World Soccer News for week of 3/3/2010 Ozren Podnar reports Real Madrid top the earners chart According to the new ranking by Deloitte financial agency, Real Madrid are still the highest earners in world soccer and the first club clearing the 400 million euros mark. Barcelona came second with 365.9 million, edging Manchester United, the same team they beat in the last season's Champions League finals. Five more clubs register earnings in excess of 200 million euros – Bayern, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Juventus. Curiously, the Turin club are commercially more successful than their superior rivals Inter and Milan, sharing nineth and tenth place. England has the most teams to the top 20, seven in all, two more than Germany. England's strength is proved by the presence of Newcastle, placed 20th in spite of playing in the second level this season. In another ranking, compiled by the University of Navarra, Barcelona and Real Madrid are the most mediatic teams in the world, while Manchester United fell from first to third after losing Cristiano Ronaldo to Madrid. The Spaniards rose from fifth to second thanks to the string of strong summer purchases that included Kaka and Benzema. Barcelona's Leo Messi tops the individual chart ahead of Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney. TOP-20 highest earners Amounts are in millions of euros 1. Real Madrid 401.4 2. Barcelona 365.9 3. Manchester United 327 4. Bayern Munich 289.5 5. Arsenal 263 6. Chelsea 242.3 7. Liverpool 217 8. Juventus 203.2 9. Inter 196,5 10. Milan 196.5 11. Hamburger 146.7 12. Roma 146.4 13. Olympique Lyon 139.6 14. Olympique Marseille 133.2 15. Tottenham 132.7 16. Schalke 04 124.5 17. Werder Bremen 114.7 18. Borussia Dortmund 103.5 19. Manchester City 102.2 20. Newcastle 101.0 Amazon.co.uk Widgets Bridge ignored Terry's hand Wayne Bridge, who preferred to quit the England team to sharing the dressing room with John Terry, ignored the Chelsea's defender as Manchester City players shook hands with their hosts at Stamford Bridge. The two players became the center of attention after Terry had an affair with Bridge's former fiance, French underwear model, Vanessa Perroncel. After shaking hands with the referees, Bridge came to his one-time friend, gave him a quick look and proceeded to greet other Chelsea players. The second part of Bridge's revenge came during the game, as City ran riot at Stamford Bridge and defeated the Blues 2-4, ironically allowing Manchester United to come within one point of the leaders Chelsea. Zidane: Not apologizing to Materazzi Legendary French player Zinedine Zidane reminisced about the famous head-butting episode from the last World Cup and proclaimed he would never apologize Marco Materazzi for knocking him down in Berlin. "I would prefer to die than asking forgiveness from that bad man," said Zidane to the Spanish El Pais daily. "Of course I'm sorry for what happened, but apologizing would equal admitting what he did was normal. And for me it wasn't normal." Materazzi insulted Zidane by mentioning his sister in an offensive context, which Zizou could not stand. "If that had been Kaka, a normal guy and a good person, of course I would have apologized. But not to Materazzi. If i did that, I'd show disrespect to myself and the people I carry in my heart," added the Frenchman. Curiously, the Italian provocateur later said he did not mean to offend Zidane's sister and that in fact he had no idea Zizou had one, but this admission made no difference to the best French player in the last two decades. Atletico's coach calls his assistant 86 times during a game After being sent off in the match at Almeria ten days ago, Atletico Madrid's Quique Sanchez Flores was banned from coaching his team against Valencia on Sunday. Having opted to view the game on a TV set in the dressing room, he decided to stay in touch with his assistants on Atletico's bench. Quique used his mobile phone to call the goalkeepers' coach Emilio Alvarez, whose duty was to convey the orders to the assistant coach Francisco Escriba. As Alvarez confessed to Canal+, Quique called him 86 times during the game, won by Atletico 4-1. "I counted 34 calls during the first half and 52 more in the second half for a total of 86 brief calls, each in the duration of five to ten seconds," said Alvarez. Among the concise orders given by Quique was the one to substitute the injured Sergio Aguero immediately. Still, Escriba could not arrange for a quick substitution so Aguero