I never thought I would see the day but there are increasing calls from the Inter faithful for Jose Mourinho to leave.

The self styled "special one" who won the Champions League in 2004, as well as league titles in Portugal, England and Italy, is under intense pressure as Inter's alarming European form continues to slide downwards.

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It is official: Olympiacos will remain in the game at the UEFA Champions League. It has been declared after Olympiacos defeated Anorthosis Famagusta 1 to 0o and lately falled on a 3 to 1 on aggregated to the Cypriot Champions.

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It is official: Olympiacos will remain in the game at the UEFA Champions League. It has been declared after Olympiacos defeated Anorthosis Famagusta 1 to 0o and lately falled on a 3 to 1 on aggregated to the Cypriot Champions.

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It is official: Olympiacos will remain in the game at the UEFA Champions League. It has been declared after Olympiacos defeated Anorthosis Famagusta 1 to 0o and lately falled on a 3 to 1 on aggregated to the Cypriot Champions.

Click to continue reading...

It is official: Olympiacos will remain in the game at the UEFA Champions League. It has been declared after Olympiacos defeated Anorthosis Famagusta 1 to 0o and lately falled on a 3 to 1 on aggregated to the Cypriot Champions.

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South Africa v Iraq (Group A)
Date: Sunday 14 June
Venue: Johannesburg
Kickoff: 3pm BST

The first match of the 2009 Confederations Cup sees hosts South Africa take on AFC Asian Cup champions Iraq in Johannesburg. You can watch South Africa v Iraq live here.

South Africa

Iraq qualified for this tournament by virtue of their 2007 AFC Asian Cup triumph.

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The 23-man squads for the 09 Confederations Cup are listed below for all 8 participating teams.

Group A

Iraq Confederation Cup Squad

Head coach:� Bora Milutinović

No. Pos. Player DoB (Age) Caps Goals Club 1 GK Noor Sabri 6 June 1984 (aged 25) 63 0 Al-Talaba 2 DF Mohammed Ali Karim 25 June 1986 (aged 22) 6 0 Al-Jazira 3 DF Bassim Abbas 1 July 1982 (aged 26) 60 2 Al-Talaba 4 DF Fareed Majeed 17 August 1986 (aged 22) 5 0 Al-Talaba 5 MF Nashat Akram 12 September 1984 (aged 24) 75 10 Al-Gharafa 6 MF Salih Sadir 21 August 1981 (aged 27) 47 11 Al-Ahed 7 FW Emad Mohammed 24 July 1982 (aged 26) 76 23 Sepahan 8 FW Luay Salah 7 February 1982 (aged 27) 17 3 Arbil 9 MF Abdul-Wahab Abu Al-Hail 21 December 1976 (aged 32) 67 8 Sepahan 10 FW Younis Mahmoud� (c) 2 March 1983 (aged 26) 70 28 Al-Gharafa 11 MF Hawar Mulla Mohammed 1 June 1981 (aged 28) 72 15 Anorthosis Famagusta 12 GK Mohammed Gassid 10 December 1986 (aged 22) 11 0 Al-Zawraa 13 MF Karrar Jassim 11 June 1987 (aged 22) 22 1 Al-Wakra 14 DF Salam Shakir 31 July 1986 (aged 22) 11 0 Al-Khor 15 DF Ali Rehema 8 August 1985 (aged 23) 45 1 Al-Wakra 16 DF Dara Mohammed 16 July 1987 (aged 21) 1 0 Sulaymaniyah 17 FW Alaa Abdul-Zahra 22 December 1987 (aged 21) 10 1 Al-Khor 18 MF Mahdi Karim 10 December 1983 (aged 25) 64 10 Al-Khor 19 DF Essam Yassin 11 March 1987 (aged 22) 1 0 Al-Amana 20 MF Samer Saeed 1 December 1987 (aged 21) 7 0 Al-Ahly Tripoli 21 GK Uday Taleb 6 November 1981 (aged 27) 5 0 Dohuk 22 DF Muayad Khalid 1 September 1985 (aged 23) 3 0 Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya 23 MF Halgurd Mulla Mohammed 11 March 1988 (aged 21) 5 0 Sulaymaniyah New Zealand� Confederation Cup Squad

Head coach:� Ricki Herbert

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First Qualifying Round
Draw Date: June 22, 2009
First Leg: July 2, 2009
Second Leg: July 9, 2009
Five clubs who could make it from the qualifying rounds to the group stage -- Anorthosis, KSP Polonia Warszawa, Motherwell, Rosenborg BK, and Inter Baku
Remember this name -- Bojan Vručina: 24-year-old forward at Slaven Belupo with 13 league goals last season. Click to continue reading...

