Offside Sound Off: Which Mainstream Media Football Websites Do You Read and Why?

By: Daryl | June 8th, 2009

If you’re reading this, then you probably already love football blogs. They are a (mostly) excellent source of information, opinion, entertainment and community. And videos with rude words in them. But while there’s a definite wealth of football bloggy goodness out there in internet-land, this post isn’t about our beloved blog-brothers and sisters.

It’s about mainstream (or mass) media.

Because they’re still the big boys. They’re still the ones that (for the most part) break the news we react to, get the interviews we can’t and – in some cases – employ writers with superior knowledge/quality. I don’t want to get into the relationship between blogs and mainstream media. Mostly because those discussions tend to get either too idealistic (”viva la revolution de blog!”) or a bit too theoretical (”what really constitutes mainstream media, hmm?” etc).

So let’s ignore all that and ask this question: Which mainstream media football websites do you read?

For argument’s sake let’s say a mainstream media football website is basically anything that that has a big budget or is owned by a large company. So broadsheets newspapers like The Guardian and The Times. Tabloid newspapers like The Sun, Bild, Marca etc. Big TV/radio company owned websites like ESPN Soccernet or the BBC. Even relatively independent websites like football365.com that are part of bigger companies and blogs. and of course, there’s always the official league and club websites.

For my own part I like the BBC for news (because they’re nice and neutral and never knowingly sensational) and The Guardian for analysis (because they have some smart people writing for them). But I try and read around as much as possible.

How about you? Which mainstream media websites do you read or not read? And, most importantly: Why?

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Category: World Football

Tags: blogs, mainstream media, World Football, World Soccer

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• martin |  June 8th, 2009 at 7:39 am

  
  
  

  For me its just BBC and here. This is one of my favourite websites. Although I must admit I enjoy reading articles from the guardian, but I usually only find them through links from this site.

  Posted from United States

  

• Matteo |  June 8th, 2009 at 7:50 am

  
  
  

  I read Yahoo Italia/Eurosports, theOffside, plus any interesting linked stories from theOffside blogs.

  Posted from United States

  

• alessio |  June 8th, 2009 at 8:46 am

  
  
  

  Gazzetta dello Sport and LaStampa.

  Posted from United States

  

• Laurens |  June 8th, 2009 at 8:50 am

  
  
  

  For Dutch football news I use VI.nl

  Posted from Netherlands

  

• Dhaw |  June 8th, 2009 at 8:53 am

  
  
  

  Oh so no one reads thrash.com (goal.com) eh.

  liars !

  Posted from United States

  

• Hilal |  June 8th, 2009 at 9:03 am

  
  
  

  Goal.com for their consistently reliable journalism…..lol

  Posted from United States

  

• Matt |  June 8th, 2009 at 9:22 am

  
  
  

  Soccernet and BBC for normal Euro News, Footie 365 for EPL specific stuff and Mediawatch, which is usually hilarious.

  I also hit up Fox Sports for my Latin American footie news as they have a lot more/better coverage than most mainstream places.

  Posted from United States

  

• Julian |  June 8th, 2009 at 9:43 am

  
  
  

  I love The Guardian (Sid lowe in particular is a fantastic writer and a huge inspiration for me), and channel4 is great for Italian news. I do use goal.com- not gonna lie- but I always double check what they say with other sites.

  Posted from United States

  

• Chris |  June 8th, 2009 at 9:44 am

  
  
  

  I start with the local papers (Hamburg Abendblatt and Hamburg Morgenpost) and Bild. Kicker.de is good too, as is Weld.de. Eurosport, Soccernet, and Sporting Life are good for headlines and scores.

  Posted from United States

  

• Spenser |  June 8th, 2009 at 9:47 am

  
  
  

  ESPN Soccernet
  The Offside (haha)
  Liverpoolfc.tv
  The Times
  Football365.com
  Sky
  The Sun (for kicks)
  I enjoy dirtytackle.net, offthepost.info, a few other random blogs

  Posted from United States

  

• Laurie |  June 8th, 2009 at 10:03 am

  
  
  

  For MLS fans, I think MLSnet.com is a must read. Other than that, definitely Guardian. For French stuff, l’Equipe. Goal.com if they turn up in a google search. (Trust but verify.) And, of course, us.

  Oh, and Kickette’s mainstream, right?

