Is Ligue 1 becoming fashionable again? France Football asked its readers in an internet poll last week.

Fifa will allow the public to vote in a rebranded version of its player of the year of the award, world soccer’s governing body said yesterday.

Reigning PFA Players’ Player of the Year Riyad Mahrez has committed his future to Leicester by signing a new deal with the Premier League champions.

Every great tournament has its rising stars. Here are ten who could really shine

Jurgen Klopp tells a story about playing a hypothetical game of tennis against a three-year-old girl. It would be no fun, he said, if he smashed the ball at her and won easily while she stood and watched. He’d rather play table-tennis against someone his own age and lose.

Zinedine Zidane says he would have accepted the chance to replace Carlo Ancelotti as Real Madrid coach had he been offered the job.

Cristiano Ronaldo admits his rivalry with Lionel Messi continues to push both players to improve.

Paul Kelly writes that in 1964 Denis Law scored 50 goals in 51 matches, a staggering return that earned him the Ballon d’Or.

French Football Federation president Noel Le Graet claims he turned down an approach from Zinedine Zidane to succeed Laurent Blanc as national coach in 2012.

Midfielders Aaron Ramsey and Santi Cazorla have signed new contracts with Arsenal, the club have announced.

Cristiano Ronaldo had no idea he was going to win the Ballon d’Or for the world’s best player last week and only burst into tears as he picked up his award when he saw his family crying at the ceremony.

Yaya Toure has spoken of his obsession with football and compared himself to a professor trying “to crack the mysteries of the game”.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are not the world’s favourite footballers.

Paul Kelly (France Football magazine’s Ireland correspondent) and Jimmy Magee (RTÉ) omitted Lionel Messi in their vote for the Ballon d’Or prize. Here Kelly explains the reasons for their decision.

Gianfranco Zola believes his experiences at Watford will aid him in his quest to land the Chelsea job at some point in the future.

Cristiano Ronaldo admits he is growing tired of comparisons with Lionel Messi and believes the race for the Balon d’Or is wide open.

It’s normal for fans to leave early when their side has taken a beating.

Chelsea star Eden Hazard has revealed he would likely be playing for Tottenham had they qualified for this season’s Champions League.

Roberto Martinez has added to the pressure on Liverpool coach Brendan Rodgers after the first game of the season by revealing that he was the club’s first choice to take over from Kenny Dalglish this summer.

France’s ‘1987 Generation’, so-called after the year of their birth, had been tipped to lead Les Bleus to a repeat of the team’s success at Euro 2000.

He may not have won anything since 2005 and his position may have come under threat earlier this season but Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is the highest paid coach in England and the fourth highest paid in the world.

David Beckham’s management tonight dismissed French media reports that the former England captain is in Paris to complete a move to Paris St Germain.

Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Xavi were today shortlisted for the 2011 FIFA Ballon d’Or, FIFA and France Football announced.

ON Thursday night, in his regular slot on Off The Ball, John Giles ventured the opinion that on the strength of his performances against Everton and Galati, Wayne Rooney was the best central midfield player in the Premier League.

Seven members of the Barcelona side which claimed last season’s Champions League and Primera Division double were today named on the 23-man shortlist for the 2011 FIFA Ballon d’Or.

Gervinho may feel he will fit right in at Arsenal, but Gunners boss Arsene Wenger is likely to be facing a huge void in his squad when they return for pre-season training next week.

GERVINHO has broken his silence about his proposed move to Arsenal and revealed he expects it to be finalised in the next 24 hours.

A LITTLE bit of football history will be made today when Michel Platini hands over the Europa League trophy in Dublin. A first for Ireland and also a first for Portugal.

ARSENE WENGER has claimed that European players’ insular attitudes are partly to blame for their struggles at the World Cup, although he added that in-fighting, poor technique and an easy qualifying campaign were also factors to Europe’s poor showing in South Africa.

France midfielder Jeremy Toulalan admits he and his team-mates ran out of ideas in the disastrous defeat to Mexico which looks like bringing their World Cup to a premature end.

France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris has no plans to leave Lyon this summer.

Didier Drogba admits he misses Marseille but believes it would be hard to return to his former club.

BAYERN MUNICH defender Philipp Lahm has played down the impact of Lyon’s travel woes ahead of tonight’s Champions League semi-final first leg.

Bordeaux striker Marouane Chamakh insists he will stay with the Ligue 1 champions until the end of the season.

French football authorities are considering employing someone to work alongside Raymond Domenech at the helm of Les Bleus.

Argentina’s Lionel Messi has won the prestigious Ballon d’Or.

France may have qualified for the World Cup but the pressure has not eased on coach Raymond Domenech, who has come under fresh fire from World Cup-winning boss Aime Jacquet.

THE fallout from France’s qualification for the World Cup has continued with in the country after national team coach Raymond Domenech blasting fans for their criticism of Henry, saying conceded that Thierry Henry he has always had a tense relationship with the team’s fans — and he rubbished his captain’s claim that he was left out to dry by members of the French football federation.

THERE still won’t be a rematch but the fallout from Ireland’s controversial World Cup play-off defeat to France has prompted FIFA President Sepp Blatter to call an extraordinary meeting of the governing body’s Executive Committee in Cape Town, South Africa next week.

Defender Eric Abidal has urged France not to fall for the Republic of Ireland’s “provocation” on Saturday.

FRANCE World Cup legend Zinedine Zidane is confident Les Bleus will overcome Ireland in their play-off battle.

From marriage proposals live on TV and wishing he could gun down dodgy Leos, to dissing Wenger and ‘Comedian’ Mourinho, Raymond Domenech’s controversial comments would earn him the trophy for the world’s whackiest football manager — and that’s one more trophy than he’s actually won as a coach.

IRELAND’S hope of reaching next year’s World Cup finals received a significant boost last night after respected magazine France Football reported Franck Ribery is a major doubt for next month’s play-offs.