Bayern have always been my second team since being a child, Father was a manc from Oldham and mother is from Munich

Wow that's a lot of favoured clubs

Are you old enough to remember Hughes playing for them 'Black Rooney'?

comment by Arab of Manchester (U11781)
posted 39 seconds ago
Wow that's a lot of favoured clubs

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Got to have one for each league mate

- Spain - Valencia (I hate Madrid and Barca equally)

- Italy - Lazio (was quite fond of Giuseppe Signori, they also had players like Boksic and Nedved as well as Mihaijlovic) - My dad used to work for an italian firm so we were over there a lot.

- Scotland - Aberdeen (I live in Aberdeen at the moment)

- France (PSG - Rai, Ronaldinho and Okocha)

- Germany (Dortmund - The days of Chapuisat, Sammer, Zorc, Reidle, Lars Ricken, truly fantastic players)

- Holland (Ajax - Fantastic football club who have produced some of the best footballers ever)

- Argentina (Boca Juniors - Diego Maradona)

- Brazil (Fluminense - I don't know why)

- USA (Watch the MLS when I visit the states and if i had my way, the league wouldn't exist.)

Cheers

Call me Mr boring but no. i don't have any.

I have a new found respect for Bilbao after our Europa League meeting. That's about it. I've never really been drawn to following clubs from other divisions. I love watching certain players, but couldnt care less about the teams.

- USA (Watch the MLS when I visit the states and if i had my way, the league wouldn't exist.)

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Made me laugh, and it probably says everything to support your argument that my favoured team doesn't even play in the Mickey Mouse league!

comment by bloodred- (U1222)
posted 3 seconds ago
I have a new found respect for Bilbao after our Europa League meeting. That's about it. I've never really been drawn to following clubs from other divisions. I love watching certain players, but couldnt care less about the teams.
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I don't really care either whether teams outside of United win or lose, but I can't help favouring a particular side in any competition. It just sort of happens, even if it's because of a favourite player or something even more tenuous.

I mean if I watched Samoa play Latvia in a game of Beach Volleyball I'd end up willing on one of them.

Out of interest do you have a preference about who wins La Liga this year from Barca and Madrid? If so, would that change from year to year or would it always be one or the other?

France - Bordeaux (because Zidane played for them)

Italy - Juventus (because Zidane played for them)

Spain - Madrid (because Zidane played for them)

Germany - Dortmund (because Paul Lambert had Zidane in his back pocket)

@Alvin - I was waiting for someone to do that

I felt myself doing the same with a few players like Gazza. I hadn't even heard of Lazio before he went there.

I also used to follow whatever County Cricket team Ian Botham was playing for

Out of interest do you have a preference about who wins La Liga this year from Barca and Madrid? If so, would that change from year to year or would it always be one or the other?
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I want it to be a close title race, thats all. Dont really care who wins.

To be honest the only team abroad I've actually paid much attention to was Inter when they had Ronaldo, because they had Ronaldo.

Serie A was so good back then! Davids, Nedved, Zidane, R9, Pirlo, Maldini. So many great players.

Airbus UK

I tend to have a preference to foreign teams based on their style of play and any individual players I like, as opposed to just the club. That means I often change, of have no preference.

For example, I used to live Juve when they had Zidane, and like Inter equally as they had Ronaldo. Now, I probably prefer Milan as I'm a big fan of Ibra, but am also a fan of Napoli due to their style of play.

I enjoy watching most Spanish sides, and was a fan of Atletico as they had Forlan. I also like Villarreal due to Rossi. Loved Barca when they had Dinho, still like them now, but would like to see someone else win for a change.

I like the underdog usually as well. So, I don't actually have a preferred team as I have no loyalties to them, and haven't actually answered your question. I wonder if anyone is the same?

Spain - Athletico, always seem to have some good players and I can't stand Barca or Madrid.

Italy - Juve, were great when I was younger, one of the European greats for some reason I've always preferred them to Milan or Inter. Players like Zizou, Nedved, Davids, Del Piero, they were great to watch.

Germany - Bayern, probably the club I most like to watch bar Utd.

France - Don't really like any more than the others.

Scotland - St. Mirren, born in Paisley, and Glasgows a dive.

Australia - Melbourne Victory.