  Posted from United States

  

• Amanda |  June 8th, 2009 at 10:14 am

  
  
  

  Steve Goff’s blog at washingtonpost.com. He breaks more stories than just about anyone else in the States and it’s great reading. http://blog.washingtonpost.com/soccerinsider/

  ps Kickette’s *totally* mainstream

  Posted from United States

  

• Wayne Farry |  June 8th, 2009 at 10:19 am

  
  
  

  I’m not going to mention The Offside because it’s a given.

  Maybe once every two months I’ll buy FourfourTwo or World Soccer, or both. Day-to-day, I’ll go through the Guardian website in-depth. I listen to Football Weekly at any opportunity, the banter and generally footie knowledge buzzing about it makes it great. The other main site I go on is Football365 because it’s quite funny, I like some humour with my football news.

  I’ll also try and get the Observer Sport Monthly whenever I remember.

  Otherwise, I breeze through the usual guff of GOAL.com, The Sun and many other poor sport sites.

  Posted from Ireland

  

• Hawk |  June 8th, 2009 at 10:53 am

  
  
  

  http://fcbtransfers.blogspot.com/! Yay!

  Posted from United States

  

• Ibracadabra |  June 8th, 2009 at 10:56 am

  
  
  

  “Bigger”: Timesonline.co.uk, BBC, Guardian, Football 365

  “Better”: The Offside, Unprofessional Foul, Off the Post, Dirty Tackle, and Never Captain Nicky Butt

  “Best”: GaiAssulin.com

  Posted from United States

  

• Jem |  June 8th, 2009 at 10:58 am

  
  
  

  -for Juventus news I read LaStampa.it
  -i like the live game casts on espnsoccernet.com
  -im also guilty of perusing goal.com from time to time. it’s like watching a reality tv show that you know is complete trash and a waste of time, but you just can’t stop looking…

  Posted from United States

  

• Musab |  June 8th, 2009 at 11:25 am

  
  
  

  BBC and Guardian for me. BBC mainly for things I want to confirm.

  LigTv is good for Turkish footy as they post high quality vids along with their news.

  galatasaray.org does a good job of giving a daily log of what’s going on with the CimBom.

  Posted from United States

  

• Cesar |  June 8th, 2009 at 12:01 pm

  
  
  

  I forgot to mention that http://www.roadto2010final.blogspot.com is an exceptional read as far as the 2010 World Cup from an African perspective goes.

  Posted from United States

  

• Daryl |  June 8th, 2009 at 12:12 pm

  
  
  

  Everyone,

  Please don’t use this comment thread to promote your own blog. The question is “Which mainstream media football websites do you read?” Not “what’s the url of your blog?”

  Posted from United States

  

• Jack |  June 8th, 2009 at 1:41 pm

  
  
  

  Foremost, the Guardian — best football writing in the world. The Independent and Times for more quality writing. And then there’s Sky Sports and BBC. Absolutely despise Soccernet.

  Posted from United States

  

• Johonna |  June 8th, 2009 at 2:20 pm

  
  
  

  Well, I follow Italian football, so my main sources are:
  News:
  La Stampa
  La Gazzetta dello Sport
  Il Corriere dello sport

  Gossip:
  tuttomercatoweb
  calciomercato

  English Language:
  Channel 4 – football italia
  Sky Sports

  Posted from United States

  

• Rory |  June 8th, 2009 at 3:36 pm

  
  
  

  Goal.com – I know it’s rubbish, but it’s url is short
  The Guardian – Brilliant analysis and writing, Sid Lowe is my favourite journalist bar none
  Fourfourtwo.com – Mainstream? maybe. Carries a lot of A-League news

  Posted from Australia

  

• Daryl |  June 8th, 2009 at 10:39 pm

  
  
  

  Goal.com – “I know it’s rubbish, but it’s url is short”

  Maybe they’ll adopt that as their new advertising slogan?

  Posted from United States

  

• Marcus |  June 9th, 2009 at 2:10 am

  
  
  

  442.om is shit for the A-League in my opinion. Its always like Rykavysta and Twente beat Ajax and hes not even on the bench. Not to mention the all the bullshit like Denilson coming to Australia.
  For Australia i believe the best site to be The World Game (http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/)
  Always reliable, has highlights from all around the globe, great if u like Serie A, La Liga etc. (all in english)
  Also they are a big contributor to football in Australia, no Aussie fan can ever thank you enough.

  Posted from United States

  

• culè |  June 9th, 2009 at 4:07 am

  
  
  

  i’m a fan of the spanish football so reguarly use elmundodeportivo.es and sport.es for barca related news and sometimes i pop into either as.com or marca.es, also use goal.com

  Posted from Norway

  

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