Sex scandals, corruption, lies, betrayal.
A new blockbuster movie? No, just the soap-opera world of the people who run and lead England's national soccer team.
PHOTO: EPA
The Football Association (FA), the organization that formulated the rules of the game more than a century ago, has been rife with dirty deeds for decades, and the home of soccer has become the home of sleaze.
England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson, the man given the task of recapturing lost glory for the nation that invented the game, is at the center of a sex scandal.
After an initial denial, his bosses at the FA admitted that he had an affair with one of its secretaries. They also admitted the same woman had an affair with the FA's top administrator, chief executive Mark Palios.
If that's not spicy enough, it doesn't end there.
Palios resigned on Sunday after further newspaper revelations about the scandal, while Eriksson flew back to London to answer questions about his role, facing the sack if he doesn't come up with the right answers.
The 12-man FA Board, which has the power to hire and fire the England coach, meets tomorrow. They are unlikely to fire Eriksson -- a single man -- for having an affair with 38-year-old Faria Alam -- a single woman.
But they are anxious to find out how the FA came to issue a denial about the affair, and then make a U-turn and admit that it did take place.
If Eriksson misled the FA, he's almost certain to be shown the exit door.
It doesn't stop there.
Colin Gibson, the FA's director of communications, has offered his resignation in the light of newspaper allegations that he came to a deal with the tabloid that broke the story.
According to the News of the World, former newspaper journalist Gibson offered to give the paper the full story on Eriksson's affair if the tabloid played down Palios' involvement.
The FA is yet to announce whether it will accept Gibson's resignation.
The problem facing the FA is that it recently handed the Swede a two-year extension to his contract worth US$7.3 million a year, which theoretically leaves him in charge of the team until 2008.
Firing the Swede, who also hit the headlines two years ago after an affair with TV celebrity Ulrika Jonsson, could cost anything up to US$25.6 million.
The scandal, dubbed "Svengate" by the tabloids, is the latest in a long line of self-inflicted wounds which have left the FA a laughingstock.
Palios' predecessor, Adam Crozier, left the FA under financial pressure after overspending on big projects including a "National Football Center" that never materialized and the rebuilding of Wembley Stadium. The stadium had to be redesigned after initial costs proved too high.
The FA fired England coach Glenn Hoddle in 1999 after a routine interview with the Times turned out to be a blockbuster. A committed Christian, he strayed off the line of the interview and said that disabled people were being punished for sins of an earlier life. Amid a public outcry that he offended millions of disabled people, he was fired.
At about the same time, FA chief executive Graham Kelly and chairman Keith Wiseman both quit over a so-called bribes for votes scandal.
Although both declared their innocence, Kelly was accused in the media of offering the Welsh Football Association a US$5.85 million grant so that Wiseman would get the Welsh vote in a FIFA election. FIFA launched an inquiry and cleared both men but they never got back to the FA.
FA chairman Bert Millichip was alleged to have reneged on a handshake deal with Germany over the 2006 World Cup. After England hosted Euro '96, the veteran lawyer reportedly agreed to back Germany as host for World Cup 2006. Months later, the FA angered the Germans and put in a rival bid.
Occasionally, the FA has been the victim.
Don Revie walked out on England in 1977 to take a highly paid, tax-free job in the United Arab Emirates, negotiating the deal in Dubai instead of watching a game in Helsinki, Finland.
Kevin Keegan, who replaced Hoddle and was Eriksson's predecessor, stunned a post-match news conference after a World Cup qualifying loss at home to Germany by announcing he had quit.
But another coach appointed by the FA because of modest successes at club level was humiliated by the tabloids because of abject failure at international level.
Graham Taylor's England failed to win a game at the 1992 Euros and didn't make it to the '94 World Cup in the US.
To the horror of the FA, the tabloids superimposed Taylor's head on a picture of a turnip after England had lost to Sweden at the Euros, under the headline: Swedes 2, Turnips 1.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to