By L.E. Eisenmenger - BOSTON, MA (Nov 18, 2009) USSoccerPlayers -- The Los Angeles Galaxy and Real Salt Lake didn't kick into high gear until the end of the season, but it's no real surprise they meet in the MLS Cup final. The combinations of players, coaches, stadiums, and marketing show these clubs built ships to survive bad weather and win races. Click to continue reading...

After some dramatic final round and playoff matches, the footballing nations which will grace the stadiums in South Africa are now complete. France, though should be feeling very sheepish as they cheated their way into South Africa.
No one would've expected Thierry Henry to do a "mini-Maradona" but unfortunately, footballers will always try to gain an advantage whether legally or illegally. Click to continue reading...

By Walter Broeckx As Tony recently wrote an article about some terrible grounds in the UK I must say that one of my favourite things during the holidays is going to stadiums. I usually take a tour when I can and so I have seen some fine stadiums in the world. Most grounds in Holland are [...] Click to continue reading...

For ranking methodology and other information about the series, see the original post. To read the about the No. 7-rated stadium, the Camp Nou in Barcelona, click here. To see all "soccer mecca" entries click here.
No. 6 Estadio Bernabeu, Madrid
Open since: 1947
Capacity: 80,000
Tenant(s): Real Madrid
World Cup hosts: 1982
We have now had two stadiums in Argentina (Bombonera at No. Click to continue reading...

Just as the football at the 2010 World Cup will be great, someone will make lots of money. It is not going to be local businesses for sure. This excellent 13 minute short documentary ("Trademark 2010″) for Dutch TV channel, VPRO, covers the fantasy that local people–small businesspeople, informal traders–will make money or get jobs during the tournament.

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After viewing photographs in The Guardian last week about the greatest number of league grounds that can be seen on a single train trip in Great Britain, the feature got me thinking about my life growing up in Wales.

From as far back as I can remember, I always loved traveling.

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Is there any reason why the ACL final is played in Tokyo? Beyond the fact probably that they bid the most, they provide most of the sponsors, they are the best organisers and the wives of the senior officials can enjoys a few days shopping in Japan.
But beyond that and in footballing terms why is the final there? Click to continue reading...

Stuart Holden and Sean Franklin set to battle things out this weekend. (Getty Images)

It seems like every year we get a big upset in the playoffs, and 2009 was no different. Thursday night in Columbus we saw Real Salt Lake go into Crew Stadium and shock the league with their 3-2 upset of the Crew, sending them through to the conference finals.

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Liverpool will brush off the controversy over England's top clubs selling naming rights to their stadiums and chase the most expensive naming rights deal in the history of sport. Despite the recession, the Merseyside club's hierarchy are convinced they can raise a mammoth £250m by persuading a leading global firm to buy the rights to name Liverpool's proposed ground. Click to continue reading...

Money makes the world go round, the world go round...

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LIVERPOOL will brush off the controversy over England's top clubs selling naming rights to their stadiums and chase the most expensive naming rights deal in the history of sport.

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This week saw the news that Chelsea have joined Newcastle United in openly stating that they are considering selling the naming rights to one of England's  most established stadiums.

Opening myself to accusations of being overdramatic I believe that if today's announcement to tinker with the name of Stamford Bridge for commercial rights goes ahead it will be one of the biggest events in the clubs history.

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Sport companies and clubs have, in living memory certainly, always gone hand in hand with advertising. Formula 1 has given much wide- spread criticised publicity to cigarette companies on the sides to their big red engines, cricket players are sponsored by airlines and football teams are sponsored by companies by all walks of life.

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It seems that the US as a soccer community takes a bit of a beating over the exploits of American owners who dip their toes into English waters; while Randy Lerner has managed to keep Villa fans...

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People living in poverty near Soccer City stadium outside Johannesburg battle police during anti-World Cup protests. Local residents demand houses rather than world-class stadiums.
Recommended reading: Ashwin Desai's The Poors and this article.

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Football has changed immeasurably over the past ten or twenty years and, with it, Chelsea Football Club. Fans no longer exclusively hail from the Kings Road, South West London or Surrey. Since Roman Abramovich bought the club in particular, Chelsea has drawn increased interest from all over the world with blue shirts appearing on pretty much every continent.

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Football has changed immeasurably over the past ten or twenty years and, with it, Chelsea Football Club. Fans no longer exclusively hail from the Kings Road, South West London or Surrey. Since Roman Abramovich bought the club in particular, Chelsea has drawn increased interest from all over the world with blue shirts appearing on pretty much every continent.

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Many have taken the piss out of the atmosphere at the Emirates in the past. They did about Highbury too. But they can't deny that it wasn't a wall of noise on Saturday against the Spuds!
It was electric and a right smack in the face for those who have a dig about us Gooners being the silent type. Click to continue reading...

The boys applaud a dazzling barrage of Chelsea Goals this week, and review the Bolton 4 + 4, and preview the Atletico Madrid and Man Utd games. Plus more songs in "We're out to show the world the way to sing!", "Dear Mart" and "You're on CFFC".
We discuss the two 4-0 wins against Bolton this week, and praise Chelsea's flowing attacking football, as well as awarding our Man of the Match, Guinness and Celery Moments and quite possibly Chant of the match. Click to continue reading...

