Carlos Tevez and Manchester City have become the subject of a Greek match-fixing scandal.

A Greek court is examining evidence that Manchester City's Europa League game against Greek club Aris Thessaloniki in February was the target of an illegal betting scandal.

Carlos Tevez and Manchester City have become the subject of a Greek match-fixing scandal.

A Greek court is examining evidence that Manchester City's Europa League game against Greek club Aris Thessaloniki in February was the target of an illegal betting scandal.

Eddie Johnson and MLS caused a ruckus this week with the announcement of his signing. That announcement was followed by a second in which Major League Soccer states Johnson backed out of a his verbal agreement.
The apparent hang up was that Johnson wanted more money. Steven Goff of the Washington Post reported that the two sides agreed to a salary in which he would make $175,00 (prorated) this year, $225,000 in 2012 and then $275,000 in 2013.

Ever get the impression that Freddy Adu just doesn't like Major League Soccer? The former "next-big-thing" in American soccer is now on trial with 2.Bundesliga basement dwellers Ingolstadt.
Adu has been thrown overboard by his Greek club Aris and has already been to Denmark and Switzerland in search of employment during the January transfer window.

Although it isn't the best competition to take part in, the UEFA Europa League offers Liverpool a great chance for silverware and a platform on which to build for next season.
Despite last night's draw against Sparta Prague, the Reds still have a good opportunity to progress all the way to the final should they take this competition seriously.

When I saw this video and saw it is about Boca Juniors, I thought this should be at one of the craziest and most passionate places on the planet of football, in Argentina. I directly recalled clips showing 1978 World Cup finals and the "paper rain" from the fans. I thought it must be one of the most crazy derbies or Libertadores finals.

The Major League Soccer Player Union's release of 2011 MLS player salaries contains few surprises. David Beckham and Thierry Henry are the only players who earn more than $5 million a year and only six active players make more than $1 million.
Other highlights:
-- Only eight of the 25 best-paid players (and 21 of the 50 best-paid players) are Americans.

Photo by Nick Turchiaro/ISIphotos.com

Koke's Houston Dynamo career came and went in a matter of weeks.

The Spanish striker reportedly asked to be released from his contract with the club and has left Houston, presumably to rejoin Aris in Greece -- where he starred before coming to MLS -- according to comments made on his Facebook page.

Really not sure where to start this one, but I guess Ill begin with Scocco transfer (though I'm sure most of you have heard by now). Yep, Nacho Scocco is no longer a player of AEK. And I really don't know what to say about this... literally.

Three seasons he's been with us and in during those three seasons he has left us with so many great memories: his two goals in the 4-4 Cup Final, his two goals against Oly to give us the win in Karaiskaki, his two goals (one of them being an outrageously beautiful shot, as were most of his goals) against Aris, his two goals against Vaslui, his fantastic shot against Panionios, a number of goals against PAO.

Wednesday a list of EPL players with terminated contracts, or who filled their full terms without an extension was released. The Guardian has the list arranged by team. There are names that we all expected (Marcus Hahnemann), and some may have already reached tentative agreements with new teams.

There are the occasional US National Team players like Eddie Johnson.

As the transfer window gets close, expect these transfer rumors to get wilder. Today's rumor comes from Greek sprting site Sport24 where it has a small blurb in an otherwise completely irrelevant article:

On the positive side for the management of FC Aris, after interest from the Portland MLS for Carlos Tocha that is not in the plans of the new season, was added that the Spanish Santander Rathingk for Oriol Lothano and it remains to be seen whether it will proceed.

Former American soccer prodigy Freddy Adu is signing with the Philadelphia Union, according to Soccer by Ives.

Adu hasn't been in MLS since leaving Real Salt Lake in 2007 for Portuguese giants Benfica. The 22-year-old's soccer career has been stalled because of indifference from Benfica and a failure to impress while on loan with Monaco, Belenenses and Aris.

[Photo: Gary Bogdon/ESPN]I am still trying my ass off to get the full details, but Benfica outcast Freddy Adu is auditioning with second Bundesliga survivalists Ingolstadt (who've also been linked with Kenny Cooper this week).I say 'trying' because no one at the club - and I mean, NO one - is answering a phone.

The Chicago Fire have re-signed Dasan Robinson. Frank Klopas said:

"We value Dasan's commitment to the Fire and are very excited to have him back for his sixth season with the club," said Fire Technical Director Frank Klopas. "Dasan is a hard working, versatile defender who brings a keen understanding of the game and a strong defensive mindset to our back line.

The roller coaster ride that has been AEK this season continues yet again, this time as a result of a 2-1 home loss to Aris (only the 3rd time Aris has beaten us at home).

It wasn't all bad for me personally as I felt there were some positives to take from the game including some nice football we were playing, particularly in the first half.

The Goalkeeper's Jonathan Tannenwald is reporting that Guatemalan newspaper Prensa Libre is reporting that the Union are moving to sign Carlos Ruiz.

Ruiz has allegedly ended his contract with Greek club Aris through mutual consent to sign with Philadelphia.