was given time to score a goal before he was replaced. Nakata auctions off his boots for Haiti The former Japanese skipper Hidetoshi Nakata auctioned off the boots used against Croatia during the 2006 World Cup in order to rally funds for the victims of the Haiti earthquake. The retired midfielder collected over a million euros for the boots in an online auction for the 300,000 thousand casualties of the January 12th quake that devastated the Caribbean nation. The game against Croatia ended goalless and after the next match against Brazil, who smashed Japan 4-1, a tearful Nakata announced his surprising retirement. © Soccerphile.com Previous world soccer news Tags Soccer News football

The 18th season of the J. League kicks off on March 6 with a blockbuster showdown between defending champions Kashima Antlers and the league's best supported club Urawa Reds. Kashima are chasing a record fourth successive J. League crown, and they'll go into the match full of confidence having wrapped up the 2009 title with a 1-0 win over Urawa at a packed Saitama Stadium. The Reds will be itching to avenge that defeat, and coach Volker Finke has overseen plenty of changes ahead of the new campaign. Talismanic Japan international Marcus Tulio Tanaka has departed for Nagoya Grampus - replaced by young Australian defender Matthew Spiranovic, while Burkina Faso international Wilfried Sanou arrives on loan from German club 1.FC Koeln. Perhaps the most impressive arrival is former Sanfrecce Hiroshima playmaker Yosuke Kashiwagi, and there is plenty of pressure on the 22-year-old midfielder to fire Urawa into the Asian Champions League places this season. Elsewhere, Gamba Osaka take on Nagoya Grampus at Expo '70 Stadium in a rematch of the 2009 Emperor's Cup final. It's a vastly different Nagoya side that will run out in Osaka, with the Aichi outfit embarking on a spending spree in the off-season having drafted in Mitsuru Chiyotanda, Colombian midfielder Danilson and Mu Kanazaki, although the real jewel in the crown is former Urawa defender Marcus Tulio Tanaka. The round's other marquee match-up sees FC Tokyo take on neighbours Yokohama F. Marinos in front of what should be a vociferous crowd at Ajinomoto Stadium. Marinos are celebrating the return of prodigal son Shunsuke Nakamura to the Tricolore, but they face a tough test against an FC Tokyo side that has made some astute signings in the form of ex-Oita Trinita defender Masato Morishige and former Albirex Niigata midfielder Toshihiro Matsushita. In J2, the new season kicks off with a fascinating clash between Avispa Fukuoka and Ventforet Kofu on March 6, however most of the action takes place a day later. Relegated sides Kashiwa Reysol and Oita Trinita face off at Kashiwa Hitachi Stadium, while newcomers Giravanz Kitakyushu make their J. League debut away at Yokohama FC. Sagan Tosu host Consadole Sapporo in another high-profile match-up at Best Amenity Stadium, whilst fallen giants JEF United face up to life in the second tier with a testing trip to Roasso Kumamoto. Shunsuke Nakamura returns to the J. League Former Celtic midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura has returned to his former stomping ground, with the 31-year-old signing on at port city side Yokohama F. Marinos. The Japan international started his career at what was then Yokohama Marinos, and having played through the bitter merger of the city's two clubs, Nakamura subsequently embarked on a prolonged European tour. Spells at Reggina in Italy and Celtic in Scotland were followed by a less successful stint at Spanish side Espanyol, and with the World Cup finals just around the corner, Nakamura has succumbed to the lure of turning out for his home-town team once again. Japan finish Asian Cup qualifying with a win Japan finished their Asian Cup qualifying campaign with a routine 2-0 win over Bahrain in front of 38,042 fans at a packed Toyota Stadium. CSKA Moscow midfielder Keisuke Honda was the star of the show on his former home ground, although it was Shimizu S-Pulse striker Shinji Okazaki who opened the scoring midway through the first half. Honda finished proceedings with a goal deep into second half stoppage time, and the industrious midfielder did enough to suggest that he could prove a key player for Takeshi Okada's squad at the 2010 World Cup. Both teams had already guaranteed their progression to the 2011 Asian Cup finals in Qatar. Copyright © Michael Tuckerman & Soccerphile.com J. League News Tags Soccer News football