European soccer’s “big three” — Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich — have combined to win the past six Champions League trophies and seven of the past eight. But this season, these clubs aren’t quite as dominant as they used to be, and there’s just a 31 percent chance that one of them will win […]
The Premier League season is barely halfway over, but the title basically could be decided this week. Right now, Liverpool has a 7-point lead over Manchester City at the top of the table. The two teams face off Thursday at Etihad Stadium in Manchester, and a Liverpool victory would result in a likely insurmountable 10-point […]
The UEFA Champions League knockout stage draw happened today. Sixteen teams found out their next opponent on the road to the final. How pot-holed of a road did your club draw? Here’s what FiveThirtyEight’s Soccer Power Index thinks of the Round of 16 matchups. A lot has changed at Real Madrid since they won the […]
Goalkeepers have historically been the most undervalued players in the world soccer transfer market. Until very recently, even the richest teams in Europe rarely spent extravagantly to fill the position. When Juventus paid Parma $42 million for Gianluigi Buffon in 2001 — a record fee at the time — it was considered a staggering amount. […]
The Premier League, which kicks off Friday afternoon, is often regarded as the most competitive league in the world, if not the best. In fact, both of those assumptions might be false: While the Premier League boasts four of the top 10 and six of the top 15 teams in the world according to our […]