Latest Articles
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Transfer Deadline Day: Bottlenecked excitement, or a sickening indictment of football’s greed?
After the record-breaking madness of Transfer Deadline Day, what role does the carnival of carnage serve in football’s spiralling financial landscape? As Andrew Flint argues, perhaps it is merely the innocent messenger of football’s more sinister message.
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Wales. Golf. Retirement: An ode to Gareth Bale
Lampard, Gerrard, Rooney, Scholes, Beckham, Terry, Ferdinand, Ashley Cole… For a period in the mid 2000s it felt like the English media were incapable of seeing a good English player without anointing them as the greatest player in the world, with all of this culminating in the now gag-inducing phrase “Golden Generation”. This was all […]
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The King of Kings
“Behold the king, The King of Kings…there is only one.” That man was Edson Arantes do Nascimento…PELE!!
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Qatar 2022 – the best worst World Cup
I was wrong. I was very, very wrong. I have spent the last few months, years, even, complaining about the Qatar World Cup. About the winter World Cup. About all of it. You know what? This World Cup has been absolutely fucking brilliant! Should Qatar have hosted the 2022 World Cup? No, of course not. […]
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Qatar World Cup: England vs USA preview interview
Given the deep historical and sporting rivalry between England and the USA, their clash at the Qatar World Cup is huge. We spoke to Roberto Rojas for an American perspective.
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Interview with Danny Lewis, author of When Asia Welcomed The World: The 2002 World Cup Revisited
When Asia Welcomed the World: The 2002 World Cup Revisited. We spoke to Danny Lewis about his nostalgic look back at the ground-breaking tournament in Japan & South Korea
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Qatar 2022 World Cup Diary
Hated, adored, never ignored… The Qatar World Cup was never going to disappear quietly into the night, for better or worse. Here are the stories along the way that have caught our eye.
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Saudi Arabia Dreamland: How the Falcons ruined Messi’s swansong
Saudi Arabia’s stunning win over Argentina will go down as one of the greatest shocks in World Cup history, but how did they pull it off? We spoke to Asian football expert Martin Lowe to find out.
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Boycotts, apathy, and jubilation… Qatar 2022 is finally here!
Whether people like it or not, the Qatar World Cup is finally here, with a mixed anticipation for the football itself. We spoke to Welsh, Norwegian and English experts to gauge a broad perspective.
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Unwelcome Hosts: How Qatar prepared for their golden moment
Qatar is breaking the mould with the most unpopular and controversial World Cup to date, but how did the team get there? Andrew Flint looks into a squad developed like no other – and the noise swirling around them.
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The Hand of the Devil – The Ghana Uruguay grudge match
Uruguay will face Ghana in Qatar at the 2022 World Cup in only the second-ever meeting in their history – but it is already becoming a modern classic rivalry. Jack Wills looks back 12 years to find out why.
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Eid-wood Park: The Pride of Lancashire
Virtually every club in the region claims to be “The Pride of Lancashire”…for me, Blackburn Rovers are the pride of Lancashire.
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Round Table: 2022/23 Season Predictions – Premier League, FA Cup, Champions League
As the English Premier League kicks into gear, it’s time for our writers to either look like clairvoyant geniuses… or look rather silly. Do you agree with our season predictions?
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Alessia Russo: Who is the Lionesses’ Backheeling Supersub?
There’s a whole lot more to England’s electric supersub Alessia Russo than flashy backheels, as women’s football expert, analysts and author Abdullah Abdullah explains
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Ross Graham – From loan hell to Dundee United’s rising star
While he may not be a Beckenbauer or Maldini, Dundee United’s Ross Graham has taken an unconventional route to becoming a superb young talent – we spoke to the people following him most closely to find out how.
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Striking the Angle: U-turns, photoshop signings and the 85 million – 20 minute flop
Bryan is back, and he is once again exasperated at the warped world of modern football with clickbait, photoshop madness and flop-shaming in the firing line.
