MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : FOOTBALL ITALIA – FEBRUARY 1999

Simone and Pippo Inzaghi are the cover stars of this edition of Football Italia, a spin-off magazine of Channel 4’s coverage of Italian football.

In news, Juventus will have a new manager in the summer, with Carlo Ancelotti being picked to succeed Marcello Lippi.

Italy beat a Rest Of The World XI 6-2 in a friendly to mark the 100th anniversary of the FIGC.

There are reviews of the draws for the Quarter-Finals of the three European competitions, the highlight being Inter Milan’s European Cup tie against Manchester United, while the UEFA Cup draw presents the opportunity for an all Italian final.

There is a report on the first leg of the Coppa Italia Quarter-Finals, with Juventus on the brink of elimination after a 2-1 home defeat to Bologna.

The two Inzaghi brothers get a six page profile, which also features some of the famous brothers to have played in Serie A.

Parma are the subject of a club profile, including a two page profile of Hernan Crespo.

Sampdoria also get a profile, under new manager David Platt and new signing Lee Sharpe.

There is also reviews of recent matches and previews of upcoming matches.

The magazine ends with a preview of the next edition, which will feature Lazio, as they aim to win their first title since the 1970s.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : FOOTBALL ITALIA – OCTOBER 1998

Christian Vieri is the cover star of this edition of Football Italia having just signed for Lazio.

Vieri’s move from Atletico Madrid to Lazio gets covered in news, as does Patrick Kluivert’s move from AC Milan to Barcelona, who areunder pressure to replace Ronaldo, who left the previous year.

Three pages are dedicated to Italy’s opening Euro 2000 game, a 2-0 win over Wales at Anfield, Dino Zoff’s first as manager.

There is also international action being reviewed in terms of Italian sides in the three main European competitions, with Juventus getting off to a slow start in their European Cup group.

Also getting reviewed is the early rounds of the Coppa Italia.

Inter Milan get a five page profile, which includes interviews with Roberto Baggio and Ronaldo.

Also getting a five page profile is Fiorentina, under new manager Giovanni Trappatoni.

Oliver Bierhoff gets profiled, having moved from Udinese to AC Milan.

Staying in Milan, there is a profile of Guiseppe Bergomi of Inter, one of the veteran players in Serie A.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : FOOTBALL ITALIA – OCTOBER 1997

Alessandro Del Piero and David Beckham are the cover stars of Football Italia, as Italy face in England in a match that will determine automatic qualification for the 1998 World Cup.

In news, Aldair has been given Italian citizenship, meaning that Roma can now play and extra non EU player.

There is a review of the Supercoppa Italia Final where Juventus beat Vicenza 3-0.

Italian sides in Europe get reviewed with Juventus winning their opening group match in the European Cup while Parma could only draw theirs. Vicenza (European Cup Winners Cup), Inter Milan and Lazio (UEFA Cup) had first leg leads while Udinese trailed Widzew Lodz 1-0 from the first leg of their UEFA Cup tie.

The match between Italy and England gets a twenty-four page preview, focusing on the battle between the two managers, and the two young stars – Del Piero and Beckham.

There is also a guide for any England fans who are visiting Rome for the match.

There is also a profile of the four newly promoted sides to Serie A – Brescia, Empoli, Bari and Lecce.

The opening two weeks of the Serie A season (the season started in late August) get reviewed, with Fiorentina and Inter Milan being the only two teams to win their opening two games.

The magazine ends with an advert for the next month’s edition, which will review the World Cup Qualifier between Italy and England.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : FOOTBALL ITALIA – NOVEMBER 1997

To Russia With Love is the headline of this edition of Football Italia. It’s nothing to do with James Bond, but the fact that Italy will be facing a World Cup Play-Off against Russia after a 0-0 draw with England.

There are two England players celebrating on the cover – Serie A old boys Paul Ince and Paul Gascoigne.

In news, Silvio Berlusconi has ordered AC Milan’s players to learn Italian in order to improve results on the pitch.

In reviews, there is a review of the 3rd Round of the Coppa Italia and the three European competitions, which still have Italian interest.

There is a ten page review of the World Cup Qualifier between Italy and England, which is quite impressive for a 0-0 draw.

Strike partnerships is a theme in this issue, with a look at the duos leading the line for Juventus, Sampdoria, AC Milan and Parma.

