By Michael Kachitsa According to the PFA (Professional Footballers’ Association) the average salary of a Premier League football player is about £50,000 per week. This average is high partially due to that some of the top players earn up to £350,000! These numbers include performance-based bonuses. In general the Premier League is a football league were the salaries are on average very high. The clubs with the highest average salaries in the Premier League are Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal. The Spanish Primera División, the German Bundesliga and the Italian Serie A also include very high salaries. The difference in salary between the Premier League and lower leagues is very big. In the Championship the average salary is between £7,500 and £8,500 a week. The top players in the Championship can earn around £80,000 a week. The average salary in League One is between £1,700 and £2,500, and in League Two it’s between £1,300 and £1,500. Over the last decennia the average salary for Premier League players has strongly increased. However, the FIFA has recently enforced the Financial Fair Play regulation which has resulted in a slight decrease in the basic salaries of professional football players.
Category: Sports
Highest attendance at a football game
By Michael Kachitsa The 1950 World Cup final – Brazil versus Uruguay. The event most commonly remembered for the huge upset – dubbed Maracanazo – is also remembered for hosting the highest number of people in a football game. The official attendance is listed at 173,850 tickets sold, but unofficial estimates claim that almost 210,000 people were in that stadium. Ticket policies and safety concerns were a little more reserved in 1950 than it is today. This was taken full advantage of, and people managed to cram in and fill the stadium more than was maximum capacity. Stadium disasters since 1950 have seen a shift in public perception of safety and has helped enforce stricter regulations on match-going crowds. The colossal crowd seen on that fateful day will never be possible again. The 1950 World Cup was the first since the end of the Second World War, and the first to feature a British team. Nevertheless, British media coverage of the tournament was sparse, despite the participation of England. (Scotland had also “qualified”, but the Scottish FA declined to participate.) Newspapers relied on short news agency dispatches, and radio provided only brief reports of England’s matches, presented by Charles Buchan, the former England center-forward. There was no British television coverage. Perhaps that was a blessing in disguise. The final match was played on July 16, 1950, at the Maracanã, the design of which incorporated a moat around the oval playing field “to protect players from crowds”. The Maracanã surpassed Scotland’s Hampden Park to become the biggest football ground in the world, and also beat Hampden’s 149,407 attendance world record (set in 1937) after 152,722 fans paid to see Brazil defeat Spain in the previous round. That record was beaten again at the final when at least 173,850 saw Brazil lose to Uruguay. This was the official attendance figure, although some sources, including those used by Wikipedia, give the attendance as 199,854. It has been estimated that the actual attendance for the decisive final game, taking into account officials, journalists, police, and ticketless fans, was likely in excess of 200,000. But it is the official figure of 173,850 that is recognized by Guinness as the world record (while Hampden Park’s 149,407 remains the British and European record). And there is no dispute whatsoever that the crowd at the 1950 World Cup final was the biggest that football has ever seen.
How Much do Tennis players earn?
By Michael Kachitsa Tennis players take on a huge risk in deciding to turn pro – the odds of earning a stable income through tennis, let alone vast riches, are vanishingly small. Our research suggests it’s this very riskiness that drives tennis players to turn professional. Just like gamblers, tennis players are enticed by the small possibility of a large payoff. By our calculations an 18 year old boy ranked 100 in the world in 1997 had a less than one-thousandth of a percent (0.001%) chance of earning more than US$10 million in prize money over his tennis career. This isn’t a lot of money when you subtract the cost of competing – which averaged US$38,800 for male players and US$40,180 for female players in 2013, not including the cost of a coach. The average career prize earnings of tennis players at around US$300,000. Around 80% of professional tennis players earn close to nothing, but there is a very wide range of values above this that people might earn – up to the US$65 million Roger Federer earned by the age of 30. Of the 128 players that qualify for each of the four Grand Slam tournaments, the winners take home around 18% of the total prize money. Those who exit in the first round get only 0.3%. This does not factor in the sponsorships and endorsements that top-ranked players receive. Teenagers who are ranked very highly in the world have a better chance of becoming stars as adults, but they still face a lot of uncertainty. For example, Kristian Pless was ranked number one as a junior but his highest rank as a professional was 65, and he earned just US$1.1 million in prize money over his ten-year career. Teenagers who are ranked poorly are almost certain to make close to zero over their tennis careers. However, there remains a minuscule chance they could make it big. Our research suggests this small chance of a big payoff is why players decided to continue their tennis careers.
