Football

When employing a new member of staff in any organisation, it makes sense – and is the morally correct thing – to appoint the best, most qualified applicant. Of course, there are some job roles where there’s a certain cultural sensitivity to the post, with the manager of the national football team seemingly one of […]

When the average Joe or Jane starts a new job, it’s likely that they will sign some kind of employment contract – setting out their salary, bonuses (where applicable), their job role, expectations and so on. However, in the vast majority of cases, that contract will not stipulate that you can’t leave the job if […]

In September 2024, Harry Kane became the tenth player to win their 100th cap for England’s men’s national team. And, in customary fashion for the Bayern Munich frontman, he notched a brace of goals as the Three Lions overcame Finland 2-0. In doing so, Kane became the third England centurion to score on the occasion […]

Some elements of football have taken on a life all of their own; occupying a level of importance that almost goes beyond the battle for three points on the pitch. The transfer window is one such phenomenon: a period of time in which seemingly all bets are off and all rules and logic go out […]

In football’s race to the top, signing players that are world class right now is the goal of the haves and the dream of the have nots. That pursuit of instant gratification in the beautiful game has led to some clubs neglecting their academies – they cannot afford to hope that elite talents are to […]

For many years, success in football has been linked to splashing the cash in the transfer market. Spending big on transfer fees and player wages isn’t a guarantor of on-field glory, but it certainly helps – it’s no coincidence that each of the champions in Europe’s ‘big five’ leagues in 2023/24 also happened to be […]

They say that football is a results-based business, but ultimately the quality of said results is often a subjective, rather than objective, matter. That helps to explain why Gareth Southgate was such a Marmite figure in his time as England head coach: his results, which included two European Championship finals and a World Cup semi-final, […]

For the past few years, the UK has been in a ‘cost of living’ crisis, which in theory has caused many singletons, couples and families to tighten their belts and cut down on their spending – typically, ‘leisure’ spend is the category most hit in tough economic times. But the data suggests that one thing […]

At the time of writing this article, some giant clubs of world football were in the midst of a monumental crisis. One of the most egregious falls from grace is that of Santos, the second-most successful club in Brazilian football history who brought the world Pele and Neymar, to name just two. But they will […]

If you were to line up 100 people and ask them to name the most important competition in football, the majority would almost certainly say the World Cup – the international tournament that transcends the sport and attracts the interest of even the most casual of observers. By that theory, the Club World Cup should […]

When it was revealed that the 2022 World Cup would be heading for Qatar, the only people celebrating were Qataris and the FIFA officials that were paid bribes to vote for them as hosts….allegedly. The disruption to the club football season was unprecedented – literally, given that this was the first time that the World […]

There’s a feeling that ill-discipline in football is getting out of control. How often do we see swarms of players from both teams surrounding the referee when a flashpoint occurs on the pitch? They could caution a handful of them for dissent, but often choose not to – perhaps for fear of a media hammering […]

From the ‘beautiful game’ in English speaking countries to ‘jogo bonito’ in the sport’s spiritual home, Brazil, fans have long celebrated the artistry of football through suitably idyllic nicknames. But from the parks to the professional ranks, football also has its fair share of players that don’t shy away from the ugly side of the […]

For strikers, there is no better feeling in football than scoring goals. Sure, winning trophies is nice to celebrate with your teammates, but if you hooked up a frontman to a lie detector and asked them what drives them on, most would say the personal glory of putting the ball in the back of the […]

When Marcelo helped boyhood club Fluminense to the Copa Libertadores title in November, it felt like the fitting finale to the career of the veteran Brazilian. The former Real Madrid left back was a key figure for the club he joined as a 14-year-old back in 2002, with his experience vital as the game against […]

A seventh-tier football club has been celebrating after one of their players was sensationally called up by England. There’s a massive dollop of caveat to that – the individual in question, the tremendously-named Ted Curd, is on loan at Hashtag United from Chelsea, but has earned a call-up to England’s Under-17 squad for games against […]

Ever since Saudi Arabia showed an interest in ‘Western’ sport as part of its bid to overhaul its image, it has seemed almost inevitable that they would be handed the keys to a major tournament. Money talks, one way or another, and so few eyebrows were raised when FIFA chief Gianni Infantino revealed that the […]

When Cristiano Ronaldo notched his 109th international goal for Portugal against the Republic of Ireland back in 2021, he was proclaimed as the leading goalscorer in international football history. It’s true that CR7 passed the previous record set by Ali Daei, while his continued goalscoring exploits have ensured that he has kept his friendly nemesis, […]

While football is undoubtedly a team sport, don’t be fooled into thinking that its players aren’t driven by individual glories too. As far as individualised recognition goes, it doesn’t get much better than the Ballon d’Or, an award handed out to the player considered to have been the best over the past year according to […]

