At a time where the topic of racism in sport is more prevalent than ever before, it’s worth remembering some of the heroes who made football more acceptable and open than it was several decades ago.   While the game is still marred by racism, even in England, it would’ve been worse had it not…

Considered to be one of Europe’s greatest ever strikers, Henrik Larsson enjoyed a dazzling career that saw him play for some of the biggest clubs in the world. With stints at Feyenoord, Celtic, Barcelona and Manchester United to his name, his career as a world-class, well-rounded striker is common knowledge to most football fans. However,…

Russian football has enjoyed several notable moments on the international stage such as winning Euro 1960 and Lev Yashin being awarded the Ballon D’or in 1963. Despite this, Russian clubs in the second half of the 20th Century struggled to progress in European club competitions. However, the 21st Century has led to improving fortunes for…

  “We are ashamed of everyone who screams at us.”   This quote was painted across the walls of Eintracht Frankfurt’s stadium in 2014, in homage to their former Ghanaian striker Anthony Yeboah. It was extracted from an “open letter to racism” published 20 years prior by several African footballers who were playing in the…

Empires have been a constant through human history, but there eventually comes a time when the empire falls. Whilst the Byzantine Empire, which now encompasses present-day Greece, fell at the hands of the Ottoman Empire in 1453, Greece’s footballing empire Olympiakos was toppled by their bitter rivals Panathinaikos in 2004.   Since the Greek football…

As France lay in a state of shock following several high-brow terrorist attacks, Dimitri Payet reinvigorated the nation by propelling Les Bleus to the final of Euro 2016. By way of his immense trickery and illustrious set-pieces, Payet produced a plethora of fantastic moments to inspire a nation in what has been described as arguably…

Football is the most famous sport on the planet with over 4 billion estimated fans. However, it plays second fiddle in Asia, where Cricket reigns supreme as the primary sport of choice. As the second most sport in the world, Cricket boasts 2.5 billion viewers, many of whom come from South Asian countries such as India, Sri…

Once Galician giants and La Liga champions in 2000, Deportivo de La Coruña surprised everyone with their rapid rise in Spanish football in the 1990’s. Now precariously sitting fourth-bottom of the Segunda División, the famous blue and white stripes could soon find themselves playing in Spain’s third tier for the first time since the 1980-81…

As it turns out, Argentina is the breeding ground for a lot of things. Tango (both the dance and the greatest ball of all-time), Gauchos, and world-class footballers. However, with Argentina’s conveyor belt of high-quality footballers comes an expectation that is often too much for the players to deliver when the World Cup comes around. …

If it isn’t raw feeling, football fans don’t want to know. Corporatism, footballers who don’t like football outside of their professional lives, empty stadiums, players not celebrating goals – all are treated with undiluted contempt by a hopelessly romantic footballing public.    But the game can be a dispassionate pursuit. Though their supporters might expect…