French soccer was dominated by Paris Saint-Germain this year, but the game in the country has regularly been overshadowed by affairs off the field over the past 12 months.
PSG won an unprecedented clean sweep of the domestic trophies last season and have enjoyed a record-breaking first half to the current campaign that has seen them open up an enormous lead at the top of Ligue 1.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the dominant personality in the French game, wrote his name firmly into the history books by passing Pauleta’s club record tally of 109 goals in all competitions when he scored a brace in a 2-1 win for PSG over bitter rivals Olympique de Marseille in October.
Photo: AFP
Olympique Lyonnais played their final game at their old Stade de Gerland this month and move into an impressive new 59,000-seat stadium early in the New Year.
The French soccer landscape is changing as Girondins de Bordeaux also took up residence in a new stadium earlier this year as France gears up for Euro 2016.
The finals could mark the dawn of a new era for the game in France after a difficult past few months.
It is a nation still raw from the terror attacks in and around Paris that left 130 people dead, with the national sport one of the targets on the night of Nov. 13.
Before the full scale of what was happening became clear, three loud explosions emanated from outside the Stade de France during a France-Germany friendly.
The game carried on in a surreal atmosphere and only later did it become clear that the explosions were suicide bomb attacks.
“We are all proud to be French and what’s happened will leave a mark on all of us,” France coach Didier Deschamps said.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was