The victim of an accidental police shooting on Sunday, Lazio supporter Gabriele Sandri (26) is a unfortunate victim of the latest of many Italian soccer tragedies.
The first entry in calcio's black book dates back to 1963, when Giuseppe Plaitano, a 48-year old Salernitana fan, was shot dead as a policeman fired in the air in an attempt to control a pitch invasion. The bullet hit Plaitano in the stands.
* 1973. During a Roma vs Napoli match a home fan fatally shot
Napoli follower Alfredo Della Corte in the face.
* 1979. Lazio fan Vincenzo Paparelli dies after being hit by a missile
in the eye. The missile was fired by an 18-year old Roma supporter
from the opposite end of the terraces.
* 1984. Triestina follower Stefano Furlan succumbs to injuries sustained
in a police charge during an intervention to separate two groups
of fans.
* 1984. At the end of a Milan vs Cremonese game, home ultras stab
to death one of their own having mistaken him for an away team fan.
* 1988. During fighting between Ascoli and Inter fans, a local supporter
Nazzareno Filippini is stabbed to death. Four Inter's fans were
arrested and convicted.
* 1989. A large group of Milan hooligans attack three Roma supporters.
Young Antonio De Falchi tries to escape but dies from a heart attack.
One Milan supporter receives a seven-year prison sentence.
* 1989. Fiorentina ultras ambush a train transporting Bologna fans
and pelt it with stones and molotov cocktails. One explodes inside
a carriage inflicting severe burns on two visiting supporters.
* 1995. Genoa fan Vincenzo Spagnolo stabbed to death by a 18-year
old Milan ultra Simone Barbaglia. The perpetrator is sentenced to
15 years in prison.
* 1998. Treviso supporter Fabio Di Maio dies from a heart attack
during a police charge designed to stop the fighting between the
local Treviso and Cagliari hooligans.
* 1999. Salernitana fans set fire to a train carrying 3000 fans
from an away game at Piacenza. Four youngsters die in the blaze.
* 2001. An underage Catania fan throws a home-made bomb in the stand
packed with Messina fans, killing Antonino Curro.
* 2003. In an attempt to escape the police, Napoli's fan Sergio
Ercolano tries to jump from one stand to another, but falls in the
precipice and dies from his injuries.
* 2007. A high-ranking police officer Filipo Raciti is killed by
an explosive during clashes with Catania ultras.
Roman Pavlyuchenko, who torpedoed England with two goals last month in Moscow, is a new Manchester City target. Spartak's 26-year old striker's price is around 13 million euros, which is well within reach for the club owned by the former Thai prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra.
Last season, Pavlyuchenko was the Russian League's top scorer
with 18 goals, whereas this season he topped the charts again with
14 goals together with Roman Adamov.
The tall, blond international has scored just four goals in his
12 appearances for his country, but two of these highly complicated
England's situation in the European
qualifiers.
Pavlyuchenko's team Spartak again failed to win the Russian league, for the sixth year running. The record-holding Moscow team, who won nine out of the first ten titles, were narrowly beaten by Zenit St. Petersburg. This is only the second time the national championship has left the capital; the first time was in 1995, when Alania of Vladikavkaz sensationally captured the title.
The ruling conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) has played an important trump card less than two weeks from the parliamentary elections, scheduled for November 25th by enlisting the national team captain, Niko Kovac.
"We're going through," screams Kovac from huge newspaper ads paid by HDZ, a message cleverly alluding both to the desired outcome of the elections and to the forthcoming Croatia's key qualifying games in Macedonia and England.
Hertha's midfielder epitomizes an issue that has divided Croatia since independence: should the members of the nation's sizeable diaspora have the right to vote.
Kovac, born in Germany like his brother and teammate Robert, adds
an unequivocal message to fans and voters:
"If I did not have the right to vote in Croatia, I would not
play for the national team."
On the other hand, the leftist parties, including HDZ's biggest rivals, Social democratic party (SDP), plan to abolish emigrants' voting rights on account that they do not bear the consequences of their vote.
The Croatian diaspora mostly consists of descendants' of political emigrants from the time of Serb-dominated Yugoslavia, which makes it a steady right-wing electoral base.
Perhaps it is not a coincidence that the elections have been set for the weekend following the end of the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign. If Croatia qualify as expected, it would be a tremendous boost to HDZ's hopes to win the parliamentary majority for a second four-year term.
Sao Paulo's goalkeeper Rogério Ceni has just been awarded FIFA's prize for the best in his position in the world and it's been a while since he established the all-time record for scoring goalkeepers by beating José Luis Chilavert.
But, the eccentric Ceni is currently his club's joint top scorer in the Brazilian League!
After scoring a winning penalty against Gremio, he has joined Borges and Dagoberto at seven goals in the championship. Still, it is not Ceni's highest figure – two years ago he scored ten goals in the Brasileirao, which has prompted some to observe that he may be "slowing down".
Not as a keeper, of course. His team has conceded just 15 goals in 36 games (0.41 goals per game) on the way to a second consecutive championship.
Diego Maradona is a wealthy man. He has (or had) all of his money plus 34.2 million euros that currently belongs to the Italian state. Italy's Ministry of Economy and Finance has revealed the exact amount, of which 20.3 million refers to the interest on unpaid taxes. The tug of war between the former soccer star has been going on for several years, in which time Italy has managed to recover no more than 42,000 euros in luxury watches seized last year in Naples.
Corinthians' coach Nelsinho Baptista says he believes the accusations of paedophilia in Brazilian soccer schools. After five junior players denounced abuse by their former coach Evanir de Moraes, Baptista came forward with a surprising statement.
"There is no point to try and cover it up. There's plenty of it around. Ever since I was a player. It's the clubs' fault, because they don't hire true professionals in the youth teams," said the coach.
None of the alleged victims have come forward yet. Only William from Shakhtar Donetsk claims he heard rumours while practicing in Corinthians' junior team.
"There's been a lot of talk, but I cannot point my finger at anybody. I personally avoided any such problems, because my dad always accompanied me," said the young midfielder to the Diario Lance daily.