Crystal Palace FC, Roy Hodgson to step down as manager
By Michael Kachitsa Roy Hodgson will leave his role as manager of Crystal Palace F.C. at the end of this season. Hodgson’s final match in charge of the Eagles will be at Anfield against Liverpool on Sunday, his 162nd competitive match in the Palace dugout. He became manager of his boyhood club in September 2017, and under his stewardship, the club has maintained its Premier League status on four consecutive occasions. Hodgson, who began his playing career at Palace and supported them as a child, replaced Frank de Boer as manager with the club bottom of the Premier League having lost their first four matches of the 2017-18 season without scoring a goal. Despite losing his first three games in charge, he guided Palace to 11th in the table. They finished 12th and 14th in subsequent seasons and are currently 13th with two games remaining. Roy Hodgson said: “After more than 45 years of coaching I have decided that the time is right for me to step away from the rigours of top-flight Premier League football, so our final two matches will be my last ones as manager of Crystal Palace. According to the BBC Sports news, asked whether he was retiring, Hodgson said: “One never knows. It is a dangerous thing to do when you still feel good about yourself to start making bold statements about retirement. “I am certainly not leaving Crystal Palace with the idea of putting myself back on the market for another job. “I really am stepping away from football for a while, but who knows what the future will be? It is a never-say-never moment. “I’ve seen so many people retire with all the fanfare blazing, only to surface again somewhere in a fairly short period of time. I’d prefer not to do that. “I am looking forward to spending a little bit more time with my wife and son and maybe listening to what they want to do for once, because it hasn’t happened very much in the last 50 years.” “It’s been a particularly rewarding period of my football life and career to have been able to spend these last four seasons with Palace. I feel now that at the end of another successful season, in which we have secured our Premier League status, the moment is right for me to step down from my responsibilities of being a full-time manager.” His final home game will be against Arsenal on Wednesday, and his last match will be against Liverpool, one of his former clubs, at Anfield on Sunday. Palace chairman Steve Parish said: “It has been an absolute privilege and pleasure to work alongside Roy, who is both a magnificent human and an outstanding football manager. “I know how much it has meant to Roy managing the club he supported as a child, adding to his distinguished and unparalleled career in football management. “His record with us simply cannot be overstated – he is the only Palace manager to secure four years in the Premier League and he has helped give us stability in the most turbulent of times. “We will be forever grateful for his immense contribution.” Hodgson, who is the oldest person to manage in the Premier League, began his managerial career 45 years ago with Swedish side Halmstads. He has managed 16 teams in eight countries, including Inter Milan and Udinese, as well as the Switzerland, United Arab Emirates and Finland national sides. He has also been in charge of Blackburn, Liverpool, West Brom and Fulham in the Premier League, guiding the Cottagers to the Europa League final in 2010. He took the England job shortly before Euro 2012 and led them to the quarter-finals, but two years later they were knocked out at the group stage of a World Cup for the first time since 1958. Hodgson’s England won all 10 matches in qualifying for Euro 2016 but he stepped down after a 2-1 last-16 defeat by Iceland left him with a record of three victories from 11 games in major tournaments.
