At the World Cup finals in South Africa next year, Adidas will celebrate forty years as the official supplier of match balls to the tournament. The company has become so intrinsically associated with the competition that it is almost impossible to imagine anybody else holding this position, but it is difficult to imagine that they will conjure anything up that is as simultaneously as modern looking and timeless as the Adidas Tango, a piece of design so flawless that it stayed in use for more than twenty years in various forms.

Real top the summer spending off at a measly quarter billion euros. Chelsea's website is the bestest in the biz. There's a chick fight in China. While a coach is nabbed on camera offering a referee some yuan. Russian football cures swine flu with whiskey. While Alessandro Rosina gets a bitter reception in the Russian summer.

Oh yes, we're back in China - and it ain't for the football. Another day, another scandal. The latest nugget comes to us from Chongqing and their Dutch coach, Arie Haan, who is quite lucky to have a job this morning, frankly. It's not an altogether rare occurrence when a coach disagrees with a penalty [.

Dutch legend Arie Haan has been banned from the sidelines for three Chinese Super League (CSL) matches after complaining about a penalty decision by offering the fourth official a wad of cash last weekend.
Haan apparently said to the official "Do you want money?" whilst waving a handful of 100 yuan ($14.

It's true. He's one of the most successful players ever from Holland. If you don't count Oranje, he probably is the most successful one. The player who used to hold that mantle was one Arie Haan. Smart. But not loved. Like Clarence. He was a wise old man, when he was