* JORGE VASCONCELOS follows the Premier League from Santos in Brazil, where he lives a couple of miles from the Estadio Urbano Caldeira – the footballing home of Pele between 1956 and 1974. Like every Brazilian, he’d claim to know what constitutes a beautiful game. And in his debut article for Sportingintelligence, he explains how […]

By Sportingintelligence 25 September 2011 SACHIN Tendulkar, India’s foremost candidate for the title of greatest batsman in the history of Test cricket, has joined the stars of the current India team and their world No1 England counterparts to sign a cricket bat that will make a unique auction to be sold in memory of Sir […]

By Brian Sears  23 September 2011 Last weekend all three promoted clubs won their games, with Swansea scoring their first Premier League goals as they beat West Brom 3-0, QPR winning 3-0 at Wolves, and Norwich notching up a 2-1 win at Bolton. But though Swansea’s manager, Brendan Rodgers (left) will surely be reaching for […]

By Brian Sears 23 September 2011 In the 20-year history of the Premier League, only six teams, including Manchester United this season, have ever accumulated winning sequences as long as five straight matches at the start of a season. But despite United’s five straight wins this term – against West Brom, Tottenham, Arsenal, Bolton and […]

By Sportingintelligence 18 September 2011 JOSE Mourinho has donated the most prestigious personal trophy of his glittering career to the charity auction in memory of Sir Bobby Robson, his mentor and boss at Sporting Lisbon, Porto and Barcelona. Real Madrid’s Portuguese manager, 48, was award Fifa’s Ballon D’Or World Coach of the Year award in […]

By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 18 September 2011 At midnight tonight, local time, millions of South Koreans will tune their televisions or radios into Manchester United kicking off against Chelsea, none of them sure if their main man will even feature. For this is hero worship, Asian-style, and the man […]

By Brian Sears 16 September 2011 Chelsea travel to Old Trafford on Sunday knowing they are the most successful club against Manchester United over the last 19 years of Premier League football. In 38 Premier League games played between the sides, Chelsea have gained 53 points to United’s 47, winning 13, drawing 14 and losing 11. […]

THE SPORTS LAWYER is actually a posse of Britain’s brightest lawyers, from the Sport & Media team at the UK law firm, Thomas Eggar, who will be contributing features, analysis and insight on a regular basis on the key sports law issues of the day. In TSL’s latest column, Andrew Nixon discusses UEFA’s rejection of Sion’s appeal against […]

By Brian Sears 14 September 2011 Whether Manchester City can make an impression in their first European Cup campaign since 1968 remains to be seen, as their city rivals United aim for a fourth Champions League final in five seasons. But in no doubt are the storming starts both clubs have made in the Premier […]

By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 13 September 2011 Arsenal were the only team in Europe’s ‘big five’ divisions last season who were rated best in their division by statistical analysis but failed to win their domestic title, according to research just published by the CIES Football Observatory. Barcelona were rated by […]