cafebabel.com

Odd ode to Eric Cantona

('Andrew Burgess',) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:21:04 -0000

The Olympic Marseille football club is beginning to form a reputation as the starting block for 'wannabe presidents'. Following in the footsteps of George Weah and his candidacy for the presidency in Liberia, it’s now the turn of Eric Cantona to make his ambitions for high office known, writes one French blogger, 'ASL'

Barcelona extends football school to Warsaw

('Annie Rutherford',) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:45:00 -0000

A year away from the 2012 European football championships in Poland and Ukraine, Warsaw’s city sports director has convinced the football club Barcelona to open the club’s first European football school outside Spain. Young Polish talent will train at the ‘FCB Escola Varsovia’ from the end of October. Barcelona is giving the Poles the ‘know how’ but not the money

‘Allez Calais!’ Historic French football match replayed in theatre

('ZoeBBee',) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 11:00:00 -0000

‘Come on, Calais!’, a theatrical monologue written by the Italian journalist Osvaldo Guerrieri, tells the story of the amateur football team who played FC Nantes in the historic French cup final in 2000. It’s one in the back of the net for football, as the epic tale of the underdog takes to the stage in Paris

Fenerbahce, Besiktas, Trabzonspor: playtime over for Turkey's big football clubs

('Culturissima',) — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 18:02:06 -0000

For more than a month now a new broom has been sweeping clean the streets of Istanbul – as well as the country's football and armed forces. But who’s wielding the broom? What ‘rubbish’ are they trying to get rid of? ‘Turkey eats dirt’ is cafebabel.com's response to the summer ‘dust up’ by the Turkish authorities. Read the first of three articles in a series on the shake-up of the nation’s football

Nightlife, footie and crooning in Azerbaijan 2012: Baku calling

('hkeet',) — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 14:23:31 -0000

With Azerbaijan winning the eurovision song contest and celebrating 100 years of football with a visit from Blatter and Platini themselves, it has become clear to many Europeans that they have at best dangerous superficial knowledge of one part of Eurasia. The land-locked country in the Caucasus is approximately the equivalent in size and population to Portugal

Spanish smacker: Netherlands beaten to world cup 2010

('eurotopics',) — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:45:16 -0000

They were in the final three times, they lost three times - the Netherlands conceded the Fifa championship to La Roja, who won their first ever title on 11 July. The Spanish, Dutch, Czech and Swedish press urges politicians to learn from the harmonious play of the Spanish team: 'at least in football, Europe is on top'

From Bergamo to Laos: parkour with Gato, Italian traceur

('Jude Lister',) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 11:32:18 -0000

Federico, or 'Gato' ('Cat') as he likes to be known, is an Italian biologist. But his real passion is for parkour - or rather the art of moving, a discipline which allows man to discover his own body and its limits

Cornershop: 'musicians might as well hand their credit cards over to the man on the street'

('Tim Mac an Airchinnigh',) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 12:00:00 -0000

Northern English indie band Cornershop give us a talking to about Swiss minarets, metal music and releasing their comeback album - it's been seven years! - cheaply via their website

A Spanish Señorita at the Super Bowl: 'The best part? The adverts!'

('Darren Thompson',) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:54:19 -0000

The greatest event in American football has little cause to envy its European counterparts: showbiz steals the limelight from sport, seconds are worth a fortune, and tapas are replaced by nachos with cheese. The opinion of a Spanish girl in the States

Photos: parkour from Paris to Rome

('Nabeelah Shabbir',) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 07:15:00 -0000

The urban discipline, created by Frenchman David Belle in the nineties, is growing as fast as its exponents are springing over Europe’s city railings. Images taken in the Tor Bella Monaca district in Rome, during the second national Parkour.it rally

Beijing 2008: 273 Olympic medals for the EU

('Andrew Burgess',) — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 09:15:00 -0000

An Austrian commission representative has remarked that an 'EU medals table' would 'conserve EU identity' - latest update of the medals the old continent has won, against China, Russia and the US

China, superstition and sport – from monastery to NBA

('Mary Maistrello',) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 19:15:26 -0000

In this giant Asian country, even sport needs a less bureaucratic and more open model in order to be more competitive

Hosting the Olympics won't improve your life

('Catherine Neilan',) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 16:30:50 -0000

Enthusiastic as preparations may appear on the world stage, the positive economic and human rights impact of the August Olympic Games will be minimal in China

Homophobia in the Olympic games: ‘deaf discrimination’

('Nabeelah Shabbir',) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 10:30:00 -0000

The co-founder of ‘Eurogames 2008’ in Barcelona and a member of Hong Kong gay forum 'Horizons' provide a European-Chinese perspective on the gay community in sport, ahead of the Olympics on 8 August

Maurizio Crosetti: ‘Using English words in Italian is a basic lack of respect’

('Mary Maistrello',) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 12:47:14 -0000

The Turin-born sports journalist at national daily 'La Repubblica', 46, on how Europe has changed Italian journalism and a ‘provincial’ tendency to use so many English terms

€uro 2008, a global currency

('Akli Hadid',) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 06:21:44 -0000

Euro 2004 was a huge commercial success, grossing 760 million euros in income. What are the prospects for Euro 2008, whose over one million tickets have already been sold?

Italy favourites to win Euro 2008

('Andrew Burgess',) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 01:00:00 -0000

FIFA class the current world champions as favourites in the 2008 instalment of the European football championships. Some predictions on the first round challengers

Mullet

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 17:43:00 -0000

Ramon Kelvink Jr: 'there's not many of us in the world who do this job'

('Nabeelah Shabbir',) — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 00:00:00 -0000

In Liguria, north-western Italy, we come face to face with the French tight-rope walker, 35, and hear his views from above on Europe and the world

Are the winds of change blowing for Hungarian football?

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 12:00:00 -0000

Next April, UEFA’s Executive Committee will choose the host nation for Euro 2012. Hungary and Croatia are candidates in the race

Eleonora Abbagnato, shooting star

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 12:00:00 -0000

Through dedication and perseverance, this 28-year-old Sicilian has risen to the ranks of prima ballerina in the Paris Opera