The Williams sisters
By Michael Kachitsa The Williams sisters are two professional American tennis players: Venus Williams (b. 1980), a seven-time Grand Slam title winner (singles), and Serena Williams (b. 1981), twenty-three-time Grand Slam title winner (singles), both of whom were coached from an early age by their parents Richard Williams and Oracene Price. There is a noted professional rivalry between them—between the 2001 US Open and the 2017 Australian Open tournaments, they met in nine Grand Slam singles finals. They became the first two players, female or male, to play in four consecutive Grand Slam singles finals from the 2002 French Open to the 2003 Australian Open; Serena famously won all four to complete the first of two “Serena Slams”. Between 2000 and 2016, a 17-year span, they collectively won 12 Wimbledon singles titles (Venus won five, and Serena won seven). By winning the 2001 Australian Open women’s doubles title, they became the fifth pair to complete the Career Doubles Grand Slam and the only pair to complete the Career Doubles Golden Slam. Both sisters have been ranked by the Women’s Tennis Association at the world No. 1 position in both singles and doubles. In 2002, after the French Open, Venus Williams and Serena Williams were ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, marking the first time in history that sisters occupied the top 2 singles spots in the world rankings. During the 2010 French Open, they became the co-world No. 1 players in women’s doubles. On 21 June 2010, Serena and Venus again held the No. 1 and No. 2 rankings spots in singles, respectively, some eight years after first accomplishing this feat. At the time, Serena was three months shy of her 29th birthday and Venus had just celebrated her 30th birthday. Both players have won four gold medals at the Summer Olympics, one each in singles and three in doubles–all won together—the most of any tennis players. Venus has also won a silver in mixed doubles at the 2016 Rio Olympics. As a duo, they have also completed the Career Golden Slam in doubles, twice. Between the two of them, they have completed the Boxed Set, winning all four grand slams in singles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles. They won all of the mixed doubles titles in 1998 to go along with their titles in singles and women’s doubles.
The 10 minute football Manager
By Michael Kachitsa There have been coaches who have been the true embodiment of a club. Sir Alex Ferguson was in charge for nearly 27 years at Old Trafford, whilst Arsene Wenger has been at Arsenal for more than 15 seasons. But for Leroy Rosenior, his managerial reign lasted all of 10 minutes. He was appointed and sacked in 600 seconds as he broke the record for the shortest time in charge of a club. According to the British tabloid The Sun, the press were informed he was appointed as manager. However he was told 10 minutes later that his services had been disposed of by Torquay United, as the club had been taken over. Leroy Rosenior is believed to have experienced the shortest managerial reign in English football history after reportedly being sacked by Torquay just ten minutes after taking the job. However, Torquay managing director Debbie Hancox insists that Rosenior is still in charge of the club. Rosenior was appointed as manager of the relegated League Two club last Thursday, only for chairman Mike Bateson to agree to immediately sell 51% of the club to a consortium – and Rosenior has reportedly claimed that the first act of the new owners was to relieve him of his duties. The consortium is headed by Chris Boyce but reports had claimed that Colin Lee, who was the club’s director of football until being made redundant on May 14, was also invovled. It was claimed that Lee planned to re-appoint himself manager of the team. But Hancox denied that version of events. “Colin Lee is not invovled in the consortium at all. There are about eight people but he is not one of them. “Nothing has happened to change Leroy’s position as yet. He was appointed on Thursday and the club then accepted a bid from a consortium which was accepted. Whoever the new owners decide to appoint as manager will be up to them but it is a long way from going through yet.” Rosenior previously managed Torquay for four years and guided them to promotion to League 1 in 2004. The club was relegated the next season and he left the club by mutual consent the following January. If Rosenior has indeed been dismissed last week, he has beated the record for the shortest spell in charge of a club, which had hitherto been held by Dave Bassett, who was in charge of Crystal Palace for all of four days in 1984.
The history of AS Monaco FC
By Michael Kachitsa Monaco was formed in 1919, through a merger of five different clubs in the region. After a failed attempt to turn professional in 1933, Monaco managed to overcome that hurdle in 1948 by entering the Second Division. Following a streak of solid results, they achieved promotion to the First Division in 1953, for the first time in their history. The club’s first taste of silverware came in the early 60s, under the charismatic manager Lucien Leduc. Following a victory over Seint Etienne in the 1960 Coupe de France final, Leduc led Monaco to a Ligue 1 title in 1961, as well as their first and only Double in 1963. After Leduc decided to move on, however, the club would slide back into mediocrity until the mid-70s and another streak of trophies: the Ligue 1 titles in 1979 and 1982 and the Coupe de France victories in 1980 and 1985. After another barren spell in the mid-80s, the club hired a then relatively unknown coach named Arsène Wenger, who led the club to their fifth Ligue 1 title in his very first season with Monaco. Even though they were challenging for the title in each of the successive seasons, Monaco had to settle with one Coupe de France trophy and a loss to Werder Bremen in the Cup Winners’ Cup final before Wenger left the club in 1994. During Wenger’s time at the club, Monaco became known as a team with a strong focus on its young stars such as Emmanuel Petit and Thierry Henry. The young stars have frequently been grabbed by bigger clubs, but not for free … Anthony Martial was a record transfer for a player 20 years or less in 2015 (sold to Manchester United for €60M), James Rodrigues was the second most expensive player in 2014, when leaving for Real Madrid, and PSG had to pay the biggest transfer fee in history – €180 million – when Kylian Mbappé leaved for Monaco for Paris in 2018. Shortly after clinching two more Ligue 1 titles in 1997 and 2000 and making the Champions League final in 2004, the club’s numerous financial problems saw them relegated to the Second Division. Their fortunes changed when the club was bought by Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev in 2011; soon enough, the club returned to Ligue 1 and started competing for the title again.
