By far, European football is not just a sport; it has turned into a profitable industry where billions of dollars represent a common amount of money and luxury is always present. Modern gladiators offer to us magnificent moments, the entire planet being connected to the “fight” between Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. The UEFA Champion leagues is the most selective competition, in which the best 32 teams of Europe play to gain the most wanted trophy; even if it is a continental event, the matches are televised all around the globe. Here, I have proposed to present the official websites of the teams that played in the last tournament, UCL 2010-2011. It will be great to know the opinions of the readers, which website is the most beautiful and which really needs a quick redesign. Please collaborate with me to select the champion of web design and don’t be subjective, forget about your favorite team!
Group A
1.Werder Bremen
Werder Bremen has a nice website, based on the specific color of the club, green. It is informative, there are a lot of good pieces of information, both in English and Dutch. You can connect with the team on Facebook, any subscriber may receive in his Inbox the latest news so there is nothing to complain about.
2.Twente FC
Yep, there is no surprise that Twente is in the same group with Werder Bremen. The official website is completely red, the same as the equipment of the team so we have changed green with a more passionate color. The same complete menu but overall, both websites need to have something special in order to make them unique.
3.Internazionale Milano
Internazionale Milano is a real legend but its website is pretty modest. Truly, it contains the latest news about the team but the typography reminds me of the previous decade.
4.Tottenham Hotspur
Here we have the most interesting website in all the A group. The blue background is really awesome but the yellow in the navigational menu from the header is too bright. Other big pluses are the care for the fans owning mobile devices and the ones who have sight-problems.
Group B
1. Hapoel Tel-Aviv
The white background is really eye-calming, but it may be interpreted as an incomplete website. The chosen color combination is interesting, being a big plus of the website: a white background, a lot of black and enough red to make a contrast, enough to emphasize the most important points, without irritating the readers.
2. SL Benfica Lisboa
Even if everything is red, the website is superb, it has a modern design and the navigational menu is eye-catching. Yes, it fully deserves a look!
3.Olimpique Lyonnais
Benfica Lisboa vs Olimpique Lyonnais was a seven goals match but each official website is guaranteed a five stars product. A nice work is the website of the French team, the blue background and the white content are the colors of the club but the combination is winning also in web design. Alles Lyonnais!
4.Schalke 04
Schalke was the surprise of the competition and I really hope that a new design may propel them at the head of the class as is the team. The website isn’t bad, but still nothing to mention as “+” in this post.
Group C
1.Bursaspor
A lot of green but, here we have a very good website and team. The header lets us know that Bursaspor won the SuperLig; much more, the website presents Bursa and the most important buildings from the city. It is not a wonder why Turkey developed the tourism exponentially and hasn’t faced a serious economical crisis.
2. Rangers FC
A website which may entertain each visitor, the menu is evident, any other information needed is at hand. A big plus is the countdown to the next mach, something which I have never seen till this website. I don’t know, maybe more colors might turn it into a more attractive one.
3.Valencia CF
The website has nothing amazing but the virtual tour of the Mestalla, the stadium of Valencia CF deserves to be made, and the videos are a good work of a real artist. Go and admire it!
4.Manchester United
It was impossible for Manchester, the red demons, not to insert red elements in the official website. Overall, it is a high quality one but honestly I consider it too crowded, they want to say a lot in a short space. Is this true or am I wrong?
Group D
1.Panathinaikos
The team finished last in the group, but in the official websites competition, it is first with almost no opponents. It presents a green solution, but the creative designers have established a modern look, impressive, and at the same time offering the latest news at hand. The most interesting footer so far!
2.Rubin Kazan
Rubin Kazan has the official website which may beat the one of Panathinaikos, both have implemented the latest solutions in web design and the results are “equally awesome” as Steve Jobs said.
3.FC Kobenhavn
The design is fresh, enjoyable but I don’t see a contrast here; definitely, not having a contrast isn’t a big deal but it is hard to emphasize something in these conditions. The logo radiates power and trust in their forces; the evolution of the team demonstrated that this is what they really did.