It’s one of the worst nightmare scenarios for a football manager. They’ve used up their allocation of substitutions, before something happens to their goalkeeper – either they get sent off or suffer an injury of such significance that they can no longer continue. What can the manager do? Well, he or she simply has no […]

FIFA’s executive committee have met up and they’ve voted on who will host the 2030 men’s football World Cup. And the winner is….drumroll please….six different countries across three different continents! No, that’s not a typo. The World Cup, traditionally held in a single country, will be played in six nations situated thousands of miles apart […]

Another weekend of football, another round of VAR controversy. Most fans of the beautiful game have now come to terms with the fact that the video refereeing system cannot solve all of football’s ills – when it comes to adjudging whether a tackle is actually a foul, or whether a foul/physical contact is a red […]

Most football clubs the world over rely on a small handful of players to put the ball in the back of the net. So it’s always refreshing for managers and supporters when others chip in to lighten the load and help a team become a more rounded, penetrative force. It was ‘howay the Toon’ all […]

When you hear tales of a goalkeeper scoring a goal themselves, it tends to conjure images of park football and a shot-stopper being allowed to take a late penalty given that his side is already several goals to the good. You certainly wouldn’t expect a goalie to be finding the opposition net in the Champions […]

Written four weeks into the 2023/24 season during the first international break, this article comes with a small data sample warning. But the early signs are that this Premier League campaign will be more goal-laden than average – and may just go on to smash records. After four gameweeks of action, Both Teams to Score […]

Research has shown the average shoe size for a male in the UK is nine, which just so happens to be the size worn by Erling Haaland. There’s absolutely nothing average about Haaland’s goalscoring prowess – his debut season for Manchester City in the Premier League will take some beating, but it’s interesting that the […]

The annual GDP of the Marshall Islands, the island group found in the Pacific Ocean, is an estimated £291 million, making it one of the smallest economies for a recognised country on the planet. So small, in fact, that it’s now been dwarfed by the cumulative transfer fees of one footballer: Neymar. The Brazilian completed […]

Barely a year after being crowned European champions, England’s Lionesses will have a shot at adding the World Cup to their growing collection of silverware. Sarina Wiegman’s team defeated Australia in front of their own fans in an impassioned semi-final that saw the Lionesses take a first-half lead through Ella Toone, get pegged back by […]

Buy low, sell high. It doesn’t matter whether you’re acquiring footballers, stock and shares or commemorative Princess Diana teacup and saucer sets, the secret to making money is to sell for more than you buy at. The masters of that art, in a football sense, continue to be Brighton, whose mastery of talent identification and […]

What a life it must be to be able to choose between which elite football club you want to play for – knowing both are willing to break the British transfer record just to sign you. It’s somewhat surprising given that Moises Caicedo, the Brighton midfielder, is far from a household name around the globe, […]

After a career which seemingly lasted an eternity, Gianluigi Buffon finally hung up his gloves at the start of August 2023 at the grand old age of 45. The Italian goalkeeper played professional football across four decades and yet only represented three clubs – Juventus, PSG and Parma. He also won caps for his national […]

It was sad to read that Trevor Francis, the first £1 million player in British football history, died in July 2023 at the age of 69. The striker wouldn’t have known it at the time, but his 1979 move from Birmingham City to Nottingham Forest would set off a chain reaction that would see the […]

When David Beckham joined Los Angeles Galaxy in 2007, it raised eyebrows around the football world. Major League Soccer has a pretty strict salary cap for each of its franchises, and when it was revealed that Beckham had take a 70% pay cut to join the LA outfit from Real Madrid, you could be forgiven […]

According to data from Google, searches for the Saudi Football League increased 10,000x between July 2021 and July 2023 in the UK alone. Why? Quite simply, it has become one of the most prominent global football leagues in that timeframe, with first Cristiano Ronaldo and then a handful of other world-renowned stars heading to the […]

Although footballers at the top level get paid a rather handsome wage, not to mention benefitting from sponsorship deals, image rights sales and the like, there’s yet another way that they can make money. As in many businesses around the world, the players can earn performance-related pay thanks to their efforts on the pitch. That […]

There was a time, a brief moment in truth, when the Chinese Super League was bemoaned as the death of democratic world football. State funded to some extent, China’s top division was set to attract all of the world’s best talent in the 2010s and create a monopoly of the beautiful game – so the […]

It is, quite possibly, a first for English football. Watford FC have revealed their new kit for the 2023/24 season – a jazzy little number featuring their traditional yellow and black colour scheme. But in a unique twist, the club’s fans can decide whether to buy a version with the front-of-shirt sponsor on or a […]

The Premier League have found themselves in a bit of a pickle. It took until March 2023 for them to decide that Everton had breached Financial Fair Play rules during the 2021/22 season, and in the meantime six teams had been relegated at the expense of the Toffees. Unsurprisingly, a number of them – Leicester […]