Dedza Young Soccer eyeing Super league promotion
By George Mponda Dedza, Mana: Dedza Young Soccer Football Club (FC) has promised to fight for their return into the country’s elite TNM Super League. The Team was dramatically relegated from the TNM Super League during the 2015-16 has promised to utilize the new Chipiku Premier League format to ensure their promotion. In an interview with Malawi News Agency (Mana), Dedza Young Soccer Technical Director, Hassan ‘Awemba’ Phiri said the fact that they would be using their home ground for the first phase of the games would increase their chances of advancing through the next rounds. “We have been put in Zone D together with, Dedza Dynamos, Kawinga Football Club and Ntcheu Strikers but all games will be played at Dedza stadium which is our home ground,” he said. “We have been preparing for the commencement of the league and we have played several friendly games which have helped us know the shape of the team as you know the players had stayed for a long time without playing and now we are ready to start the battle for promotion,” he added. Phiri called on all football lovers in Dedza to rally behind their team and support them throughout the games although only a few fans will be allowed into the stadium due to the Covid-19 guidelines. A Dedza football fan, Aubrey Mwalemba said his expectation that one of the teams from the district would be promoted. “Both Dedza Young Soccer and Dedza Dynamos have good squads and if they utilize the home ground advantage, one of them will surely make it all the way and bring back TNM Super League games at Dedza Stadium,” he said. The 2020-21 Chipiku Premier League season is expected to kick off this weekend with teams split into zones. Zone A will use Silver stadium and has Silver strikers reserves, Luanar FC, Chitedze strikers and Mitundu strikers. Zone B will use Civo stadium and Contains Ekas Wanderers, Green rangers Kamuzu Barracks Youth and Mtsiriza United. In Zone C they will use Mchinji Community Ground and the teams are Extreme FC, Simbi FC, St Gabriel Medicals and Mchinji Boma stars. In Zone D, Dedza Young Soccer FC, Dynamos FC, Kawinga FC and Ntcheu Strikers will be using Dedza Stadium. In Zone E, Wimbe United, Ascent Academy, Dwangwa United and Kasungu Police will battle out at Kasungu Stadium and lastly Zone F which has Airborne Rangers, Support Battalion, Mbavi United and Ngolowindo FC will play at Salima Community ground.