The old Empire Stadium in Vancouver.

Here's some interesting news about Vancouver's expansion bid that most may not know of yet. They will have to play in two different stadiums in their first year in Major League Soccer in 2011. The Vancouver Sun is reporting today that due to the renovations to BC Place the expansion Whitecaps (or whatever they will be called) will also play an unknown number of home games at a temporary facility on the old Empire Stadium.

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Deep Cuts took a brief hiatus yesterday, for a couple of different reasons: one, I was forced to do The Man's bidding with no real break, and two, the Internet failed to deliver anything of real...

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Jimmy Conrad and Josh Wolff lead the way in 2009 for Kansas City. (WVH Photo Correspondent Brian Stevens)

The bandwagon was getting bigger for this club going into 2009. Many folks had hoped this was the year the Kansas City Wizards would get over the hump and make a big splash in the eastern conference.

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Some fantastic images of the new stadium put out in the last few days. Also announced was the inclusion of a single tier stand to rival the Kop at Anfield as Tottenham attempt to create one of 'the best atmospheric stadiums in Europe'.
The proposed moving dates have also been released to the public with Daniel Levy stating that Spurs will be playing in the their new, as yet unnamed, stadium by 2012. Click to continue reading...

After years in coaching in Spain and now England, it seems Fabio Capello has turned on his Italian compatriots...or at least is now far enough away to not fear a violent attack from the ultras. At an seminar organized by the Italian FA about the state of calcio, Capello is quoted as saying:

"It's the ultras who give the orders in Italy.

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Gertrude was not thrilled with the news!

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JOHANNESBURG South African traditional leaders plan to perform ritual animal slaughters to bless stadiums for the 2010 World Cup tournament ahead of the start of the showcase event next June, they said on Friday.

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First, a question: Does the United States need a national soccer stadium? The answer, without hesitation, is "no". America is bursting at the seams with stadiums, many purposely built with soccer...

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Here's a story that slipped by us over the weekend Serbian President Boris Tadic (pictured above, center) was charged by police last Friday for allegedly breaking an anti-hooligan law barring the sale or consumption of alcohol in stadiums.

Tadic and other officials reportedly popped bottles of champagne in their VIP lounge at Red Star Belgrade stadium following Serbia's World Cup qualification clinching victory of Romania.

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A glut of stadium-related news has hit the American soccer scene in recent weeks; from Baltimore potentially getting into the DC United business to the glory of grass, professional soccer facilities...

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Courtesy of OregonLive through WVHooligan comes an update on the Portland MLS efforts: Timbers owner Merritt Paulson is talking tough about a potential stadium deal with the city of Beaverton for his...

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If you could pick any 20 teams to be in the Premier League, which clubs would you pick and why?

To make it harder, you can only pick clubs from the Premier League, Football League and non-league football. And, to make it fun, you can select teams from the Scottish Premier League too, if you like.

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We here at Black Cloud Brigade headquarters feel it's important for potential recruits to understand exactly what it means to be a part of the BCB. So to help further educate our potential recruits, we offer this short mission statement to outline the goals and views of this elite group.
The BCB reserves the right edit this mission statement as it sees fit. Click to continue reading...

You might notice the cheeky slight change to our weekly stadium feature's name we've pluralised it as we are looking at more than one this week. We feature the renderings for the four new, impressive stadiums being built in Angola for the African Cup of Nations 2010, to be held in January.

Luanda
Capacity: 40,000
Stadium name: Estádio Cidade Universitária

Rendering of Estádio Cidade Universitária, Luanda's stadium under construction for the 2010 African Cup of Nations

Benguela
Stadium Name: Complexo da Sr.

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There is a delicious sense of the absurd in the way Don Garber has gone about his MLS business in the last few days, almost like a Steven Colbert satirizing the moronic "ideas" market of the Blatter/Warner contingent in order to expose football's upper echelon time-wasters for what they are.
First, we had Garber telling European clubs that MLS could be a model for wage sharing on the continent, the equivalent of asking the Germans to slow down on the Autobahn or the French to "clean up those unions so everything can run better in the country and there'd be less strikes and stuff. Click to continue reading...

As the pitch was besieged with red-hot flares and racist monkey noises during Saturday's Ukraine v England match, there was a third menace, literally flying under the radar with its threat of gliding danger. That threat?

Paper planes.

Says David James:

"They were big flares, granted, but you could argue that someone throwing a paper aeroplane on the pitch might take someone's eye out.

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Boston Pro Soccer Examiner L.E. Eisenmenger has a Vancouver stadium update, courtesy of her interview with Vancouver Whitecaps president Bob Lenarduzzi. BC Place won't only get a roof, he says, it...

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MLS explores playing indoors to shift schedule:

"Perhaps we have to start thinking about roofed stadiums at some point. But do we have to have a fan base that is developed enough to be immune to the weather, like they do for American football where they will come out to watch a game regardless of the climate?

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