Rumors linking Ruiz to the Union surfaced last year as well, but no deal was ever worked out.

THESSALONIKI, Greece — Aris held Manchester City to a 0-0 draw in the last 32 of the Europa League on Tuesday, allowing the Greek team to maintain a 40-year unbeaten European home record. Man City fielded Carlos Tevez, Edin Dzeko, Mario Balotelli and David Silva in the first leg, an attacking lineup that cost more [.

Neither Aris Salonikai and Manchester City were able to take a significant stride towards the Europa League round of 16 as the first leg of their last-32 tie finished 0-0.

Both teams had their chances in an even game in Greece, but neither was able to make the decisive breakthrough and they will reconvene at the City of Manchester Stadium with the tie goalless.

Neither Aris Salonikai and Manchester City were able to take a significant stride towards the Europa League round of 16 as the first leg of their last-32 tie finished 0-0.

Both teams had their chances in an even game in Greece, but neither was able to make the decisive breakthrough and they will reconvene at the City of Manchester Stadium with the tie goalless.

MANCHESTER, England — A globe-trotting comic book character has left officials at Greek football club Aris with faces as red as his famous sweater after popping up in a spoof photo in a matchday program. Instead of using an official Manchester City team picture for the program for Tuesday's Europa League match, designers at Aris [.

MANCHESTER, England — A globe-trotting comic book character has left officials at Greek football club Aris with faces as red as his famous sweater after popping up in a spoof photo in a matchday program. Instead of using an official Manchester City team picture for the program for Tuesday's Europa League match, designers at Aris [.

MOSCOW, Russia — Sergei Ignashevich scored a late equalizer to give CSKA Moscow a 1-1 draw against PAOK Thessaloniki on Tuesday which put the Russian club through to the last 16 of the Europa League. CSKA won the first leg 1-0 away, and advanced 2-1 on aggregate. Zlatan Muslimovic put PAOK in the lead in [.

English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur has signed a 5-year equipment deal with American sportswear firm Under Armour. Spurs joins Under Armour's growing stable of sponsored professional soccer teams that currently includes German Bundesliga team Hannover 96, Estudiantes Tecos and Toluca of Mexico, Omiya Ardija of Japan, Aris Thessaloniki of Greece and Colombia's Once Caldas.

I'm going to have to classify this as a rumor, but it's worth talking about none the less.

According to The Gazetta in Greece, 27-year old Spanish striker Sergio Contreras Pardo, aka. Koke is considering €1.2 million euro move to the Dynamo. Koke currently plays for Aris of the Greek Super League and according to the article, he has asked the club to allow him to make the transfer to MLS.

Retomamos el blog después de un "descanso dominical". Para ello, iniciamos un nuevo serial de jugadores de leyenda, históricos o que marcaron un momento de la historia de este deporte. Lo hacemos hablando de Oleg Blokhin, un jugador nacido en Kiev, actual Ucrania, y antigua Unión de Repúblicas Socialistas Soviéticas (URSS).

Following the Houston Dynamo's 3-1 victory over the Vancouver Whitecaps this past Sunday, I caught a bit of Glenn Davis' post-match radio show in which he made some comments indicating he was pretty certain there would be some Dynamo roster changes before the close of the MLS transfer window. Apparently, Davis made a few other comments earlier this week that got the folks at Dynamo Theory and SBNation to start snooping around.

Following the Houston Dynamo's 3-1 victory over the Vancouver Whitecaps this past Sunday, I caught a bit of Glenn Davis' post-match radio show in which he made some comments indicating he was pretty certain there would be some Dynamo roster changes before the close of the MLS transfer window. Apparently, Davis made a few other comments earlier this week that got the folks at Dynamo Theory and SBNation to start snooping around.

It's been no surprise that the Dynamo have been looking to sign a DP for quite a while now (see Pacheco). Well, today it seems like that search is over as Houston has signed Sergio Contreras Pardo (Koke). Koke is a striker from Aris in SuperLeague Greece. In the past 5 years at Aris, he has scored 38 times in 175 appearances.

Jim Launder certainly was pleased that his Madison 56ers beat Eau Claire Aris 4-0 on Saturday night at Breese Stevens Field. Perhaps more importantly, the coach liked the way in which his players executed his plan in doing so.

With a laundry list of players out due to injury and other reasons and facing another must-win match in the National Premier Soccer League Midwest Division on Sunday, Launder laid out a strategy.

25.10.2011 - El fin de semana, por la 7º fecha de la Liga de la castigada Grecia, se jugó el clásico de Salónica entre el Aris y el PAOK (1-1) en el Estadio Kleanthis Vikelidis (Aris). Abrió la cuenta Nikos Lazaridis (´3 Aris) y empató Sakis Papazoglou (´49 PAOK).

Pint Pots as Gas Masks for the Gods of War
Aris 1-1 PAOK (23:10:11)
A ring of fire, flares, fireworks, tear-gas, an ambush.... welcome to one of the maddest places in the world to watch football, Thessaloniki. Fasten your seat belts as Graham Kenworthy takes us on an exhilarating ride.