AC Milan
Barcelona (though I liked Madrid when Beckham was there purely because of Beckham)
Borussia Dortmund
PSG (mind you, I'm going off them a bit)
Sporting Lisbon
Rangers
LA Cadbury

Great thread.

Russia - Zenit St Petersburg. I lived there for a couple of years and watched Zenit a fair few times. Unfortunately, this was before the money went into Russian football, so it was all about dour football, dangerous crushes, seats with puddles of rainwater on them, etc. And Zenit were nowhere in the Russian league at the time (damn you, Spartak Moscow!). Still, great memories and I'm pleased to see the team prospering these days.
- Germany - Hamburg SV and St Pauli. Ditto, lived in Hamburg for a couple of years. (I met a German girl while I was living in Russia, if you must know. But then I met a Russian girl in Germany and the thing with the German girl ended.) I've always disliked Bayern: a combination of German regional rivalry and losing out to the arrogant Effenberg's Bayern circa 2001.
Italy - Roma. I've always like Totti, I like the fact that Roma was traditionally associated with the left wing fans. Obviously, the serial buttock stabbing incidents take the shine off this.
Brazil - I went to Brazil on my honeymoon and fairly arbitrarily bought myself a Vasco da Gama shirt (white with a black diagonal line). Then I read how Vasco had been the first team to invite black people to play in what had originally been an all-white league. They were temporarily kicked out of the league as a result. It seemed I had randomly chosen the best possible team to admire.
Elsewhere I tend to back the underdogs. E.g. in Spain I'd tend to support the 'third' team in the title race. I have a bit of a man-crush on Bilbao though, after what we saw from the players and fans this month.

'I don't really care either whether teams outside of United win or lose, but I can't help favouring a particular side in any competition. It just sort of happens, even if it's because of a favourite player or something even more tenuous.'

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I get this too. I find it hard to watch football (or sport) without caring who wins. If there isn't a natural preference (e.g. it's better for my team if X wins) it is necessary to choose based on nothing at all, just to sustain the interest.

I know you can appreciate the skill, shape of the game, etc., outside the question of the result but if you are disinterested in who wins, you miss out on something fundamental in the spectacle. (Of course, there is nothing stopping you from changing allegiances half-way through such a match.)

I especially encounter this when watching the World Cup. Does anyone else find themselves willing on the Japanese to beat those Paraguayan pansies, having never really given any thought to Japan or Paraguay before the kick off?

comment by The Wonderfully Sweet Little Pea (U6951)


posted 1 hour, 32 minutes ago

Are you old enough to remember Hughes playing for them 'Black Rooney'?

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Afraid not mate, 2 years before my time i was born in 1990

Spain: the two Madrids. I cannot stand Barca and tbf, IMO the most underrated player in the world and arguably better than Pele and Maradona was the Great Alfredo di Stefano. If Messi is from another planet, Di Stefano is from another solar system.

Holland - Ajax.

Germany - Bayern and i have a soft spot for the Dortmund of the late 80s, early 90s.

France - Monaco for me, a club that flirts with success and failure in equal measure and has launched the careers of a few big names.

Italy - Juventus. Past, present and the future. And they had a player i truly wanted at United over the noughties and late nineties: Pavel Nedved. Forget Ronaldo and Sneijder as being two-footed. The last true two-footed player and he was spectacular in other aspects of the game.

Israel - Maccabi Haifa. Personal and sporting affiliations!

@Red Russian - Def agree about wanting one team like Japan to beat Paraguay etc in the WC, I just can't help picking a side that's playing. Under-dogs is usually a key criteria.

BTW I also agree with the comment

'I've always liked Totti'

But what self respecting male wouldnt

Now, now, The Wonderfully Sweet Little Pea, there may be ladies present.

Scotland - Rangers (brought up Protestant in NIreland)
France - PSG (my place of birth)
Spain - Real Madrid (my favourite Top Trumps team)
Italy - Inter (liked the skips when I was young)
Holland - PSV (from raiding them in Champ Manager)
Romania - Steau Bucharest (my favourite team in Sensi World of Soccer).

scotland- rangers (i loathe neil lennon with every part of my being)
france- no-one really
spain- real mallorca( favourite holiday destination as a kid and saw them 5-6 times)
italy- parma (great team in the late 90's early 2000's crespo, buffon, cannavaro, thuram, couto, dino baggio, sensini)
germany- bayern munich (always felt sorry for them after 99)