“English football in 2024 served up a bit of everything: stunning strikes, comical own goals, baffling errors, refereeing controversies, promotions, relegations, trophies lifted, CVs sifted and much more besides. So as 2024 draws to a close, we have decided ignore those opposed to calendar-year stats and unify all 94 teams (yes, Sutton United and Forest Green Rovers, you may no longer be in the EFL but we haven’t forgotten your efforts between January and May), even if it is only for a few hours before yet more football gets under way on New Year’s Day. You can sort the main table by games played (which includes play-off games), wins, defeats, win percentage and points per game (the latter excludes play-off games, for obvious reasons). Click on a column header to sort by that category. …”
NY Times/The Athletic
Ranking every team in England’s top four divisions based on their performance in 2024
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“… The map. The map page shows a location-map for the 20 clubs in the 2024-25 La Liga, with recently-promoted and -relegated teams noted. (Promoted in 2024: Valladolid, Leganés, Espanyol. Relegated in 2024: Cádiz, Almería, Granada.) The map also shows the 17 Autonomous Communities of Spain, and the 20 largest Spanish metropolitan areas. Those 20 largest Spanish metro-areas, with their 2018 population estimates, are listed at the top-centre of the map-page. …”
“It had been a wasteful night for 
“It has been hard to find fault with 
“This week brings up the midway point of the 2024-25 
“Welcome to The Transfer Radar. Each major tournament, The Athletic has built a scouting guide highlighting the players to watch. This winter, we are launching a new version of The Radar — one focused on transfers across 2025. We began with 25 players we expect to be of transfer interest to major clubs across Europe over the January and summer windows in 2025. As of December 19, we have added three more players we expect to be of interest. This is not to say that they will move, but based on the conversations our reporters have been having, they are players that are being talked about among recruitment departments. While most fans are focusing on the January window, clubs are already having conversations about next summer. …”
“Pep Guardiola’s list of symptoms is long and unsettling. He has trouble sleeping. He can only take light meals in the evening. On some days, he does not eat at all. He finds it difficult to read because his mind keeps wandering. He feels, at times, intensely lonely. Things can get so bad that they begin to take on a physical form: bouts of back pain, breakouts on his skin. They are not isolated to moments like the one in which the Manchester City manager finds himself trapped, when his team are locked in a tailspin he has spent the better part of two months trying and failing to halt. By his own admission, he is always like that. Guardiola cannot sleep, or eat, or relax even when things are going well at work. …”
“Was it a winning goal that never seemed on the cards or a winning goal that felt inevitable. Either way, 
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“After the high of their dramatic derby victory last Sunday, 
“Barcelona have been prepared to play with fine margins under Hansi Flick this season, but the gap at the top of La Liga — just goal difference before the visit of in-form Atletico Madrid this weekend — is starting to feel uncomfortably slim. They took 33 points from a possible 36 to start the campaign but have since won just one of their last six games in the Spanish top flight. Their 
“The #MeToo movement swept through Hollywood and fundamentally shifted the paradigm of accountability for powerful individuals accused of sexual misconduct. It ignited a global reckoning that sought repercussions for actions long shielded by status, money, and influence. The movement dampened the careers of comedians, actors, film and television producers, and executives accused of inappropriate sexual behavior and led to the criminal convictions for some high-profile figures such as Harvey Weinstein, R. Kelly, Danny Masterson, and Bill Cosby—though Cosby’s conviction was later overturned. It has also extended beyond Hollywood and seen a similar reckoning in the music industry, academia, medicine, finance, and even religious and political institutions. In the arena of sports, one of the most shocking and biggest sexual abuse scandals centered around Larry Nassar, who served as the team doctor for the United States women’s national gymnastics from 1996 to 2014. During his tenure, he exploited his position to sexually abuse hundreds of young athletes, many of whom became Olympians. …”
“A sharp, anxious intake of breath, followed by a round of applause that carries a mixture of quiet admiration and, more than anything, relief. On other occasions, it ends with supporters shaking their heads and asking why. We are talking about the crowd reaction to — and I’m borrowing this description from a colleague who is a regular at Stamford Bridge — ‘the most dangerous pass in football’. 
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“Amad scored a brilliant late winner in the Manchester derby shortly after earning the penalty that had put Ruben Amorim’s team level as 
“It was an April’s day in an era when 
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“The setting was 
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“Ruben Amorim has faced a range of clubs during his first six games as 
“The signs have long been there, pointing us towards the inevitable. And tomorrow, unopposed, 
“The 
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“Even now, 20 years on, it is a moment which takes the breath away. Steven Gerrard had no right to score the goal that he himself described as the most important of the 186 he plundered for 
“The Laws of the Game are the codified rules of 
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“David de Gea said on day one that he wanted to ‘make history’ with 
“… The accolade for the most penalties taken with a 100% success rate used to be solely held by former 
“Less talk, more action? Having stepped out of Austrian football for the first time in his career, Christian Ilzer has taken the opposite approach as he seeks to establish himself and to find his feet at Hoffenheim. Appointed to the top job little more than a week ago, the new head coach took over an alarming situation, with his new European-qualified team teetering just above a weak-looking bottom three. Yet he immediately felt that making time to chat was the best start. …”
“While they were humbled by an attack-minded Monaco on Friday evening at the Stade Louis II, as 
“… A — Paulino Alcantara Not 
“A team flying at the top of the league playing at home against a side without a win in six games brought the result you would expect, as Arne Slot’s 
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Scissors Kick 