There is a look back at the opening weeks of the Serie A season, with Inter Milan being the team getting all the attention in the early weeks.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : FOOTBALL ITALIA – JULY 1998

Two Serie A stars, Christian Vieri (Italy) and Gabriel Batistuta (Argentina) are the cover stars of this edition of Football Italia after heading the goalscoring charts at the World Cup in France.

The group stages, which Italy navigated as group winners get reviewed, but printing deadlines mean you’ll have to wait for the next issue for a review of their fortunes in the knockout stages.

It’s not all about international football, in club news, Juventus have been confirmed as one of the top seeds in the European Cup.

Staying with club football, there is a look at the major transfers in Italian Football so far.

There is a profile of new managers, with Giovanni Trapattoni catching the headlines as Fiorentina’s new manager, while Carlo Ancelotti has held talks with Fenerbache after being sacked by Parma.

There is a six page profile of Serie A champions Juventus, who couldn’t add the European Cup to their domestic title after losing the final for the second successive season, this time, 1-0 to Real Madrid.

Italy’s group games plus their Second Round win over Norway get reviewed, with the game against Austria being erroneously recorded as a 3-0 win for Italy when they actually won 2-1.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : FOOTBALL ITALIA – MAY 1997

This edition of Football Italia previews the FA Cup Final. Confused? Don’t be, this year’s final featured Italians such as Fabrizio Ravanelli and Gianfranco Zola, who were the cover stars of this magazine.

In news, there is a two page report of Italy’s win over Poland in a World Cup Qualifier, which leaves Italy four points clear at the top of the group with only two games to play, although second place England have three games remaining.

Angry AS Roma fans went out to protest at the sale of Francisco Totti to AC Milan which was announced on local radio, only to discover they were victims of an April Fools prank.

There is a report on Juventus reaching the European Cup Final, while Fiorentina’s failure to reach the European Cup Winners Cup Final could see Gabriel Batistuta decide to leave the club.

In ads, Corinthian are bringing out a range of miniature figurines of Serie A star such as Paul Ince and Roberto Baggio.

Not to be left out, Inter Milan get a profile after reaching the UEFA Cup Final.

It’s a month of cup finals, as the Coppa Italia Final between Vicenza and Napoli gets previewed.

Juventus feature prominently in this edition, with profiles of Michele Padovano and Christian Vieri.

Juve’s French players, Zinedine Zidane and Didier Deschamps get profiled in a feature of French players in Serie A.

Roberto Baggio gets a double page feature as his form declines.

The is a five page profile of the FA Cup Final, with Italian interest aplenty in the line-ups of Chelsea and Middlesbrough.

This magazine is very black and white, with Udinese also getting a profile.

The magazine ends with a review of recent matches, as the 1996/1997 season reaches it’s conclusion.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : SHOOT – 31.7.1982

The cover image is of Dino Zoff lifting aloft the World Cup trophy, as Shoot reviews the 1982 World Cup, won by Italy.

As you open the magazine, there is a single page report of the final, with a statistical analysis of the tournament beside it.

There is then a double page profile of the three UK teams at the tournament – England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Shoot then does a more indepth report on the tournament, saying that overall it wasn’t good, but the performances of teams such as Algeria, Cameroon and Honduras meant that expanding it to 24 teams was a success.

Bryan Robson writes in his column that Brazil were the team of the tournament, England would have won it if they had Zico, and that the biggest disappointment was Diego Maradona.

Ron Greenwood is interviewed, saying it had been a great five years as England manager, and that he won’t use his role as an Advisor with the FA to interfere with new manager Bobby Robson.

Phil Thompson uses his column to state he was proud of England’s performances, and that if England weren’t to win it, he would have loved Brazil to do so.

Danny McGrain uses his column to express his pride at Scotland winning the youth version of the European Championship, as well as the emergence of players such as Ally McCoist, David Moyes, Neale Cooper and Scott McGarvey.

Malcolm Allison believes that he should have been appointed England manager, and told Shoot that. Shoot also profiled his current club, Portugese champions Sporting Lisbon.

Ray Wilkins provides a full page World Cup diary for Shoot. He had a shopping trip to Madrid ruined by the weather.

Shoot does a story on Kenny Dalglish, whose international career looks over at the age of 31 after being dropped during the World Cup by Jock Stein.

