Football (Soccer) Thread

[crazy canuck]

Should have played those 5000-1 odds. Damn.

That guy who cashed in after the first game is going to beat himself up over this for the rest of his life.

[Zanza]

Tight game between Atletico and Bayern. Atletico is a nasty team.

[Josephus]

Atleti....wow.

Bayern and Barca beyond doubt best clubs in Europe. Both out.

I pick Atleti over Real in the final. Huge upset. Not Leicester upset. But pretty huge.

[Josephus]

Finally Liverpool fans have something to cheer about

[Zanza]

Kloppo for the win!

[Duque de Bragança]

Poor Platini 

Michel Platini: Uefa president to resign after ban appeal fails

Michel Platini played 72 times for France, scoring 41 goals, and was regarded as one of the best players in the world at the time
Uefa president Michel Platini will resign from European football's governing body after failing to have a six-year ban from football overturned.

A Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) panel reduced the ban to four years on Monday.

Following the judgement, the 60-year-old said he would be stepping down.

Platini and former Fifa counterpart Sepp Blatter, were last year found guilty of ethics breaches over a 2m Swiss Franc (£1.3m) "disloyal payment".

The pair, who deny wrongdoing, had their original bans reduced from eight to six years by the Fifa appeals committee.

Platini had taken his case to Cas seeking to get the ban overturned, but a three-man panel said it "was not convinced by the legitimacy of the payment".

The two said the payment in 2011 was made for consultancy work Platini had carried out for Blatter between 1998 and 2002, and that they had a "gentleman's agreement" on when the balance was settled.

The matter is also being looked into by Swiss prosecutors.

After Cas returned its judgement, Platini said in a statement: "I am resigning from my duties as Uefa president to pursue my battle in front of the Swiss courts to prove my innocence in this case."

He added that he considered the judgement "a profound injustice".

However, the Cas panel was damning of Platini, saying his "behaviour was not ethical or loyal".

It found his dealings with Blatter had breached the ethics code of world governing body Fifa, and while his six-year ban was "too severe", it decided a four-year punishment should be handed down - the equivalent to a presidential term in office.

It also said an 80,000 Swiss Franc (£57,200) fine should be lowered to 60,000 (£42,900), but stressed: "The Cas panel was of the opinion that a severe sanction could be justified in view of the superior functions carried out by Mr Platini (Fifa vice-president and Uefa president), the absence of any repentance and the impact that this matter has had on Fifa's reputation."

Uefa said it would meet on 18 May "to discuss next steps".

"In the meantime, there will be no Uefa president appointed ad interim," it added.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/36245660

[celedhring]

Those aren't good news since that puts the Spanish FA president first in line to be elected UEFA president. He wrote the book on being a corrupt kleptocrat, plus several sequels and a movie adaptation.

[Duque de Bragança]

So he's a worthy substitute for Platini, UEFA is saved!

[Josquius]

 

[FunkMonk]

Bye bye Bobby Martinez

[Duque de Bragança]

Translation:

Tack Zlatan

[Josephus]

MLS about to change its rules so Zlatan can join L.A.?

[celedhring]

 

[Josephus]

Was it ever in doubt? 

[celedhring]

Was it ever in doubt? 

When we went 4 winless in a row and fucked up an 11 point advantage, yeah.