Key steps into signing as a professional footballer
By Michael Kachitsa While it is not absolutely necessary to start playing football at a young age in order to make it as a professional, it definitely helps. Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers centres around the idea of ‘the 10,000-Hour Rule’ – that is, the period of practice needed in order to master skills – and it is true that developing world-class ability takes time. If you have had 10 years of deliberate practice or coaching from the age of seven or eight, the chances are you will be well equipped with the skills and knowledge base required to succeed in football. There is a reason why youth academies such as La Masia exist – they attempt to facilitate meaningful development of young players in order to help them reach an elite level of performance by the time they are adults. Of course, there are a number of examples of footballers who matured at a different stage in life or took a circuitous route to the top – so don’t worry if you’re a bit late to the game. Football is a team sport so it is crucial that you join a team in order to play and learn the game. You need to be playing games regularly throughout your development in order to increase your visibility to scouts. And don’t be afraid to change teams either. It is noble to stay loyal to a local team, but it is no good to you as an individual if they don’t have good coaching or play to a high level. If you want to make it as a professional, you must be willing to seek out the best environment for your talents to prosper. Professional footballers are athletes and in order to reach that physical level one must eat a healthy diet and exercise. They expend a lot of energy in training and matches, so the key is to find a happy nutritional balance in your meals, which means getting enough protein and carbohydrates, as well as fluids. Messi, for example, follows a strict diet which includes plenty of water, fish, whole grain foods, fresh fruit and vegetables. Ronaldo, likewise, incorporates foods such as fish and eggs into his diet. Naturally, if you want to make it as a professional footballer, it is not advisable to eat junk food or a lot of sugary treats. “A good workout must be combined with a good diet,” Ronaldo says. “I eat a high protein diet, with lots of wholegrain carbs, fruit vegetables, and avoid sugary foods.” Creating a resume of your positions, attributes, achievements and perhaps even visual highlights, if they exist, is a useful exercise in the pursuit of a career in football. Not only does it create a profile for scouts and potential employers, the practice also encourages you to reflect on yourself, which may help you identify your strengths and weaknesses. Think of the resume as a personal statement of who you are as a footballer and person, as well as the footballer you want to become. In that sense, you can use it as a goal-setting document. Another route that aspiring footballers can go down is that of earning a football scholarship at a university, which has the double benefit of allowing you to get a third-level education too. In the United States, college sport is a lot more closely intertwined with their professional equivalents and there is SuperDraft involving college soccer stars in Major League Soccer. The culture in the United Kingdom and Europe is somewhat different, but clubs do monitor university-level football and some universities have direct links with clubs. If things ultimately don’t work out on the football front, then you will have a degree and other options. Once you eventually become a professional footballer, the hard work doesn’t stop. It’s crucial that you do not take your eye off the proverbial ball. Keep working hard, keep looking after your body and enjoy it as much as you can.
The History of Manchester Thunder Netball Club
By Michael Kachitsa Manchester Thunder are an English netball team based in Manchester. Their senior team plays in the Netball Superleague. In 2005–06, Thunder were founder members of the league. They were Superleague champions in 2012, 2014 and 2019. Between 2001 and 2012 they played as Northern Thunder and were originally based in Bury, Greater Manchester. Between 2001 and 2005 Northern Thunder, together with five other franchises – Northern Flames, London Tornadoes, London Hurricanes, University of Birmingham Blaze and Team Bath Force – competed in the Super Cup. Northern Thunder won the 2002 Super Cup. Northern Thunder players from the Super Cup era included Amanda Newton, Tracey Neville, Jade Clarke and Sara Bayman. In 2005 Northern Thunder were named as the North West England franchise in the new Netball Superleague. Together with Brunel Hurricanes, Celtic Dragons, Leeds Carnegie, Galleria Mavericks, Team Bath, Loughborough Lightning and Team Northumbria, Northern Thunder were founder members of the league. In 2012, Thunder won their first Superleague title. Janelle Lawson scored 33 goals as they defeated Surrey Storm 57–55 in the grand final. In 2012 Thunder relocated from Bury, Greater Manchester to Gorton. They subsequently changed their name from Northern Thunder to Manchester Thunder ahead of the 2013 season. In 2014 Thunder won their second Superleague title after defeating Surrey Storm 49–48 in the grand final. In 2019 Thunder won their third Superleague title. Manchester Thunder has trained and played their home games at several venues and locations throughout Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Cheshire. Between 2008–09 and 2011, Northern Thunder played their home Superleague games at Castle Leisure Centre in Bury, Greater Manchester. In 2012 Manchester Thunder began playing their home Superleague games at Wright Robinson College in Gorton. When Manchester Thunder played home games there, the arena was referred to as the Manchester Thunderdome. They have also played home Netball Superleague matches at Manchester Arena. In 2020 Manchester Thunder switched playing their home Superleague games to the National Basketball Performance Centre in the Belle Vue Sports Village. The team boosts to have an alley of talent one of them, Malawi Queens international netball player, Joyce Mvula who was signed in 2016. Joyce is in her 5th consecutive season with the team and was instrumental in their 2019 lifting of the cup, Vitality Superleague Championship.