FIFA Ballon d'Or: Who is the Best Player of 2010

By Gautam Sharma

This is the first year of the FIFA Ballon d'Or, brought about by the happy marriage of the FIFA World Player of the Year, and the Ballon d'Or of France Football. France Football has come out with the 23 player shortlist for the 2010 award. While the snub of Diego Milito from the shortlist is causing all the controversy, lets take a look at some of the most deserving candidates to win the 2010 FIFA Ballon d'Or...

White Liquid in a bottle comes from the Cow in a field

By Gautam Sharma

Is it just me, or are football analogy’s becoming increasingly bizarre? First Rafa rants about bottles of white liquid earlier this week, and then Sir Alex stares at cows in a field... what is going on?! Am I the only one who misses "intellectual prostitution"?

UEFA Coefficients Explained - Why Bundesliga will overtake Serie A this season...

By Gautam Sharma

(This article has been updated at UEFA Coefficients Explained)

This is Serie A’s last season among the top 3 "superleagues" of Europe, at least as per UEFA... few seem to admit what is almost a mathematical certainty... guys, this is inevitable. Let me explain how...

Serie A: New Kids on the Block!

By Gautam Sharma

The young revelations of Serie A so far... Five weeks in the new season, here is a list of youngsters to watch out for... these new kids are already starting to impress with their promise:

The "Mentos" Kid...

By Gautam Sharma

The amusing and amazing success story of Josip Iličić of Palermo...

Palermo vs Inter: Before, During & After....

By Gautam Sharma

A preview & analysis of the line-ups before the game, half-time thoughts, and post game reflections...

Troubled Un-edited Thoughts of a Nerazzurri...

By Gautam Sharma

Its over. The transfer market has officially closed in Italy. And Inter made no big signings. Is this time to get worried? Or even scared?? These are the ramblings of a worried Inter fan, interspersed by ramdom & unnecessary Yoda quotes.

"The path to the dark side, fear is." - Yoda

CalcioMercato Watch: Deadline Day updates!

By Gautam Sharma

Latest: Borriello joins Roma, Robinho joins Milan, Taraore & Rinaudo join Juve, Cribari joins Napoli, Kaladze joins Genoa Camoranesi & Zebina leave Juve, Dumitru joins Napoli, Stankivicius joins Valencia, Huntelaar joins Schalke, Candreva joins Parma, Sosa joins Napoli

The Tracker for confirmed deals at top clubs: Likely signings in BLUE

Ibra Transfer Explained - Football Accounting Jazz!

By Gautam Sharma

Intriguing facts about the Ibrahimovic transfer... and all that Jazz!! (The figures have been edited after the transfer)

Ibrahimovic is all set to transfer from Barcelona for Milan. Its a 1 year loan deal, after which Milan have the option to buy Ibra for Eur 24m. But here are some very interesting facts about this transfer... Milan were ready to buy Ibra outright this summer, it was Barca who insisted on a loan deal!! If that sounds strange, how about this fact - Barcelona will lose only Eur 17m in the entire Ibrahimovic saga!!

Intrigued? Shocked? Read on....

Inter's Shadow on Mancio City!

By Gautam Sharma

What is the price of failure? Manchester City may soon give this question a whole new answer... or is Mancio building another Inter at Citeh? As Mancio City cross the £100m mark in transfer spend this summer, this has become one of the most debated topics in football...

This is an honest attempt to analyse the grand Mancio plan, and form of view on whether this would work...

Too Good a Summer for Genoa...?

By Gautam Sharma

Genoa are buying a player who impressed in the World Cup (Boateng) only to loan him to Milan... a role reversal?? Yeah, its been that kinda summer... Genoa have surprisingly been the biggest movers in Serie A this summer. But is this their usual scatter-brained approach to the transfer market, or is there more method to the madness this time...?

Forza Prandelli... A Triumphant Loss!

By Gautam Sharma

The first shot has been fired. The intent is now clear. The Revolution. Has Just Begun.

Italy lost their first game under Prandelli to Ivory Coast. But the intent was clear. Prandelli plans to completely reconstruct the Azzurri from scratch. And I think that not only was this long due, it is infact the best thing to happen to Italian football since the 2006 World Cup final.

Oriundi Reloaded!

By Gautam Sharma

One of the more heated arguements in Italian football these days is what to do about the "Oriundi" concept. Or more specifically, should they be allowed to play for La Nazionale??

Oriundi is a term used to describe foreign players of Italian origin (at least one of whose ancestors emigrated from Italy) who then immigrate "back" to Italy. There was a time when Oriundi played a large part in the success of Azzurri, and from the sounds of it, they may play a large part once again... Perhaps there are lessons to be learnt from the past...

Inter Summer Diary: Youngsters impress at Baltimore

By Gautam Sharma

Decent start of the summer tour for Inter with a comfortable 3-0 win over City.... with many of our primavera lads showing why the future of Internazionale is secure.

Fantasistitis, an Italian Disease....

By Gautam Sharma

There was a time when the Fantasista was the most celebrated player in Italian football... the protagonists, these were the real Gods in Italy, the ones who provided fantasy to the game.... a spark of colour in a sea of black & white, or the artists midst the atheletes... Rivera, Mazzola, Baggio, etc - the history of Italian football is not complete without reviewing its legendary "Fantasista". Sadly, not only are the fantasista disappearing from the modern Italian game, its now more like a disease which is destroying the most talented crop of Italian football talent.... a disease called Fantasistitis...

INTERested in Change?

By Gautam Sharma

Our beloved Internazionale are about to make some bigs moves in the market... it will be interesting to see who they go after! Lets take a look at the key targets, and analyse what the new Inter may look like in 2010-11...

ReJUVEnated, again!!

By Gautam Sharma

Is there any particular direction to the startegy of this new Juve? Or are they rebuilding for disaster yet again, like last summer? After some consideration, it looks like there may be some method to the madness this time... but something is still missing....

Yugolavia - Musings from a Parallel Universe!

By Bluenine

Imagine if Yugoslavia were still in existence, and had sent a squad for this World Cup.... a combined team of Croatia + Serbia + Slovenia + Montenegro + Macedonia + Bosnia & Herzegovina! Now that would ve been some squad, maybe it could ve looked something like this:

An Italian Revolution - the Prandelli Era

By Gautam Sharma

The Vuvuzela, the Jabulani, and the darn Octopus... that kinda sums up the World Cup for us Azzurri fans. But the wretched cephalopod is not completely to blame for this misery, the pathetic excuse of the game displayed by Lippi and his lads did not exactly light up this World Cup for us... now as the sounds of the vuvuzela's start fading away like a distant nightmare, key question arises... where to from here, o beloved Azzurri?