Olympiacos have announced Temuri Ketsbaia will take the reigns of the Piraeus-based club, nine months after his former dwelling Anorthosis Famagusta stunned Europe by becoming the first ever Cypriot representative in the Group Stages of the Champions League – at the expense of the Greek champions.

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Rio Grande de Sol, Porto, Istanbul, Lisbon, Bolton, Ancona, Rosario, Larnaca, Newcastle – The destinations on show for Mario Jardel's career could have been easily mistaken for the jet-setting antics of an affluent tycoon, but such has been the geographical scope of his profession that it pays perfect testiment to the life and times of the ultimate journeyman. Click to continue reading...

"Panathinaikos' win is absolutely deserved. People may say they were lucky but I don't agree. After that performance we don't deserve to go through. We must be angry with ourselves."
Jose Mourinho surprisingly philosophical over Inter Milan's defeat to Panathinaikos, the first in their European campaign this season. Click to continue reading...

Not bad for Italian teams in the Champions League this week: 2 wins, 2 draws. Roma and Juventus have to be ecstatic after their victories, while Fiorentina after their draw with Bayern at home can't say the same. Inter drew away to Anorthosis, but are still top of the group so they can't really complain but they can't be very happy either.

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Cyprus's most famous and supported club AC Omonia will look to take home advantage despite being tagged as the underdogs. Omonia finished last season 3rd behind APOEL and Anorthosis Famagusta, the former also participating in the UEFA Cup and the latter having the prestigious honour of being the first Cypriot representative in the Champions League Group Stage. Click to continue reading...

European heavyweights Liverpool, FC Barcelona, Chelsea and Inter Milan opened their Champions League campaigns with victories Tuesday. But the most striking results on the first night of the group stage came from the competition's newcomers on the road, with Romanian team CFR Cluj upsetting AS Roma 2-1 and Anorthosis Famagusta of Cyprus holding Werder Bremen 0-0. Click to continue reading...

Monday 15 September
20.00 Tottenham Hotspur v Aston Villa, Premier League, Setanta Sports 1
Spurs' first win of the season isn't too far away. It might not be tonight though. Should be a good contest between two well-matched sides.
Tuesday 16 September
19.45 Chelsea v Bordeaux, UEFA Champions League Group A, ITV4
A first chance for most viewers to see Laurent Blanc's Bordeaux variety which is said to be entertaining and non-uncompromising-centre-half like. Click to continue reading...

As European's elite begin preparation for another season of shocks, surprises and the inevitable media-circus around Jose Mourinho's long-awaited return to the Champions League, two of the leading performers have already stolen the show by making history. The heroes and villains of Champions League football usually arise as the latter stages progress, but Anorthosis Famagusta and FC BATE have already acclaimed success by remarkably reaching the Group Stages for the very first time. Click to continue reading...

The UEFA Champions League draw was rolled out Thursday, and Uncle Phil should be fairly pleased with the outcome. Chelsea, the No. 1 overall seed in this year's draw (that's right, bitch), was drawn into Group A along with Serie A runner-up AS Roma, Frenchies Bordeaux and CL debutants CFR Cluj (Romania).

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A: Chelsea, Roma, Bordeaux, Cluj B: Internazionale, Werder Bremen, Panathinaikos, Anorthosis Famagusta C: Barcelona, Sporting Lisbon, Basel, Shaktar Donesk D: Liverpool, PSV Eindhoven, Marseille, Atlético Madrid E: Man Utd, Villarreal, Celtic, Aalborg BK F: Lyon, Bayern Munich, Steaua Bucharest, Fiorentina G: Arsenal, Porto, Fenerbahce, Dynamo Kiev H: Real Madrid, Juventus, Zenit St Petersburg, FC BATE Borisov Click to continue reading...

Four clubs surprised the pundits by pulling off impressive victories against higher ranked outfits. Based on current rankings:

• Anorthosis Famagusta (ranked 193) defeated Olympiacos (ranked 44)
• FC BATE Borisov (unranked) defeated Levski Sofia (ranked 80)
• Atlético Madrid (ranked 67) defeated Schalke 04 (ranked 22)
• Dynamo Kyiv (ranked 74) defeated Spartak Moscow (ranked 61)

FC BATE from Belarus and Anorthosis from Cyprus are the first clubs from their perspective countries to ever qualify for the UEFA Champions League.

