Football "never stops," according to Grant Wahl of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED. Even now, "when most of the world’s leagues are dormant at New Year’s, the English Premier League is powering through one of its busiest stretches of the season." Football’s continuously spinning wheel "is one thing that makes the sport great, but the end of the calendar year is always a good time to look back and look forward." Here are Wahl's top 10 football stories of '15:
1. U.S. Women Win World Cup
For the first time since '99, the U.S. "raised the Women’s World Cup trophy." The 5-2 triumph "captivated an average U.S. TV audience of 27 million," the most ever to watch a football game in the U.S.
2. Loretta Lynch Nails FIFA
Corruption allegations "have dogged FIFA for years," but everything changed May 27 when Swiss agents (working with the U.S. Department of Justice and its attorney general, Lynch) raided a Zurich hotel and made a series of arrests connected to racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy. Within days FIFA President Sepp Blatter announced he would be leaving his post -- FIFA would ban Blatter and UEFA President Michel Platini, the two most powerful people in world football, for eight years -- "and by the end of the year more than 40 football officials and marketers had been charged in the U.S. investigation."
3. U.S. Men Fall Flat
After a '14 in which the U.S. men exceeded expectations at the World Cup, Jurgen Klinsmann’s team finished fourth in the CONCACAF Gold Cup, "including a stunning semifinal loss to Jamaica, and squandered its chance at redemption with a 3-2 extra-time loss to Mexico in the playoff for a Confederations Cup spot."
4. Barcelona Rises to New Heights
Barcelona’s titles in '15 included the UEFA Champions League, the Spanish league, the Copa del Rey and the FIFA Club World Cup. Lionel Messi "returned to being the premier player on the planet," and his trident with Neymar and Luis Suárez "produced some of the most sublime" football we have ever seen.
5. Mourinho Wins Premier League, Fired Seven Months Later
Rarely "have we ever seen a team fall from champion to also-ran as quickly as Chelsea did" in '15. Jose Mourinho’s team won the Premier League title by eight points in May, and even if the club did not play its best football last spring, nobody would have predicted they would be just above the relegation zone in late December -- "and without Mourinho, who was fired December 17" (SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, 12/29). Click here to see the rest of Wahl's list.
'TIS THE SEASON: SBD Global put together a collection of lists featuring the year’s top int’l sports stories. As expected, the FIFA scandal, arguably the biggest story of the year,
found its way into the top 10 lists of news outlets around the globe. Other lists include the Times of India’s collection of major sporting retirements, Sky Sports’ top 10 F1 moments and a summary of what the London Guardian considers to be the best sports books of ‘15.
U.K.
Best Sports Books of 2015 (GUARDIAN, 12/5).
2015’s Alternative Sporting Heroes (London TELEGRAPH, 12/23).
Germany
Germany’s Top Sporting Moments of the Year (HANDELSBLATT, 12/29).
Asia
Major Sporting Retirements (TIMES OF INDIA, 12/28).
Top 10 Int’l Sports News (XINHUA, 12/28).
South China Morning Post’s 10 Best Read Sports Stories (SCMP, 12/27).
Top World Sports Stories of 2015 (JAPAN TIMES, 12/24).
South Africa
South Africa’s Top Five Sports Stories of 2015 (TIMES LIVE, 12/23).
Football
Top Soccer Stories of 2015 (SPORTS NET, 12/27).
Top 10 Soccer Stories of 2015 (SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, 12/29).
2015: Football’s Five Big Stories (SKY SPORTS, 12/28).
F1
Top 10 F1 Moments (SKY SPORTS, 12/24).
