Kick off the new football season on your Lumia

Enough of all that running, jumping and throwing things about nonsense: this weekend the greatest sport of them all takes centre stage again.
It’s the opening weekend of the English Premier League and La Liga in Spain. Over the next few weeks other major football leagues in Europe will be getting underway as well.

For football fans, the start of a new season also signifies the renewal of hope and optimism. Sadly, for most of us, it will all end in tears or, at the very best, acceptance of our mediocrity. But don’t they say, it’s all about the journey?

To help you avoid any own goals along the way, here is a selection of free and indispensable apps for your Nokia Lumia that will keep you informed of the latest results, news and all football-related fun.

ESPN Goals

ESPN Goals is top of the table when it comes to English Premier League apps for your Lumia.

This app is all about the action on the pitch. It has live scores, match statistics and, best of all, goal videos. Yes, you can watch all the goals from every single Premier League game on your Lumia smartphone.

Perhaps, the most impressive aspect is that the goals are available to watch pretty soon after they are actually scored, so you never have to wait for long. As well as goal clips, there are match previews, half-time and full-time reports and a weekend round-up package.

Other features include fixtures, video alerts for goals scored and you can personalise the app by selecting the team you support.

Sky Sports News

Where ESPN Goals is great for video footage, this Sky Sports News app is a more comprehensive option if you want all the latest football news, live scores, video interviews, fixtures and league standings.

It’s also worth mentioning that where ESPN Goals only covers the English Premier League, Sky Sports News, as well as covering other sports, has excellent coverage of other European football leagues, competitions and international matches also.

There are plenty of news and interview videos to watch on this app, even if they don’t include actual match footage. Another strong multimedia feature is that you can listen to live Sky Sports News radio.

There isn’t much in terms of customisation but you can pin shortcuts to your start screen, such as the fixtures or the live scores.

Soccer Livescores

Watching goal footage and video interviews is all very good but sometimes you just want to know if your team is winning or losing, right?

Soccer Livescores is a bare-bones app with no frills but is simple and gives the live scores at a glance. It covers most leagues and competitions around the world, so you may want to ‘filter’ the list first or you will be bombarded with live scores from leagues you had never even heard of!

You can also set up push notifications whenever there is a goal scored in a game that you are interested in. There are also league standings and top scorers information.

An app like this is particularly useful where there may be limited reception as it requires minimal data transfer.

Goal.com

If football gossip and transfer speculation is what you are after, then you need look no further than Goal.com.

This football website is both loved and loathed by football fans in equal measure for its excitable approach to football news and rumours.

There are the usual features you would expect from a football app, such as latest scores, fixtures and league standings. You can pin the team you support, or the league you follow, to the start screen.

One thing worth a mention is the Twitter integration, so within the app you can see the latest tweets from goal.com’s football reporters, bookmark and share articles.

Footy Fixtures

Win, lose or draw, there is always another game around the corner where you can go through the emotional rollercoaster all over again.

Most of the other apps here, give you fixture information but none of them do it as well as Footy Fixtures and with live tile support on your start screen.

You search for your team alphabetically (most major international leagues are included) and all their latest fixtures are then downloaded. Pin the app to your start screen and the live tile will show their next game.

Plus, you can also choose a secondary team. For example, I support Liverpool, but also chose to see when Barcelona are playing. The secondary team can also be pinned to the start screen.

These are just a selection of the general football apps in the Windows Phone Marketplace. Many cater to individual leagues or teams. Let us know which football apps you can recommend and good luck for the new season!