SoccerBlogs

A FIFA Congress can be a rather strange experience you look around to see delegates from 47 countries walking in and out of the hall as Sepp Blatter delivers a speech about tackling corruption and the "phenomenal" growth of Asian football at the same time.

If you listened carefully, you'd be able to hear snickering as suggestions to "amendments" (issues such as using the word "shall" and "may" in the constitution) are being proposed by the Pakistani Football Federation.

Kuwait won the Gulf Cup for a record tenth time in 2010

The 2013 Gulf Cup of Nations kicks off this weekend in Bahrain with the tournament hosts getting things under way on Saturday facing off against Oman in the opening match. Defending champions Kuwait, who are hoping to win the tournament for a record extending eleventh time, will get their campaign under way on Sunday against Yemen.

Saudi Arabian football will be well represented in the quarter-finals of the AFC Champions League. Following this week's Round of 16 matches three sides from Saudi Arabia made it through to the last eight with another five teams, all hailing from different nations, � to join them in the business end of the tournament.

Asian football's two major continental tournaments have reached the knockout stages following the conclusion of the group stages this week.

The AFC Champions League is usually dominated by South Korean clubs but only two of this year's four representatives have made it through the group stage.

Russia's Under-21 team have won the CIS Cup for the second year in a row

Tournament hosts Russia emerged victorious for the second year in a row in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Cup today following a 4-2 win over arch-rivals Ukraine in St Petersburg.

The form guide going into the final suggested that Ukraine were the favourites over Russia.

Lionel Messi, seen here with the 2010 award, has won FIFA's Ballon d'Or for 2012

The 2012 FIFA Ballon d'Or ceremony has been held in Zurich with the undoubted star of the show once again being FC Barcelona and Argentina sensation Lionel Messi. He has picked up FIFA's top award for individual footballers for the third consecutive year since FIFA's World Player of the year and France Football's Ballon d'Or awards merged in 2010, and his fourth overall.

Bahrain have won the Gold Medal at the 2011 Pan Arab Games football tournament in Qatar.

Bahrain had qualified for the final by virtue of topping their group in the first stage, gaining back-to-back wins over host nation Qatar and Iraq, before eliminating Palestine in the semi-final ahead of yesterday's final match.

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.

By Andrew Crawford, writing from Shanghai

All good things have to come to an end eventually and the long shot that was Shanghai Shenhua belatedly saving their season and qualifying for the Asian Champions League is now off the table after the team was humiliated 4-2 by the high-flying Guizhou Renhe on Sunday.

Wang Dalei China's Fallen Star Begins To Shine Again is a post from: Just Football

It's not all about Drogba and Anelka in Shanghai. Just Football's man in China Andrew Crawford reports on the re-emergence of a local talent:

The Chinese Super League is down to the final three games of the 2012 season and whilst most eyes have been on the expensively acquired foreign signings now plying their trade in China, others have been watching the redemption of one of its most promising but frustrating players, Wang Dalei.

By� Andrew Crawford, writing from Shanghai.� View all letters here.

Two months into the second phase of the Shanghai Shenhua revolution, with Didier Drogba freshly installed as the team's new alpha male, the team have gone unbeaten over seven games.

He's finally gone. I'm going to have a cry now.

This saddens me

I don't know if you, like me, continued to hold onto some semblance of hope that Didier Drogba would ink a short-term deal with Chelsea this summer. Sure, the idea may no sense whatsoever as the end to last season was, well, a perfect ending to a legendary career at the club but that didn't matter.

By Andrew Crawford, writing from Shanghai

The full time whistle had barely sounded when Shanghai Shenhua's goalkeeper, Wang Dalei turned to the home fans behind him with a face of unchecked elation. Overwhelmed with relief, stalward Yu Tao fell to the ground and remained there for several minutes.

Chinese club Ghangzhou Evergrande have made a statement of intent for the year ahead by appointing former FIFA World Cup winning coach Marcello Lippi to take charge of the team.

Lippi takes over a club who are in fine health having won their maiden Chinese Super League last season and leading ten games into the current campaign with 22 out of 30 points (seven wins, one draw, two defeats), one more than nearest challengers Ghangzhou R&F.

ByShuaib Ahmed

Wolves are a fascinating species. When it comes to sustaining dominance, wolves tend to display an act of submission or 'giving in' to the dominant wolf. On the other hand, the dominant wolf, known as the alpha male, demonstrates his power by getting each and every pack member's attention.