2024 was an exciting year in the world of football, with international tournaments on all continents delighting fans from all across the globe.
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00:00It's been another exciting year of action in the world of football.
00:03We have new continental champions on the international stage.
00:06One of European football's biggest leagues, the Bundesliga, has a new winner.
00:10And there are new head coaches at some of the world's most decorated clubs.
00:14Let's take a look back at a historic 2024.
00:22Hello and welcome to Football Now from Albina Park in Doha.
00:27It's time to take a look back at some of the most exciting on-the-pitch moments from 2024.
00:32It was a year that was jam-packed full of international tournaments.
00:36So let's remind ourselves of who, what and where were the highlights over the last 12 months.
00:41Starting in Asia, Qatar were the hosts and eventual champions of the 2023 Asian Cup.
00:47Star striker Akram Afif scored a hat-trick of penalties in the 3-1 win over Jordan in the final.
00:52The Maroons are back-to-back champions after also winning the tournament in 2019.
00:57But winning it on home soil in 2024 was extra special for their fans.
01:22Moving on now to the latest edition of the African Cup of Nations.
01:49Ivory Coast were the winners after defeating Nigeria in the final in Abidjan.
01:54Forward Sebastian Haller stole the headlines, scoring the winning goal just two years after
01:58he faced early retirement due to a testicular cancer diagnosis.
02:03In South America, it was Argentina who won their second consecutive Copa America
02:07and the third major trophy on the spin.
02:10It's a record-breaking 16th Copa America trophy for La Alba Celeste.
02:15Now what an extraordinary story because they gave the coaching job to Lionel Scaloni,
02:20who'd never coached a senior team before.
02:22After the shambles of the 2018 World Cup,
02:24they gave it to him on a caretaker basis for one reason alone, really.
02:27He was cheap. They didn't have a lot of money.
02:29I remember at the time, Diego Maradona saying,
02:33well, Scaloni, he's a nice guy, but he's not qualified to direct traffic.
02:37And here we are a few years later after that,
02:40because they hadn't won anything from 1993 onwards.
02:43And now they've won two Copa Americas and a World Cup.
02:46Now it's difficult to retain the World Cup.
02:48It hasn't been done for a very, very long time.
02:50The bar is set now higher than it's ever been.
02:53So it's been fascinating watching this story.
02:56In order to win again in 2026,
02:58they're going to have to be even better than they were in Qatar.
03:02And finally in Europe, Spain defeated England in the Euro 2024 final in Berlin.
03:08It's their fourth international trophy since the turn of the century.
03:12Meanwhile, in Germany, Bayer Leverkusen were crowned champions of the Bundesliga
03:16for the first time in their club's history.
03:19And they did it in style.
03:21An invincible season for Xabi Alonso's men
03:23saw them go an entire campaign without losing a match.
03:27It was an achievement that even the mighty Bayern Munich
03:29didn't manage in all of their years of dominating German football.
03:33You know, they also played beautiful football.
03:36It wasn't kind of, you know, building the wall, parking the bus.
03:39There were also some magical nights in the Europa League for them.
03:42To my absolute astonishment,
03:45they didn't really show up against Atalanta in the final.
03:47Atalanta had a great game plan, a great match and deservedly won.
03:51But, you know, bear in mind that Bayer Leverkusen
03:54was not just unbeaten in the Bundesliga the whole season.
03:56They were unbeaten across all three competitions.
03:59And they went on to win the cup.
04:00And the first time they were beaten on German soil in a year and a half
04:05by a German team was actually in October
04:07when they hosted Leipzig in the Bundesliga.
04:10Yeah, as I said, it was a huge achievement
04:12and it did get the credit it deserved in Germany, for sure.
04:17Well, England's two biggest clubs, Liverpool and Manchester United,
04:21both changed their coaches in 2024,
04:24but both for very different reasons.
04:27Liverpool said an emotional goodbye to Jurgen Klopp
04:29after a successful nine years in charge,
04:32while United finally sacked Derek ten Haag after months of speculation
04:36and replaced him with the Portuguese Ruben Amorim.
04:38He's the sixth permanent manager to take the job
04:40since the departure of the great Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013.
04:44Will Amorim be the man to finally lead United back to glory?
04:48It's going to take time to really see this success long term.
04:52And all these changes that are being implemented off the pitch,
04:54again, are going to take time.
04:55You know, people, I think, are under this impression
04:57that you come in and in a couple of months, they're going to change everything.
04:59It takes years sometimes to get this right.
05:01We've seen with Liverpool and City in the past how long it can take.
05:04And Arsenal are now obviously reaping the rewards of it as well
05:06in the last couple of seasons fighting near the top.
05:08So it does take a while to get these things right.
05:11And he's going to have to be given that time
05:13as well as any of the managers have been.
05:15But even more so, I think,
05:16because it just can't keep going around in this cycle.
05:18I think for now, it's just about sticking behind him
05:20and seeing the long term vision
05:22rather than, you know, a couple of quick results in the short term.
05:24There's definitely optimism again.
05:26I think there's always that renewed optimism.
05:28You've just got to be patient.
05:28You know, I think we're a couple of years away,
05:31but I'm hopeful that this time, given the time, it will get there.
05:34It's been another exciting year for football across the globe,
05:38and we can't wait to see what 2025 has in store.
05:41Let us know your favourite footballing moments of the year
05:44using the hashtag football now 2024.
05:47That's all we've got time for here from Alberta Park in Doha.
05:51We'll see you next time.
05:52Bye for now.