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Because what is more exciting than previewing ping-pong balls. The pots and my thoughts are after the jump. Here are the pots: Pot one MANCHESTER UNITED CHELSEA LIVERPOOL Barcelona ARSENAL Lyon Inter Milan Real Madrid Pot two Bayern Munich PSV Eindhoven Villarreal AS Roma FC Porto Werder Bremen Sporting Lisbon Juventus Pot three Marseille Zenit St Petersburg Steaua Bucharest Panathinaikos Bordeaux CELTIC Basel Fenerbahce Pot four Shakhtar Donetsk Fiorentina Atletico Madrid Dynamo Kiev CFR Cluj Aalborg Anorthosis Famagusta Bate Borisov From a purely Arsenal perspective, I can't believe how [. Click to continue reading...

Temuri Ketsbaia of the newly recognized (by Russia only) independent nation Abkhazia or, if you believe the rest of the world, from Georgia, has led a minion of European football into the CL. Anorthosis Famagusta are champions of Cyprus, a title they have won twice under Ketsbaia's leadership. Ketsbaia first joined them as a player in [. Click to continue reading...

The Dutchman saved Liverpool from penalty shootout drama with a goal in the 118th minute at Anfield to put the Reds through.
Here are the other qualifiers, that include Barcelona and Juve from yesterday:
BATE Borisov, Shakhtar Donetsk, AaB, Marseille, Dynamo Kiev, Anorthosis Famagusta, Fiorentina, Steaua Bucuresti, Arsenal, Fenerbahce, FC Basel, Atlético Madrid. Click to continue reading...

The final 32 clubs who will partake in this year's Champions League campaign have qualified and are all set for tomorrow's draw - set somewhere in Europe which is easy for Michele Platini to travel to (oh it's in Monaco, how nice). And though the qualifying stages are a bit Champions League Lite, they still [. Click to continue reading...

This article compares AEK to an English Premiership team.  That's almost as funny as this! Click to continue reading...

Anorthosis Famagusta - Olympiakos Vitoria de Guimarães - FC Basel Shaktar Donetsk - Dinamo Zagreb FC Schalke 04 - Atlético Madrid AaB Aalborg - FBK Kaunas Barcelona - Wisła Kraków Levski Sofia - BATE Borisov Standard Liege - Liverpool Partizan Belgrade - Fenerbahçe FC Twente - Arsenal Spartak Moscow - Dynamo Kiev Juventus - Artmedia Petralka Brann Bergen - Marseille Fiorentina - Slavia Prague Galatasaray - Steaua Bucharest Panathinaikos - Sparta Prague Matches are August 12/13 and 26/27. Click to continue reading...

Ventspils 2-1 Brann Bergen (2-2 agg)FBK Kaunas 2-1 Rangers (2-1 agg)Partizan Belgrade 2-0 Inter Baku (3-1 agg)Dynamo Kiev 2-2 Drogheda United (4-3 agg)Artmedia Petralka 4-2 Tampere United (7-3 agg)Sparta Prague 2-0 Sherif Tiraspol (3-0 agg)Modriča 1-2 AaB Aalborg (1-7 agg)Wisła Kraków 5-0 Beitar Jerusalem (6-2 agg)MTK Budapest 0-5 Fenerbahçe (0-7 agg)Basel 4-2 IFK Göteborg (5-3 agg)BATE Borisov 2-2 Anderlecht (4-3 agg)Rapid Wien 3-1 Anorthosis Famagusta (3-4 agg)Dinamo Zagreb 3-2 Domale (6-2 agg)Dinamo Tbilisi 0-0 Panathinaikos (0-3) Click to continue reading...

Alex is off on vacation and I've been busy at work, on my amatuer team AEK Baltimore (three games in three days) and nursing a nasty case of Athletic Pubalgia, so we've let the blog slide a few days. My apologies. The news has really started to pile up. AEK destroyed Turkish-side Ancaragucu on Sunday in Austria. Click to continue reading...

Today's press coverage of AEK's release of Dellas here and here. Press coverage of his move to Cypriot champions Anorthosis Famagusta here, here and here. Click to continue reading...

By 1970's Gooner So the 6-1 win that Spurs managed against the minnows of Cyprus, Anorthosis Famagusta, in the first round first leg tie at White Hart Lane last Thursday was not all down to good play. Or even the weaknesses inherent in a team that has a budget which is about one hundredth that of Spurs. A lot of the inept display by one of the Cypriot's sides players was down to the Click to continue reading...