AROUND THE FOOTBALLING WORLD ON A MONDAY AFTERNOON

CHAMOIS NIORTAIS who play in the French second tier are without a league win for ten games - they have only lost three of those games with seven draws. Saturday 12th December saw their last league win against Ajaccio which ended 2-0. Next Saturday they entertain PAU who are currently second from bottom but have two wins in their last five league games. 

UNION DEPORTIVA IBIZA are currently top of the Segunda Division B Group B - The top three go into the promotion group with a chance of promotion to the second tier of Spanish football. The club were formed in 2015 but can trace it's roots back to 1956 when Socidad Deportiva Ibiza were formed. Ghanaian midfielder Kwasi Sibo is currently on loan with the club from Watford - The 23 year old has never made a first team appearance for The Hornets and has been on loan with the club since 2019. They are coached by former Arsenal Assistant-Manager Juan Carlos Carcedo - He joined the club in August 2020. He has always been assistant to Unai Emery - This is his first time in solo charge of a club. Next Sunday they play Hercules who are currently fourth in the table and were in La Liga as recently as the 2010/11 season. SCR PENA DEPORTIVA (formed 1935) are also based on Ibiza and play in the same division. 

REAL KASHMIR have made an excellent start  to their Indian I league season with three wins and four draws so far. The competition is being played in four venues in Kolkata due to the pandemic. The club are managed by former Aberdeen, Rangers and Leeds United defender David Robertson - If you haven't watched the two documentaries on  the BBC please check them out as they are excellent.  On Saturday 13th February they won 4-3 against NEROCA FC* with Mason Robertson (club captain and David's son) scoring one and Nigerian centre forward Lukman Adefemi netting a hat-trick. Mason has been with the club since 2018 and has also played for Stenhousemuir and Peterhead. This Thursday morning (10.30am kick off UK time) there is a top of the table clash as Real play Punjab FC who are currently top just one point above. 

*NEROCA stands for North Eastern Re-Organising Cultural Association. 

AUCKLAND CITY, TEAM WELLINGTON, HAMILTON WANDERERS and EASTERN SUBURBS are the current top four of the ISPS Handa Men's Premiership which is New Zealand's top tier. There are only two games left - Auckland need a point to officially finish top which will see them qualify for the 2022 Oceania Champions League. The top four go into a play off (1st v 4th) and 2nd v 3rd with the winners competing in a final on Sunday 14th March. Many of the teams are managed or coached by English managers. 

JOSE FIGUERIA was born in Crawley and played for the academy side at Crawley Town but quit playing aged 19 and moved to New Zealand in 2003. He has since managed Auckland City where he was also a youth coach, been assistant to the New Zealand national side and the New Zealand u17 side as well as Central United and a spell in the USA coaching in the New York Red Bulls academy. He is currently manager of AUCKLAND CITY. 

TONY READINGS played for Wembley and AFC Wimbledon before emigrating to New Zealand in 2003. He coached the New Zealand ladies team from 2011 to 2017. He is currently Director of Football at Eastern Suburbs and coach of the New Zealand men's u20 side. 

AUCKLAND CITY have dominated the competition since it was founded in 2004 winning eleven titles - the only other winners have been WHITAKERE UNITED who have won it five times. 

It's not been a memorable season for FC EMMEN in the Eredivisie - the top division of football in the Netherlands. So far they have drawn six and lost sixteen of their twenty-two games played. Their first season in the top tier was in 2018/19 when they finished 14th and last season 12th in the table when football was stopped and the league declared void in April 2020. Their next games come at home to NEC ZWOLLE (13th) and away to UTRECHT (8th). 

One of my most favourite names in World Football - The ETHIOPIAN COFFEE SPORTS CLUB have made a good start to their BetKing Ethiopian Premier League 2020/21 season as they are currently in second place behind Fasil Kenema. From 2015 the club has a trio of Serbian coaches in the form of Dragan Popadic, Nebojsa Vucicevic and Kosta Papic. They then hired a French coach in Didier Gomes Da Rosa from 2017 to 2018 - they are currently coached by Ethiopian Kassaye Arage.