Notebook: Smurfs in Plovdiv
Let’s be honest, the Bulgarian Cup final was only ever going to end one way: with enormous smurfs taking over Plovdiv city council...
1 DUTCH COURAGE Denmark Esbjerg
It’s seven months since former Tottenham midfielder Rafael van der Vaart announced his retirement, but he’s now embarking on a new career as a darts pro.
Van der Vaart ended his playing days in Denmark, where his girlfriend plays handball for Team Esbjerg. He’s now made his darts debut at the Denmark Open, emerging victorious against Thomas Andersen before losing in the second round, presumably after pulling up with a hamstring problem mid-match.
2 RISE OF THE SMURFS Bulgaria Plovdiv
Lokomotiv Plovdiv won their first trophy for 15 years during 2018-19, but it was off-field officials who took the headlines.
First, club owner Hristo Krusharski turned up at a league match in a referee’s shirt and offered to officiate (this was refused, obviously). Then they beat rivals Botev Plovdiv in the Bulgarian Cup final, and administrative director Atanas Uzunov attended the following day’s city council meeting dressed as the club’s mascot, a giant smurf. Top banter, lads.
3 PETR CECH: LYRICAL GENIUS England London
Rafael van der Vaart isn’t the only one turning his attention to other things after retirement: Petr Cech has launched a singing career.
The 37-year-old learned to play the drums some time ago, and now he’s released a charity single with Queen’s Roger Taylor called That’s Football.
It includes Cech singing such lyrics as, “Penalty, save, clean sheet, red card” and, “That’s football, yeah football, love football, play football”. We’d say don’t give up your day job, but he just did…
4 “WHAT SORT OF CLOTHES LINE IS THAT?” England Wolverhampton
What is it about WWE and English football clubs at the moment? Following on from Mick Foley’s appearance at Sheffield United, Sin Cara decided to pay Wolverhampton Wanderers a visit.
The Mexican-american enjoyed a guided tour of Molineux as a guest of Wolves striker Raul Jimenez, a massive wrestling fan who’d donned a Sin Cara mask as part of a goal celebration against Watford in the sides’ FA Cup semi-final.
FFT looks forward to the WWE trend continuing: look out for The Undertaker at Forest Green Rovers and The Ultimate Warrior at Port Vale.
5 THEY’VE GOT BOTTLE Morocco Berkane
Nothing stirs the emotions quite like the CAF Confederations Cup semi-finals, and it all kicked off after Moroccan club Berkane’s match against Tunisian side Sfaxien.
Berkane overturned a 2-0 first-leg deficit to win 3-2 on aggregate, but Sfaxien players were less than impressed with the officiating, surrounding them after the final whistle. Bottles and punches were thrown, before referee Maguette Ndiaye tried to calm the situation. “I was not beaten up,” he insisted afterwards. “It was my second assistant who was assaulted.” Well, that’s all right then...
6 REIMS OF IDEAS France Reims
Nine French cities will host the Women’s World Cup, and each of them has a stylish poster to show for it.
Lyon’s poster features a woman scoring an overhead kick, while the Paris graphic includes the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe. Given the posters were devised some time ago, thankfully they ignored Notre-dame at the design stage and included a very similar-looking cathedral on the Reims poster instead. The last time we checked, that one definitely wasn’t ablaze.
7 SOLOMON 2 SOLOMONS 3 Jersey Saint Helier
The fixture of the month was in the Channel Islands: Jersey juniors vs Solomon Islands U17s.
The Solomon Islands have qualified for the FIFA Under-17 World Cup for the first time and prepared with a trip to Saint Helier. Jersey had a cunning plan, though: fielding youngster Sol Solomon to confuse the Solomons. The Solomons were unable to stop Solomon scoring twice, but Solomon’s efforts were in vain as the Solomons won 3-2.