January 4: Chelsea sign Newcastle United striker Demba Ba. Though exempt from 2012-13 European cup competitions due to cup-typing, the Senegalese international plays a crucial role in Chelsea’s progression in domestic competition, most-famously with his match-winning over-head goal against Manchester United in the 6th round FA Cup replay. January 7: USA’s Abby Wambach receives her first FIFA International Player of the Year award, denying Brazil's five-time winner, Marta, and fellow U.S. striker, Alex Morgan. Shortly thereafter, FIFA name the winner of the 2012 men's Ballon d'Or: Lionel Messi earns the award for the fourth consecutive year, denying Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo once again. January 8: Megan Rapinoe begins her rendez-vous with French football after signing for Europe’s top competitors in women’s football, Olympique Lyonnais, on a partial deal that will see her return to the U.S. briefly during the summer off-months to play for Seattle Reign of the USA’s NWSL. In her first season, she will become a victor of the French women's league, as well as a runner-up of the UEFA Women's Champions League Final. January 23: Iker Casillas begins the road to recovery after sustaining a broken hand following an accidental collision with Álvaro Arbeloa 18 minutes into Real Madrid’s Copa Del Rey quarterfinal tie against Valencia. The Real Madrid and Spain captain will endure months of recovery, while Diego López returns to the Bernabéu to fill his place. | February 10: Nigerian midfielder Sunday Mba's left-footed volley in front of a crowd, 87,000-strong, is just enough to earn Nigeria their first intercontinental championship in nineteen years; the African Cup of Nations. The Super Eagles defeat Burkina Faso on the midfielder's lone goal to celebrate one of their greatest achievements in recent history, and earn them a spot in Group B of June's Confederations Cup in Brazil, alongside Spain, Uruguay, and Tahiti. February 13: Cristiano Ronaldo scores his first-ever goal against his former club, Manchester United, in the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie. His gravity-defying header in the 30th minute puts Real Madrid back level with the English footballing giants, after Danny Welbeck had netted a header of his own ten minutes prior. February 24: Swansea City defeat Bradford City in a 5-0 rout that sees the Welsh Swans crowned the kings of the English League Cup. The victory is the first ever by a non-English side in the competition, and comes merely one month after the Swans' surprising win over Chelsea FC in the tournament's semifinal round. February 26: Real Madrid defeat Barcelona 3-1 at the Camp Nou to book their ticket to the Copa Del Rey finals in yet another thrilling installment of the world-famous El Clásico. Days later, the Blancos face the Culés once more, this time in La Liga, at the Estadio Bernabéu, and clinch another victory, recording an historic pair of back-to-back wins within a single week. |
March 12: Barcelona continue onto the Champions League semifinals in high style as they come back effortlessly from a two-goal, first-leg deficit to AC Milan in the round of 16. Lionel Messi finds the netting with a whizzing shot just minutes into the tie's second leg, and his Catalan club responds with a snowball effect of goals, resulting in a 4-0 win (4-2 agg.) that makes this Champions League tie one of the year's most astonishing. March 13: The United States Women’s National Team wins their ninth-ever Algarve Cup, and attacking midfielder Megan Rapinoe is named Player of the Tournament for her crafty, deft, and clever style of play. The U.S. make their way through the tournament unscathed, except for a nil-nil draw at Sweden, protecting their unbeaten streak, and building their international dominance. (scroll over the pictures above for captions!) :) | April 14: The inaugural season of the NWSL, USA's top-flight women's professional football league, commences with eight participating clubs. The league is the third of its kind in the United States in the past decade, and fans and executive boards alike wish for its success in its initial, 4-month season. April 28: Chelsea's Eden Hazard and Juan Mata are named to the Professional Footballer's Association (PFA) Team of the Year, while both Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year are awarded to then-Tottenham winger, Gareth Bale. Juan Mata's nomination and subsequent honor come as a special treat, as the ceremony is held on the Spaniard's 25th birthday, and follows Chelsea's 2-0 BPL victory over Swansea City. Spanish footballing giants Real Madrid and Barcelona are brutally eliminated from the UEFA Champions League after semifinal defeats to Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich respectively: a sign of the rise of German dominance in European club football. April 24/30: Robert Lewandowski is Dortmund's lone goalscorer in their tie against Real Madrid, scoring four goals in the tie's first leg, dominating Madrid's single conversion. In the second leg, the royal whites make an incredible last-minute comeback and score two goals to bring the aggregate score to 4-3, but Los Blancos cannot clinch the last goal they need to carry them to La Décima. April 30/May 1: Bayern's flaunt their dominance over 2012-13 La Liga champions Barcelona, and display their characteristic pace, strength, and cohesion with four first-leg goals. The reigning Bundesliga champions only made matters worse for the Catalan club in the second leg, netting three more, and thwarting all chances of an atypical Barça comeback. In contrast to Dortmund's approach over Madrid, Bayern's victory yields a variety of goalscorers and sends the Munich team through to the European finals on a comfortable, 7-0 aggregate. |