Philosofooty

By Tanuj Lakhina, writing from Delhi

Real Madrid played Osasuna at 12 pm (Madrid time) last Sunday at the Santiago Bernabeu. It was an easy and convincing win for the Merengues as they beat their opponents 7-1 with Cristiano Ronaldo bagging yet another hat-trick.

The early kickoff is a concept introduced by Liga de Futbol Profesional (LFP) to compete with the English Premier League and gain some more eyeballs in South East Asia and far East Asia, where the Premiership attracts far more attention. Rayo Vallecano played host to Espanyol in the first week at 12 PM, Betis hosted Vallecano at 12 PM the next week, Gijon played Bilbao at 12 PM on 30^th October and now one of the big clubs played early on.

While this early kick off may have been a problem for viewers and fans in North America for whom it would have been early morning, it was the perfect setting for fans in countries like Indonesia, China and Japan who otherwise are accustomed to setting alarms for ungodly hours in the middle of the night to see their favourite teams and stars like Andres Iniesta in action.

Read More

By Dominic Vieira, writing from Lancaster

Asia is evolving into the fastest developing football continent as they’re exporting dozens of young stars into Europe’s most challenging leagues, hosting their second World Cup tournament in 2022 and China and India, the world’s most populous countries have recently started investing heavily in the world’s most watched sport.

Japan is one the leading nations in terms of development, growth, success, and recognition. Their top quality youth academies have been flourishing with several players establishing themselves on big stages, Catania’s Takayuki Morimoto and CSKA’s Keisuke Honda are two perfect examples. This past year some of Japan’s promising stars completed the typical move to Europe with Arsenal capturing an 18 year old who’s been compared to Henry and Ronaldo, Schalke purchased offensive right back Atsuto Uchida who has been making a name for himself in Germany and the player who’s dominating scout reports is Borussia Dortmund’s top summer signing Shinji Kagawa. Does that name ring a bell?

Read More