While the marquee game of the weekend, Sunday's African Cup of Nations final between Zambia and Ivory Coast, is not being widely televised throughout the United States, there is still plenty of top-rate action to catch.

This weekend has the potential to be a landmark one for a number of Americans looking to make their mark on the European game.

São Paulo Futebol Clube, usually called São Paulo FC or just São Paulo, is one of Brazil's most successful soccer clubs with six Série A, twenty-one Campeonato Paulista, three Copa...

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.

Santos are expecting a tough battle for their teen sensation Neymar when he prepare to leaves the club in 2014. The Campeonato Paulista player of the year 2011 has consistently been linked with a move to Spain with Barcelona now emerging as his most probable destination.

In fact, reports doing the rounds suggest that the Catalan giants had already struck a preliminary agreement worth 10 million Euros to sign the star earlier than 2014.

On Sunday morning if you happen to be in Western Europe the champions of world club football will be crowned, as the final of the 2011 Club World Cup is played at the International Stadium in Yokohama between Barcelona, the current champions of Europe, and Santos of Brazil, the current champions of South America.

We wrote last week about Major League Soccer's efforts to keep the league relevant during the off season. The league is certainly making an effort in that regard with a couple of announcements today designed to keep fans interested and media reporting about the league. We'll start with big national broadcast news for the opening Major League Soccer weekend in 2012.

Santos' Victor Andrade

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16-year-old forward, Victor Andrade, has signed a three season deal with Santos. According to press reports, the player has already attracted the attention of Manchester City and Barcelona, and Santos have written in a €50 million buyout clause in Victor's contract €5 million more than they want for Neymar .

And so the career of Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima, or just plain old "Ronaldo" to the rest of us, was officially recognised in Tuesday night's Brazil versus Romania international in which the great man was allowed to play 15 minutes before saying a fond farewell to the thousands of fans who'd come to see him play in São Paulo.

2011 Campeonato Paulista (São Paulo state championship) and 2010 Copa do Brasil (Brazil Cup) winners Santos FC has unveiled its Umbro home and away kits for the 2011 season. The Umbro Santos 2011 kits were presented on Sunday before the team's 3-1 win over Avaí at the Vila Belmiro. They use under the popular Tailored [.

With the quarter-finals approaching in the Copa Libertadores each of the eight teams remaining in the competition will fancy their chances of winning the trophy.

This is due to the fact that the two traditional powers of South American football, Brazil and Argentina, whose clubs usually take up a good proportion of representation at this stage, only have two clubs between them going into the last eight of this year's tournament.

São Paulo have put an €80 million price tag on Lucas Moura. Is he worth it? Find out for yourself by tuning in to our games

In case you missed the news, Premier Sports TV is now covering our games from the Campeonato Paulista, and later this year, the Campeonato Brasileiro.

2010 Campeonato Paulista (São Paulo state championship) and Copa do Brasil (Brazil Cup) winners Santos FC has unveiled its Umbro home and away kits for the 2011 season. The Umbro Santos 2011 kits were presented on Sunday at the club's headquarters in an event featuring local rock band Aliados and under the popular Tailored by [.

Brazil the land of samba and sexy soccer brings us yet another crop of soccer babes in the form of the Gata do Paulistão 2011 competition. The competition runs concurrently with the Campeonato Paulista (São Paulo State Championship) and features female models from each of the tournament's clubs ( including giants Corinthians, Palmeiras and Sao [.

Brazil the land of samba and sexy soccer brings us yet another crop of soccer babes in the form of the Gata do Paulistão 2011 competition. The competition runs concurrently with the Campeonato Paulista (São Paulo State Championship) and features female models from each of the tournament's clubs ( including giants Corinthians, Palmeiras and Sao [.

Botafogo are the defending Carioca champions

As controversial as they are a regular feature of the Brazilian football calendar, the state championships are back in the next couple of weeks. Though derided as an unnecessary burden on teams and players alike it seems that these championships are going to remain for a long time as they are part of the country's football tradition.

Palmeiras must perform in the Paulistão or it could be goodbye to Luis Felipe Scolari

São Paulo's state Championship The Campeonato Paulista kicks off on 15th January. Big name clubs Santos, Corinthians, São Paulo and Palmeiras will once again take to the field to do battle in a competition that has been running since 1901.