4.FC Barcelona
FC Barcelona, the dream team has a quality official website but it doesn’t reach the top level of the team wining UEFA Champions League. I noticed that the well-known teams put into their menu the options of multi linguistic access, even for Chinese people (it should come as no surprise that, for the lovers of football, the Asians are paying huge amount of money to see Real Madrid, Barcelona or Chelsea).
Group E
1.CFR Cluj
I am from Romania and perhaps my subjectivity is playing its role, but this website is really cool. It is a pleasure to browse so please try it and let me know what you think!
2.FC Basel
This group proposes the best official websites and FC Basel is a good example. The website comes with an innovative idea, each visitor may align the layout according to his preferences. The modality of presenting the players is another positive aspect, there is the image of each individual player and a complete personal bio, the same as you can see on TV.
3.AS Roma
AS Roma keeps up the high standards of this group and the official website is wonderful. The team’s colors are making a good color combination; in a nutshell, visit it!
4.FC Bayern Munich
Bayern impresses with the discipline and rigor and the website reflects the spirit of the team, there is nothing original but any news and information is only a few clicks away, very efficient and Dutch specific.
Group F
1.MSK Zilina
A good and nice website but it reminds me of the use of tables, which was a long time ago…
2.Spartak Moscow
Another cool website, having a lot of information, pictures of the players, how to get tickets and subscriptions, fan zone but almost nothing original, to make it stand apart. Something not seen till now is the presentation, into the header, of the titles and cups won along the time.
3.Olympique de Marseille
Olympique de Marseille stands apart due to the very nice logo but it isn’t the single element done to match the highest quality standards, the entire website is pretty cool. Another impressive work is the background, based on a black and blue combination which is awesome and modern.
4.Chelsea London
Chelsea is one of the most powerful teams which have a huge number of fans and this fact may be easily deduced from the top position of the online shop which comes with something very profitable: the possibility to personalize a T-shirt of the favorite team. The website makes happy any fervent fan and it has PR8, the highest of the all.
Group H
1.AJ Auxerre
The background is blue, pretty common, but it’s attractive and the entire website is impressive. They come with an original element: the possibility to download some interesting free *pdf files.
2.Ajax Amsterdam
Without the dark zones of the background, it will not seem to be a HD picture of a red T-shirt and everything may be boring (what can be more annoying than a dull red background!!!). Overall, the official online presence is interesting; probably the fans are happy because everything is white and red (the colors of the club).
3.AC Milan
This official website impresses by a not-reached till now level of complexity, it is a huge networks of links and a “mini-Wikipedia” of AC Milan. It is recommended to visit the entire website, from the top header to the footer which is a masterpiece.
4.Real Madrid
Real Madrid is one of the top teams of Europe and its website can’t be ever neglected. It is clearly the work of a professional team, from the coding and designing to the quality of pictures. Don’t know which is better, the team or the website? Personally: the team.
Group I
1.Partian Belgrade
Partizan Belgrade has faced many problems with the less civilized behavior of the fervent fans. I am proudly informing them that the official website of the team is one of the most well done realized one. Champions League is a unique competition and a great honor to be part of it; the background says that!
2.SC Braga
Here there might be a problem; it won’t be better to put the content in the middle of the background?
3.Arsenal FC
I am a big fan of the coach of the Arsenal team, Arsene Wenger but I believe he is respected by all the lovers of football and he can’t be missed from in the official website. Another original aspect is the presence on social networks, else than Facebook. We can find the latest tweets of the team and why not, follow the team on Twitter.
4.Shakhtar
Shakhtar is another surprise of this edition but any captivated football fan knows that here a long time work has been involved, the matter being only the time to reach the highest levels of the competition. The website is doing the same quality job: the design is modern, accessible and the content is very informative.
Don’t try to make things look overly fancy or flashy. Keep your colors neutral so that your content will stand out. Unless you need a flashy background to tie in with the focus of your website, it is much more effective to keep things simple and basic.
Yes you are right, the main thing is to focus on content. The content is the most important.
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