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 – APRIL 1997

Youri Djorkaeff of Inter Milan is the man of the moment towards the end of the 1996/1997 season, and this is reflected with being on the cover of Football Italia.

The editorial focuses on the good vibes in Italian football – the national team are storming to the World Cup while their clubs are aiming for a clean sweep of European trophies.

There is a review of the League Cup Final in England. Why? Fabrizio Ravanelli and Middlesbrough were aiming for glory. The game between Middlesbrough and Leicester finished 1-1 and would need a replay.

In news, Inter Milan manager Roy Hodgson announced he would be leaving the club to join Blackburn Rovers, to replace Sven Goran Eriksson, who accepted the job but changed his mind before taking charge.

There is a review of the Quarter-Finals for all three European competitions, as Juventus face a European Cup Semi-Final against Ajax, in a repeat of the previous year’s final.

There is a review of the Coppa Italia Semi-Finals, which will see Napoli take on Vicenza in the final.

There is an advert for Chelsea’s official magazine, partly due to the Italian trio of Vialli, Zola and Di Matteo.

Cover star Youri Djorkaeff gets a five page profile, billed as “The New Platini”.

There is a three page feature on what Italy’s team for the 2006 World Cup would look like. The only one they had was Gianluigi Buffon.

Gianluca Festa gets profiled having signed for Middlesbrough, who says he is up for a relegation scrap even though Paul Ince says they are too good to go down.

Ken Wolstenholme’s column predicts that Juventus will face Manchester United in the European Cup Final.

Previews of upcoming matches predict that Juventus will be champions within the next month.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE: WORLD SOCCER – MARCH 1986

UEFA Cup holders Real Madrid are the cover image of this edition of World Soccer, after turning around a 5-1 first leg defect against Borussia Moenchengladbach to go through on away goals.

All three European competitions are at the Quarter-Final stage, with the pairing of Barcelona and Juventus in the European Cup denying people what World Soccer described as the “dream final”

There is a stat filled preview of all 12 games, with a full page profile of Finnish shock European Cup Quarter Finalists Kuusysi Lathi.

There is a double page profile of the African Nations Cup, with World Soccer observing that Morocco and Algeria could be distracted by the summer’s World Cup in Mexico.

Ahead of the World Cup, there are double page previews of Spain, Denmark, Northern Ireland, France, Belgium and Soviet Union.

Brian Glanville uses his column to review Steve Perryman’s autobiography.

In Italy, there is another scandal in the boardroom, this tine at Vicenza.

In Poland, Dariusz Dziekanowski is hailed as the new star of Polish football, while in Spain, Javier Clemente has just been sacked bu Athletic Bilbao.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : FOOTBALL ITALIA – JUNE 1997

Roberto Baggio is the cover star of Football Italia this month, having made a return to the Italy team in a recent World Cup Qualifier.

There is a report of the Serie A title race, where Juventus won the title, but lost the European Cup Final.

In Rome, Zdenek Zeman has been appointed the manager of Roma, just months after being sacked by Roma, while Jurgen Klinsmann is returning to Serie A after five years away by signing for Sampdoria.

There are reviews of the European and UEFA Cup Finals, which saw defeats for Juventus and Inter Milan.

Domestically, there is a review of the Coppa Italia Final, where Vicenza beat Napoli 3-1 on aggregate.

Parma get a four page profile, mainly focusing on their young stars Gianluigi Buffon and Hernan Crespo.

Atalanta also get a club profile, with one of their youngsters who went on to bigger things, Filippo Inzaghi.

Italy have a busy month coming up, taking part in Le Tournoi in France, a warm-up tournament in France for the following year’s World Cup featuring England, France and Brazil, while their recent World Cup Qualifier against Poland gets reviewed, a match which saw a goal for Roberto Baggio.

There is a review of the FA Cup Final, while saw Roberto Di Matteo score in Chelsea’s 2-0 win over Middlebrough, led by Fabrizio Ravanelli.

Sven Goran Eriksson gets interviewed as he leaves Sampdoria for Lazio, and broken a promise to Blackburn Rovers to take their job.

