Articles
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Hatayspor: The Süper Lig Debutants Taking the League by Storm
Last season, Turkish football saw the emergence of Hatayspor to the country’s top flight for the first time in their history. The club is from the Mediterranean region of Turkey, based in the city of Antakya. Hatayspor was formed in 1967 as a product of the merger between Kurtulusspor, Esnafspor and Reyhanli Gençlikspor before the…
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AZ & Elftal: An Unusual Coincidence
Wout Weghorst’s repeated exclusion brings to the forefront a somewhat strange history of players groomed at the Alkmaar club and their position in the Netherlands national team. It’s business as usual for Wout Weghorst. The in-form striker was on target once again in VfL Wolfsburg’s 2-1 win over Werder Bremen. The 28-year-old’s 17th league…
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Player Analysis: Noah Katterbach
At 19 years of age, Noah Katterbach has established himself as one of the hottest young fullbacks in the Bundesliga. Born in Simmerath, Germany, Katterbach began his development at TuS DJK Dreiborn before joining Köln’s academy in 2008. He quickly progressed through the ranks for club and country, and on July 24, 2018, he was…
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Player Analysis: Alexander Isak
Just as Zlatan Ibrahimović has announced he will come back to the Swedish national team, the player that seems to be his heir is improving rapidly. This player is Alexander Isak, the 21-year-old who plays for Real Sociedad. So far, he has scored 12 times this season and provided two assists. I have always…
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The Rise and Fall of FC Dnipro
At around 10 pm local time on the 27th May 2015, Ukraine’s fifth-largest city of Dnipropetrovsk rejoiced and stood in awe as Nikola Kalinić scored the goal to allow the minnows of European football, Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk to take the lead in the biggest match of the club’s 97-year tenure; the UEFA Europa League Final. Though…
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Paul Onuachu’s Rise to Super Eagle Stardom
In 2012, Paul Onuachu’s life changed. Just like the biblical version, his was slightly different, with the 6ft 7in forward securing a transfer that took him from third division Nigerian club to the Danish Super League. Born in Owerri, Imo State, South East Nigeria. He arrived the world at a time Iwuanyanwu Nationale, now Heartland,…
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Scouting Report: Beckham Putra Nugraha
Whisper it softly, but Indonesian football may be in the midst of its own ‘golden generation’ at the moment. As if to underline this opinion, it even has a player called Beckham. The country has recently witnessed the emergence of a number of young, talented footballers. Player Analysis: Syahrian Abimanyu These include Bagus…
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Player Analysis: Riyad Mahrez
Riyad Mahrez joined Manchester City as their club-record signing in the summer of 2018, but that was only after four failed bids from the then-defending champions and a week of missed training with Leicester City, as he went AWOL. Expectations were, therefore, quite high, but that was not something the Algerian international was used…
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Tactical Analysis: Germany’s U-21 Euros Squad
Despite the continued struggles of football in a post-pandemic era, the U-21 European Championships is set to begin on March 24th, an international tournament that will be unlike any of its predecessors. Alone the scheduling raises eyebrows, with the group stages and quarterfinals separated by exactly two months as UEFA hopes to get the green…
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David Luiz: One of the Most Disrespected Names in World Football
There are many misconceptions amongst casual fans of football, perhaps none more so than the belief that David Luiz is a disaster of a defender. Of course, there are certain statistics that don’t help his case – the Brazilian has conceded more penalties and more red cards than any other Premier League player since making…