It wasn’t all about the World Cup. In domestic football, Eddie Gray has been appointed manager of Leeds United, which he describes as a mammoth task.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : WHEN SATURDAY COMES – AUGUST 2012

Joined by Juan Mata, Fernando Torres is the cover star of this month’s When Saturday Comes, looking back in a horrendous season for him that saw him become a European champion for club and country, top scorer in Euro 2012 and an FA Cup winner.

Euro 2012 dominates this edition, with a day by day diary of the competition, looking back at every game, including a photographic look at how fans watched the tournament in the UK, while there was a feature on those who did travel to Poland and Ukraine, where the welcome for travelling fans wasn’t as bad as feared.

There is a look bad at some of the tournament’s failures, with group stage exiters Holland and Russia getting full page features on their failure.

Underdogs get profiles, with Republic of Ireland and Greece getting a full page looking back at their respective fortunes, as did both finalists Spain and Italy.

There is a look forward to Euro 2016, with sceptical analysis on the decision to increase the tournament from 16 teams to 24 teams.

In club football, there is a look at Harry Redknapp’s sacking as Tottenham Hotspur manager, and the polarising nature of the reaction to his departure from fans and media.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : WORLD SOCCER – AUGUST 1986

It’s the summer of 1986, and Diego Maradona, holding aloft the World Cup is the cover star of World Soccer, with Mexico 86 still a recent memory.

As you open the magazine, there is a tribute to former FIFA President Sir Stanley Rous, described as “The Father Of Football”, who was taken ill in Mexico, and died a few weeks later on his return to London.

World Soccer views Mexico 86 as a success, but the tournament was not without flaws. Having 24 teams in the finals and allowing some 3rd placed teams to qualify, in their view, encouraged Bulgaria to employ negative tactics against Argentina, as a narrow defeat would put them through.

Azeglio Vicini is the favourite for the Italy job, should Enzo Bearzot leave his job as manager of the recently dethroned champions.

There is a double page profile of Argentina’s winning squad.

France get a post-mortem, having reached the Semi-Finals for the second successive tournament, where it is declared that their glorious midfield is a thing of the past.

Denmark get previewed, but are looking forward, not back, to an upcoming friendly against West Germany as they aim for revenge against a team they beat in Mexico. Why revenge? West Germany manager Franz Beckenbauer described their style of play as primitive.

England’s post-mortem focuses om the future of Bobby Robson, with writer Eric Batty saying he must stay in the job.

Bayern Munich get a double page feature as they aim to win the European Cup. They came close, losing to Porto in he final that season.

There is a feature on two young Scottish managers in big jobs, Kenny Dalglish who won the League and FA Cup in his first season as Liverpool manager, and Graeme Souness, given his first job at Rangers, and caused a stir by calling them the biggest club in Britain.

In Yugoslavia, Partizan Belgrade have been stripped of the league title as a result of alleged match fixing.

The draws for the 1st Round of the three European trophies are reviewed, with the tie of the round being the meeting of PSV Eindhoven and Bayern Munich in the European Cup.

There is a feature about club football in Canada, or rather, the lack of, something which World Soccer says is vital is they want to capitalise on reaching their first World Cup.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : GEORGE BEST’S WORLD CUP PREVIEW

Later today, Russia will face Saudi Arabia in the opening game of the 2018 World Cup.

In a special edition of the Magazine Archive, we go back to 1970 when George Best brings out a World Cup preview magazine. You know it’s 1970 because there’s a sombrero on the cover, which means it’s the year that Mexico hosted the World Cup.

As you open the magazine, George Best comments on his jealously of listening to England players talk about looking forward to the World Cup when travelling to away matches with Manchester United. The reason why George Best is jealous, if you don’t know, is because Northern Ireland failed to qualify.

Best doesn’t believe England will retain the trophy, but says they will deserve applause if they do, predicting that Brazil and Italy, the two eventual finalists, were the most likely teams to win it.

Before even starting, the tournament has provided some diplomatic headaches, as El Salvador and Honduras were at war with each other during qualifying matches between the two countries, while Morocco requested not to be drawn against Israel, and Czechoslovakia asked not to play the Soviet Union.

All sixteen teams are profiled, with player biographies, player photos and a list of results of how they qualified.

The magazine ends with a look back at the 1966 World Cup, held in England, and an aerial shot of the Aztec Stadum in Mexico City, the ground that will host the final.