The magazine ends with a look at Genoa’s bid to win promotion back to 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 : SELECT – MAY 1992

Bono is the cover star of this edition of Select, an edition which goes on tour with U2.

In news, 1992 is going to be a busy year for Madonna, as she will release an erotic book, a new album, and star in a film.

Select spends eight days with Paul Heaton of The Beautiful South, a period which covers an Irish Awards Ceremony, and a trip to Italy to see Juventus, where his taxi driver helped him buy a ticket from a tout for “a reasonable price”

Boo Radleys get a double page feature, which reveals that Tim Brown, their Bassist, lives in Stuart Sutcliffe (original Bassist in The Beatles) old house.

Therapy?, The Sugarcubes, Lou Reed, Soundgarden and Ride get concert reviews in this edition.

Carter USM hold a press conference to address the state of the nation, and aren’t particularly complimentary to Lush or Ride.

Cover stars U2 get six pages as Select joins them on tour in America.

That is followed by four pages of The Cure, after they have launched a comeback.

In reviews, Jesus and Mary Chain have a new album out, which gets awarded five out of five, while Lightning Seeds new album gets two out of five.

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 : MANCHESTER UNITED – JANUARY 1997

Ryan Giggs, modelling United’s new third kit, is the cover star of the club’s official magazine, laying down the gauntlet to FC Porto, United’s opponents in the European Cup Quarter-Final.

As you open the magazine, there is an advert to buy a Manchester United branded Gameboy, if that’s your thing.

Pat Crerand’s column continues on a European theme, commenting that the main difference between United and Juventus – who beat United twice in the group stages – is that Juventus players are more experienced.

In news, Roy Keane is hoping to return to action this month after injury, while there is a new Norwegian at Old Trafford with Erik Nevland joining Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ronny Johnsen.

A breakout star this season, David Beckham gets a five page interview.

Also getting five pages is United’s recent game against European Champions Juventus, canvassing the viewpoints of those who witnessed it on TV, touchline and stands.

There is a review of United’s matches in November 1996, a month that brough mixed results.

United’s mixed form doesn’t concern manager Alex Ferguson as he gives a mid season report.

In ads, ASDA announce that you can now buy United merchandise at their stores.

The magazine ends with a Q and A with Ben Thornley, who reveals that he recently went to see Bryan Adams in concert.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : FOOTBALL ITALIA – JULY 1997

It’s a special edition of Football Italia dedicated to the achievements of Juventus, who have just won their 24th Serie A title.

There is a review of Le Tournoi in France, a four team tournament that Italy finished bottom of. Despite that, there were still reasons for the Azzuri to be optimistic.

There is a profile of two of Italy’s best young strikers, Filippo Inzaghi of Atalanta and Vincenzo Montello of Sampdoria.

Juventus get a whopping thirty-five pages, looking at their two International trophies, European Cup Final defeat, Serie A title, as well as profiles of Marcello Lippi and Zinedine Zidane.

Having pushed Juventus close in the title race, Parma get a double page profile.

The magazine ends with listing all the results in Italy in the final weeks of the 1996/1997 season.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : WORLD SOCCER – JANUARY 1986

Bryan Robson is the cover star of the first World Soccer of 1986, a year he hopes will bring him glory for club and country, neither of which have celebrated glory since the 1960s.

The draw for the 1986 World Cup has taken place, the first World Cup where final group games are played simultaneously, amid complaints of travelling between stadiums.

This draw gets plenty of coverage. The group stages sees Italy and Argentina paired together, the 4th successive World Cup they would meet each other.

There is a feature on Canada captain Bruce Wilson, who finds himself without a club six months before the tournament, while Morocco get a profile.

There is a double page report on Juventus, who have just won the World Club after beating Argentinos Juniors on penalties.

There is a feature on European Cup Quarter-Finalists Steau Bucharest.

In Austria, Bruno Pezzey has been appointed captain of the national side, as they aim to qualify for Euro 88.

In England, it looked like Manchester United were going to run away with the title, but have been pulled back by Liverpool after a series of bad results.

Malcolm Allison has the World Cup on his mind, but the 1990 one, having been appointed manager of Kuwait.

In Turkey, there is unrest at Fenerbache, with players protesting at bonuses that were promised to the squad not being paid.