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10k a Day Russia to the UK: Episode 1 – Paul Hook Interview
Episode 1 – Interview with Paul Hook. In the first instalment we spoke to one of the key inspirations behind this entire challenge to gain an insight into fitness and motivation
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10k a Day – Russia to the UK
Editor in Chief Andrew Flint is hoping to raise £10,000 for Football Beyond Borders by running 10k every day for nearly two years – here’s why…
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Close but no Qatar – We’re running a fake World Cup!
The FIFA World Cup, the crème de la crème of football. It is iconic…We all know the Qatar World Cup is a travesty.
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Hope
It is usually said of sport that ‘you couldn’t write it’ – never a truer phrase was spoken.
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Korea & Japan – 20 years later
It was a tournament for the ages…that remains in the hearts and minds of all who had the pleasure of witnessing it forever.
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The Cartridge Family: The Simpsons’ first foray into ‘soccer’
While the football segment only lasted little over three minutes, it is one of the most iconic sporting scenes depicted in the show.
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Her Game Too – Enough with online abuse, football is for everyone
Football isn’t a ‘man’s game’. Football is for everyone. Football is Her Game Too.
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Besta-deild karla
Format Played between May to September due to the particularly inclement Icelandic weather in the winter, the league consists of twelve teams who play each other home and away. At the end of the campaign, the first-placed team is crowned champions and the bottom two sides are relegated to the First Division. Champions The most […]
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Canadian Premier League Profiles: Valour FC
Valour FC. Based in the provincial capital of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Valour is dripping in identity…Valour by name and Valour by nature.
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Veikkausliiga Overview
Finnish top-flight, known as the Veikkausliiga.
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Oceanic 2022 World Cup Qualifying: Do FIFA treat Oceania fairly?
The Oceanic continent has been maltreated by FIFA for years, seemingly thought of as nothing short of an afterthought, an inconvenience, even.
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‘All Roads Lead To Paris’: How to get a football book published
Heart of Football writer Ross Kilvington has recently begun the process. He is currently writing and researching his debut book ‘All Roads Lead To Paris’ which is billed as the inside story to the 1998 FIFA World Cup.
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War in Ukraine: Football’s humanity tested through conflict
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has already tested the world’s humanity, but what of football’s? Hope, corruption, pride, morals; the war for the heart of football is one we can’t ignore.
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Danish Superliga Overview
The Danish Superliga resumes after the winter break this weekend, so we have rounded up all you need to know on its format, history and key players.
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Sweet Maple Syrup – Canada MNT Enter Golden Era
With their FIFA ranking at an all-time high of 33rd and a booming domestic league behind them, Canada’s Men’s National Team is entering a true golden era. How far can they go?
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FIFA Club World Cup: World Champions of Irrelevance?
Chelsea take on Palmeiras tonight in the FIFA World Club Cup Final – but do they even care? Why do British clubs and fans treat being world champions as an irritation rather than an honour?
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AFCON 2021 – The good, the bad and the ugly
AFCON 2021 was a crazy whirlwind adventure packed full of drama, excitement, tragedy and scandal. We have chosen our key moments that painted the picture of a tournament we fell in love with.
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Euro 2028 – The Bid, The Excitement, The Realities
It is now official: The United Kingdom and Ireland are bidding for the European Championships in 2028. The FA, FAI, IFA, SFA and the FAW are joining forces to put together a bid to host the Euros having been advised not to pursue the World Cup in 2030. There are several types of excitement that […]
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The Demise of the 37
Limerick may have a fine sporting heritage, but various incarnations of the city’s football club have struggled to compete with rugby union and GAA. Can Treaty FC put football on the Irish city’s map once and for all?
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The trouble with pronunciation
Why do most commentators struggle – or refuse – to respect player names by pronouncing them correctly? Bryan Moore explores the issue.
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Mason Greenwood Rape Allegations: Prison FC jokes aren’t ‘banter’
Mason Greenwood has been arrested for alleged rape against his former girlfriend Harriet Robson, but social media is flooded with Prison FC “banter” – the flippancy is disgusting, argues Jack Wills.
