sport
Odd ode to Eric Cantona
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'
sport, football, money, france, economy, economical crisis, housing
Barcelona extends football school to Warsaw
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
‘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
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
Ljubljana gets the luscious green light
Glance at a night-time satellite image of Europe, and you might notice that the entire continent is illuminated except for Slovenia, where a unique light pollution law was introduced in 2007. When it comes to green, the country outshines its EU neighbours. Slovenia's first ever green party successfully included environmental growth policies into the fabric of the new state on 25 June 1991. The good care of the country’s dense wealth of nature taken during its former Yugoslav era also meant that when Slovenia joined the EU in 2004, 35% of its territory was declared under the Natura 2000 programme, conserving its biodiversity. Take a bicycle south of the city, and in twenty minutes you’re in peaceful bear territory. Though Slovenia doesn’t have the same environmental problems as other European countries, other green problems can be overlooked; a heavily vehicled valley city, the capital suffers mainly from air, water and waste issues. Its citizens are notoriously active, hiking after work, ‘slacklining’ in parks or spending weekends in the surrounding forests or at the coast. Yet over the twenty years that the country has existed, the presence of a green party dwindled and green activism is slow-burning amongst its 2 million citizens, even about the country’s sole nuclear plant. From the streets to the hills which squeeze Ljubljana like a corset and the forests which tie it up like a ribbon, read the eighth edition in a 2011 monthly series, ‘Green Europe on the ground’ (Image: © Lucille Caballero/ lucillecaballero.com/)
Nightlife, footie and crooning in Azerbaijan 2012: Baku calling
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
sport, eurovision, alcohol, music, lifestyle, azerbaijan, football
Spanish smacker: Netherlands beaten to world cup 2010
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'
sport, football, world cup, netherlands, press review, spain, southern africa
From Bergamo to Laos: parkour with Gato, Italian traceur
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
sport, italy, urban dance, parkour, france, federico "gato" mazzoleni, culture calendar
Cornershop: 'musicians might as well hand their credit cards over to the man on the street'
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
sport, switzerland, bands, religion, downloads, best of cafebabel.com, music
A Spanish Señorita at the Super Bowl: 'The best part? The adverts!'
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
sport, football, advertising, united states, bar, beer, america
Poker, bandy, parkour equals 'sport'
Be they traditional, controversial or artistic, new disciplines join older cliches to fashion Europe's sporty look. We jump over and around buildings in Rome with free-running founder Sebastian Foucan, check out the scene in the Basque country and Sweden, whilst the Danes get pokerface
Beijing 2008: 273 Olympic medals for the EU
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
In this giant Asian country, even sport needs a less bureaucratic and more open model in order to be more competitive
sport, superstition, apertura, china, cina, traditions, olimpiadi
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