Shoe Wars: Champions League Style

Around the world shoe companies are battling to grab attention of consumers. One way that they do that is by supplying uniforms to teams and in soccer that is no different. The Champions League Round  of 16 is a who's who of shoe companies.

A breakdown below: 

Paris Saint-Germain vs Chelsea: Nike vs. Adidas

Manchester City vs Barcelona: Nike vs. Nike

Bayer Leverkusen vs Atletico Madrid: Adidas vs. Nike

Juventus vs Borussia Dortmund: Nike vs. Puma

Schalke 04 vs Real Madrid: Adidas vs. Adidas

Shakhtar Donetsk vs Bayern Munich: Nike vs. Adidas

Arsenal vs Monaco: Puma vs. Nike

Basle vs Porto: Adidas vs. Warrior  

Nike has seven  of the 16 teams including an all Nike game in  Barca vs. Manchester City.  Adidas has six including an all Adidas match up of Schalke vs. Real Madrid. Also this years Round of 16 marks the first time that Warrior has had a club make the knock out round.

Is Porto really the best run club in Europe

They win trophies, they make a profit on most transfers. Could Porto be the best run club in Europe. You really can make that point and the people at Smash Report make that exact point . 

"The method is very simple to follow,'' the story says. "They scout young talent, sign them at a good reasonable price, develop them and finally sell them at a huge sum of amount. It more like seems an easy procedure but has a lot of problems which can go against their favor as well."

Who could lie with them. Besides making a profit with the selling of players the Portuguese power have also made 15 million euros by letting managers move on. They are printing money and trophies. 

Find your favorite club

Awesome photo of soccer crest from all over the world. Where is your favorite.

These kids are valuable

An interesting list of the 30 best young players in the world of soccer, put together by Futebol Finance. Very interesting to see the value of some of the players.

Please make it stop

Over the last couple of years, sports and pop cultural have become more and more intertwined.
Today was no different, when I was watching the Porto game on ESPN3 at the half the PA at the stadium was playing "California Gurls" by Katy Perry. This is a soccer game not a dance club, but why should I be surprised any more.
A couple of months ago, I ranted about girls and their cell phones at baseball games, but if stadiums are going to do this then I guess its fair game to all. So I guess a sporting event is not a sporting event, even games in the Portuguese Super League.
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Maybe its time

With Rangers getting closer and closer to almost becoming Leeds United, maybe its time for both Celtic and Rangers to run away from the Scottish Premier League and head for greener pastures. Rangers 's club's bankers Lloyds are owed £30million by the end of the campaign. With a TV contract that is nothing to celebrate the only way that they maybe be able to meet the payment is to sell half of the first team. Maybe its time that both clubs look for a new idea to generate revenue, something like the North Atlantic Soccer League.

The league, which has been rumored for sometimes, would include top teams from the Netherlands, Belgium, Scotland, Portugal and Scandinavia. The league would almost be like a smaller version of the Champions League.

The league would create some interest all of Europe. Traditional powers like Porto, Celtic, Rangers, Ajax, PSV would bring large fan bases and large of amounts of money to a league that would be interesting to watch. Under my proposal the 20 team league would consist of Rangers, Celtic, Sporting Lisbon, Porto, Benfica, Ajax, PSV, Feyenoord, Standard Liege, Anderlecht, Malmo, Gotenberg, Brondby, HJK, and eight other teams to developed from a playoff.

Some think the creation of the league would kill the leagues in Portugal, Scotland, and Belgium, but that does not have to happen, if UEFA decides to give out spots in the Champions League to the winners of the leagues that are left behind and give a spot to the winner of the proposed North Atlantic League, it might all workout in the end.

Sure it might not be the best idea to soccer purist but its only a matter of time before something like this happens and before we turn our backs on the idea we have to look at what the impact will be and if UEFA handle it correctly it could be a win win for everyone involved.