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Alasdair Howorth Interview: AFCON 2021, On The Whistle, Attitudes to Africa
While we have dabbled in African football before this AFCON 2021 tournament, we cannot claim to have a deep, storied following of football on the continent, so we wanted to learn more. Who better, then, than Alasdair Howorth: podcaster, associate producer and journalist with On The Whistle, Kenyan-born and raised African football fanatic, and the […]
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Bjørn Heidenstrøm Interview – 25 Years of Championship Manager Fame
How can a bunch of numbers change your life? Millions of childhoods the world over have been spent scrutinising columns of statistics and ratings with more craven dedication than Vinnie Jones to getting booked in the name of winning trophies that don’t actually exist. Blame Championship Manager… For all the unfinished or hurried homework, however, […]
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Justin Walley: From Latvia with Love
While many have travelled the world, few can boast the wild variety of Justin Walley’s globetrotting adventures – and football has played no small part in that. It is rare to see Latvian players making their way in England – there were four that featured in the Premier League around the turn of the century […]
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Super Eagles flying high at AFCON 2021
It’s time for the knockout stages at AFCON 2021 and, after the competition really came into life in the final round of group games, one team look to be head and shoulders above the rest. Nigeria arrived in Cameroon on the back of a turbulent preparation with previous coach Gernot Rohr sacked just a couple […]
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André Onana: A headache, furosemide and a 12 month drug ban
AFCON 2021 boasts a number of high profile names; Mohamed Salah, Riyad Mahrez and Sadio Mané being some of the major headliners. You don’t need to look too far down the list of stars to see the focal point of this article. André Onana is the Cameroon goalkeeper, notably guarding the nets for European powerhouse […]
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Striking the Angle: The neutral, the nationality & the dangers of protectionism
A Fantastic Game for the Neutral Broadcasters seem to love neutrals. Advertising the must-see game of Burnley vs Watford in the middle of Man Utd vs Liverpool is an odd placement; advertising is all about effective targeting after all. It must be one for the neutrals I guess. But in my opinion there are only […]
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Basement is the Limit for Sky
There will always be a point to discuss. There will always be a side upset with proceedings. But usually there are means and outlets to vent frustrations. There will always be differences in the standards of knowledge, and wide frustrations at the substandard level of punditry and commentating on several channels, in particular on the […]
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Mohamed Kamara: Sierra Leone’s Goalkeeper Extraordinaire
Every now and again in life, a player performs in such a superhuman way that it feels like they are a video game simulation that has been manipulated with a cheat code. Often this level of praise is reserved for the biggest attacking players in football such as Lionel Messi, Kevin De Bruyne, vintage Ronaldinho, […]
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Limbe in Limbo – AFCON refereeing chaos reigns supreme
Mali 1-0 Tunisia isn’t a scoreline that would set the pulses racing at first glance, but this game will go down in infamy – for all the wrong reasons. Spectators love drama, granted, but not the kind where suspicions, reputations and logic swirl into a muddied cesspool of confusion. Accusations had been lazily thrown around […]
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AFCON 2021 Coverage: Shoddy Sky Sports
At 15:50 today (11 January, 2022), Sky Sports Main Event were showing a show called One2Eleven, featuring Héctor Bellerín. Some people enjoy these shows. Whatever. They’re fine. If this was some run of the mill Tuesday afternoon in January then I could definitely see myself filling up a couple of minutes with this ‘entertainment’. It […]
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AFCON Interview EXCLUSIVE with Uri Levy
Arguably one of the most misunderstood and disrespected international tournaments, the Africa Cup of Nations kicks off amidst the all-too predictable swirl of sneers and misconceptions. To help us dissect the meaning and nuances of Africa’s grandest stage we spoke to Uri Levy, founder of Babagol – the legendary football content Mecca – and correspondent […]
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AFCON 2021 Round Table: Winners, memories and controversies
The Africa Cup of Nations is upon us again and this year feels like the microscope is prying even closer on this tournament. In the English Premier League, several coaches have voiced their opinions on losing key players to the in-season competition, while the idea of even hosting the competition in January has caused much […]
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La Roja – The Rover
There is absolutely no reason for me to have any affiliation with Chile. The north-west of England bears no resemblance to the south-west of South America. A Chilean’s English may be no better than my Spanish, though it probably is. However, at the tender age of 12 with a VHS on my television highlighting the […]
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