England has a manager

The English FA is set to appoint Roy Hodgson as England manager, to succeed Fabio Capello and not Tottenham's Harry Redknapp, as expected. Hodgson's greater experience in Europe and his organisation skills at tournament level are believed to be the main reasons behind the FA's decision. Dortmund, FC Porto and Zenit are already champions.

English Premier League

City versus United on Monday night did not solve much because there are two games more to play. Kompany placed City in first place with a winning goal on 45+1, however City have to go to Newcastle and receive lowly Queen's Park Rangers, while United receive Swansea and then travel to Sunderland for the last game.

Arsenal retains third place with a 1-1 draw at Stoke City, four points clear of Tottenham, extremely irregular in recent weeks but with a game in hand. Tottenham got the third win in eleven games - a 2-0 win against Blackburn Rovers.

Chelsea received West London rivals QPR and dealt a heavy blow to their hopes of survival, equal on points with the third-from-bottom team, Bolton Wanderers. The 6-1 whipping included a Torres hat-trick.

Wigan defied its status three points clear of the relegation zone with a 4-0 thrashing of Newcastle United, a performance more befitting of the front runners. Everton keep a two-point distance over arch rivals Liverpool with a 4-0 win against Fulham. Liverpool won 3-0 at Norwich City, a team which seems to have run out of steam in recent weeks.

English Premier League after 36 games 

1. Manchester City 83
2. Manchester United 83
3. Arsenal 66 
4. Tottenham  62 (35 games)
5. Newcastle United 62 (35 games)
6. Chelsea FC 61 (35 games)
7. Everton FC 51 (35 games)

Spanish Primera Liga

Real started preparing the Championship party with an early 3-0 demolishing of Sevilla but Barcelona answered with a 7-0 away thrashing of Rayo Vallecano, in Madrid. Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo share the top spot with 43 league goals apiece.

In the other games at the top, Málaga beat Valencia 1-0 and moves up to fourth place, equal on points while Valencia's rivals Levante beat Granada 3-1 and are three points behind. Europa League finalists Atlético Madrid drew 2-2 at Betis, Athletic Bilbao went down 2-0 at Zaragoza.

Spanish Primera Liga after 35 games 

1. Real Madrid 91
2. FC Barcelona 84

3. Valencia CF 55  
4. Málaga CF 55

5. Levante UD 52
6. CA Madrid 49
7. AC Bilbao 48

Italian Serie A after 35 games  

Three games to go, Juventus is three points ahead of AC Milan. Both teams have two home games left (Juve receives Lecce, 18^th and Atalanta, 10^th while AC Milan receives Atalanta and Novara, 19^th); Juve travels to Cagliari (15^th) and Milan visits...rivals Inter!

This weekend Juventus beat Novara 4-0 away, AC Milan beat Siena 4-1 away. Third-placed Napoli drew 2-2 at Roma while Udinese beat Lazio 2-0. Inter Milan beat Cesena 2-1.

1. Juventus 77
2. AC Milan 74
3. SSC Napoli 55

4. Udinese Calcio 55

5. FC Internazionale Milano 55 
6. SS Lazio 55
7. AS Roma 51

German Bundesliga

One game to go...Dortmund, already champions, thrashed Kaiserslautern 5-2 away, while Champions League finalist Bayern Munich beat Stuttgart 2-0. Schalke beat Hertha Berlin 4-0, Moenchengladbach drew 0-0 with Augsburg, while Leverkusen beat Hannover 1-0

German Bundesliga after 33 games  
1. Borussia Dortmund 78

2. FC Bayern Munchen 70

3. FC Schalke 04 61
4. VfL Borussia Moenchengladbach 57
5. Bayer 04 Leverkusen 51
6. VfB Stuttgart 50

7. Hannover 96 45

French Ligue 1

Four games to go, Montpellier further ahead at the front after a 1-0 win at Toulouse, while PSG lost 2-1 at Lille, now two points behind. Rennes continued a good final sprint with another victory, against Ajaccio 3-1. Lyon beat Lorient 3-2, Saint-Étienne beat Dijon 1-0.

French Ligue 1 after 34 games  
1. Montpellier Hérault 72
2. Paris Saint-Germain FC 67
3. LOSC Lille Métropole 65
4. Stade Rennais 57
5. Olympique Lyonnais 56 (33 games)
6. AS Saint-Étienne 56

7. Toulouse FC 53

Portuguese Primeira Liga

Two games to go, FC Porto, as usual, is already the Portuguese Champion in the thirtieth year of the Presidency of Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa, whose extraordinary management skills have made FC Porto the most successful soccer club on the planet in recent years. A 2-0 away win at Marítimo in Madeira sealed it for the Dragons while Benfica drew 2-2 away at Rio Ave. Braga continued a miserable end-of-season run with a 2-1 home defeat against Olhanense, Sporting beat their rival in the Portuguese cup final, Académica (Coimbra) 2-1 and sent the Students into the relegation zone. Guimarães went down 3-1 at Gil Vicente and Nacional came from Madeira to Setúbal to win 3-0.

Primeira Liga after 28 games 
1. FC Porto 69  
2. SL Benfica 63
3. SC Braga 59
4. SC Portugal 56
5. Marítimo 48 
6. Vitória SC (Guimarães) 42 

7. CD Nacional 38

Russian Premier

Zenit is the champion as the Russian Premier League tries a new experiment: to have a Summer break. Zenit won against Duinamo Moskva 2-1; CSKA Moskva beat Spartak Moskva 2-1 whuile Anzhi beat Lokomotiv Moskva 3-1 in the three derbies among the top six. Rubin Kazan drew 1-1 with Kuban.

Russian Premier League - Accumulated after 41 games 2011-2012 and 5 games 2012-2013

1. FC Zenit St. Petersburg 84 points
2. FC Dinamo Moskva 69 points
3. PFC CSKA Moskva 69 points

4. FC Spartak Moskva 68 points
5. FC Anzhi Makhachkala 66 points

6. FC Lokomotiv Moskva 65 points 

7. FC Rubin Kazan 64 points

Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey

Pravda.Ru