“The most competitive and exciting division in the world”. An often-uttered phrase to describe a noteworthy football league in England which is not the...
Category - Long Reads
Presumably Arsenal scouts were watching fervently, as Lille romped to a 5-1 win over PSG last season. First Nicolas Pepe and now Gabriel Magalhães have made...
Sunderland Football Club. A fallen giant in the world of football, and one that has suffered from countless problems both on and off the pitch in recent...
It’s impossible to talk about the history of Liverpool F.C. without dedicating ample time towards Steven Gerrard. He is the most iconic player to wear the...
Leicester City’s push for an unprecedented Champions League spot ended in sour failure after their last day 2-0 defeat to Manchester United. A defeat which...
Relegation to the Championship was never in the plans of owner Gino Pozzo, after overseeing the most successful spell in the Premier League in Watford’s...
What are the first few words that pop up in your mind when you hear the word ‘Bundesliga’? They may be ‘Bayern’, ‘Dortmund’, ‘Revierderby’, or...
Winning 1-0, İstanbul Başakşehir were 30 minutes away from their first ever Süper Lig title when the lights went out. A power cut was seemingly putting...
After the acknowledgement in Andy Hunter’s article in the Guardian that Carlo Ancelotti and Marcel Brands will be given resources to improve the Everton...
When I started writing this piece after a 0-0 first leg in Bremen I was kinda hoping FC Heidenheim would pull off a famous victory in the second leg of their...
So, here I am, the latest of a long band of angsty football journalists revelling that ‘football is back!’ While K-League took the initial world focus...
Have you ever reached that point when everything that happens around you makes you believe that life has another plan? That point when you have invested...
There is, perhaps, one major similarity between the Turkish and Scottish football. As in Scotland, Turkish football has been always dominated the same rivals...
In 2016 Brazil were the host nation of the Olympic games for that reason, there was an extraordinary amount of pressure on Brazil to win the competition...
It has been clear for some time that Chris Wilder is one of the best coaches in England, not only since his rise to fame following Sheffield United’s...
The rise of Wolves under their Portuguese manager, Nuno Espírito Santo, has been incredible. Three years ago, after the uninspiring era of Paul Lambert at the...
Since Nigel Pearson became the manager of Watford, the side from Hertfordshire have collected 18 points in 13 Premier League games to move the club out of the...
June 30, 2019, Udine, Italy. Spain’s U21 side are trying to relax at the hotel ahead of their second European Championship final in two years. La Rojita...
It still comes to a shock to many when you remind them that the Everton manager is Carlo Ancelotti. While there is a tendency to underestimate the size of...
It’s a classic footballing ‘remember when?’ But Dundee United knocking FC Barcelona out of Europe is only half the story. A Premier Division...
The history of the beautiful game in the United States is long and oftentimes complicated. Infighting among officials and the prominence of other sports in the...
Everyone is aware that there is no football in the world right now due to coronavirus, or COVID-19 as they now seem to call it, and everyone also knows that...
During his career, he donned the colours of nine British clubs, a further two on the international scene, played for some of the best managers the game has...
In his neighbourhood, Empalme Graneros, kids were given two, barely three, options to choose from when they were growing up: school, football and crime. Luis...
By no means is this a new phenomenon in the footballing world, yet somehow it remains just as peculiar and intriguing as it did all those years ago, and that...
The Red Bull Salzburg production line shows no signs of slowing down. The Austrian Bundesliga side are market experts in buying young, talented players from...
Among the most iconic dynasties of Italian football lies the Inter Milan of the 1960s, known by many as “La Grande Inter”. Manager Helenio...
In 2012, Corinthians weren’t stopping at continental glory after beating Boca Juniors in the final of the Copa Libertadores and ending the hoodoo of never...
If you were to search for a “Ruud van Nistelrooy highlights reel” on YouTube, you probably wouldn’t find anything too spectacular.
The Dutchman scored a...
At the age of 20 he was labelled as the Greek Messi, but seven years later, thoughts of retirement started crossing his mind. Sotiris Ninis’ story isn’t...
Back in 2015, Andre-Pierre Gignac was on the move; the French striker had starred for FC Toulouse and Marseille in Ligue 1 and the next chapter in his career...
Tuesday June 30, 1998, Bordeaux, France. Croatia beat Romania 1-0 in the Round of 16, thanks to a Davor Suker penalty-kick just before the break, and knock...
“Dear Reinier, you are now a Real Madrid player, the team you always chose to play in the video games, the one that brought you the biggest illusions and...
On the first day of September 2001, England travelled to Munich to face old adversaries Germany in a World Cup qualifying game. Within six minutes of kick-off...
In 2013, Mexico was named the 16th happiest country in the world according to the World Happiness Report. The rankings include data that come from the Gallup...
Financial Fair Play (FFP) is an initiative by UEFA that aims to improve the financial conditions of European football clubs. While the principles of these...
Blue hair or red hair, Vágner Love was recognisable. His braids, tipped with beads, and always colourful, would swish behind him as he accelerated away from...
Although born in Crawley, England, Kevin Muscat moved to Australia at a young age and began his footballing career Down Under, going on to represent his...
The very mention of the name Ajax conjures up images of a conveyor belt of stellar talent pouring forth from the most celebrated club in Dutch football. It’s...
Born in Istanbul on 23 November 1979, Nihat Kahveci began his playing career with the junior club Arabanspor. Identified as a possible talent at a much higher...
In 2018, 38-year-old former international footballer Mark Bresciano was widely reported to have given up interest any in football, having decided to become a...
The title may be a little misleading. If you don’t know the story, let’s make something clear from the start. It’s questionable if there was anything...
The Greek word ‘Eutychia’ is a female given name that means ‘happiness’. When Eutychia Samara gave birth to her son Georgios on February 21, 1985...
In January 2001, having established a reputation in his native Argentina as a potential world star, Pablo Aimar left River Plate, and travelled across the...
Just like any child, he loved playing football. His mother, Doris, combed the whole city looking for football boots, but it was extremely complicated to get...
A lot of football fans will know that Ipswich Town suffered the heaviest defeat in Premier League history; it was a 9-0 humiliation at the hands of Manchester...
Many coaches are reluctant to laud their mentors. Whether it be a case of not wanting to appear inferior or perhaps a fear of leaving themselves open to a...
In 2006 the Calciopoli scandal rocked Italian football to the core. At the centre was five Serie A & B clubs, AC Milan, Fiorentina, Lazio, Reggina and the...
When Arsenal signed Granit Xhaka in the summer of 2016, he was seen as the player who could finally add more bite in the centre of the park. While the Swiss...
On the face of it, a league is not a complicated thing.
Its purpose is simple, to fairly place teams from best to worst in a nice, tidy and comforting...