The 2012 African Cup of Nations begins this weekend with two host nations, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, which have such a limited record in this competition. The former has never qualified for an African Cup of Nations before and will be an unknown quantity to most observers of this year's tournament whilst the latter have competed in just four previous tournaments and have only progressed beyond the group stage on just one occasion when reaching the last eight in 1996.

The KNVB Beker (Dutch Cup) clash between Ajax Amsterdam and AZ Alkmaar, which was suspended due to an attack on AZ keeper Esteban Alvarado in the initial encounter, was completed today in the Amsterdam ArenA with the home side going down to a 3-2 defeat.

Siem de Jong gave Ajax the lead as early as the 10th minute only for the visitors to restore parity fourteen minutes later through Maarten Martins.

It's that time of the year again when local pride is at stake in the numerous state championships which are prevalent in the opening months of the Brazilian football calendar. From Amapá in the far north to Rio Grande do Sul in the south, from Acre in the west to Paraíba in the far east of the country, twenty seven regions of Brazil will be involved in their own local championship, mixing the big boys with the smaller village teams, with each club hoping to win their respective title and qualify for a place in next year's edition of the national cup, Copa Brazil.

David Trezeguet (front) in training for new club River Plate

Argentinian giants River Plate, who are currently playing in their country's second division following last season's shock relegation, have showed their ambition to get back into the top flight by signing former France international David Trezeguet.

Avram Grant takes over at Serbian champions Partizan

Avram Grant has taken many pundits by surprise by joining Serbian champions Partizan Belgrade as coach from today.

With fifteen games played so far this season in the Jelen SuperLiga, Partizan have a ten point lead over arch rivals Crvena Zvezda and already look set to continue their recent dominance by winning a fifth consecutive title.

Watching the FA Cup 3rd round tie between Arsenal and Leeds United on Monday evening might not have proved so entertaining if former Arsenal defender Martin Keown had not have been struck by a ball hit by a visiting Leeds player in the pre-match warm up. Keown was standing by the pitch alongside ESPN presenter Rebecca Lowe and ex-footballer Robbie Savage.

Homare Sawa and Lionel Messi won the Women's and Men's Player of the Year awards last night

FIFA's annual awards ceremony took place in Zurich last night and there weren't too many surprises as to who would come top of the main awards of the evening.

It was obvious to all of the world and his dog that Lionel Messi would come to win the Player of the Year award in 2011 following yet another truly successful twelve months with his club FC Barcelona.

Wayne Rooney celebrates as Manchester United win at neighbours City

The FA Cup third round saw very few shocks this weekend but did see some interesting results and a bit of controversy along the way.

In the tie of the round cup holders Manchester City lost in the derby match against record holders Manchester United by three goals to two.

Marco Reus, the rising star in the German Bundesliga having helped Borussia Mönchengladbach to a respectable fourth place during the winter break, will be leaving the club at the end of the season to play for Borussia Dortmund.

It was announced today on Mönchengladbach's website that the player will remain at the club for the 2011-12 season before signing a five year deal with the current German champions Dortmund for a transfer fee of 17,5 million Euros.

On Monday I knew that I could wake up and forget about work for at least another 24 hours as it was a public holiday. Therefore I decided that I would go to a football ground in my home city that I'd been meaning to go to for quite some time.

The Arriva Stadium, at one time known as Rossett Park before the ground was sponsored by the Arriva bus company, is the home of Marine AFC and lies in the outer Liverpool suburb of Crosby.

First of all I should start this piece by wishing everybody a happy new year! I've been enjoying myself over the Christmas holiday and have neglected the blog over the last few days so I need to rectify this, starting off with a piece regarding the new Emperor's Cup winners in Japan.

FC Tokyo have done an unlikely league and cup double in Japan following their 4-2 triumph over Kyoto Sanga in last Sunday's Emperor's Cup final.