrest in the region by opening factories, mills and mines in previously hostile areas of Eastern Europe. Needing the pioneering expertise of British workers to come with them on this journey, the businessmen brought much of their workforce along. Continue reading