The Canadian men’s national team’s long route to the next World Cup takes a decisive turn as the Canucks square off against Haiti in a key home-and-away. Rocco Fasano looks at how they got there, and what’s next as Canada’s quest for Qatar 2022 continues.   After barely missing out on the top six-ranked teams…

Following their failure to qualify for the last World Cup in Russia, Italy are about to enter the Euros with a sense of renewed optimism. Roberto Mancini has this team playing an aggressive more modern version of football, that is not only entertaining, but most significantly, gaining results.   Qualifying Campaign   Gli Azzurri had…

“I left a Formula One car to him and he’s driving it like he’s a tractor. He’s a novice.”   Those were the words of former Gaziantep manager Marius Șumudică, who was dismissed from his post in January due to disagreements with the club’s board, prior to a match between Gaziantep and Çaykur Rizespor on…

The curtain will soon come down on the 2020/21 European football season. The ongoing Covid-19 crisis globally has seen football stadiums and their stands lying empty as the sport continues behind closed doors. One only hopes increased vaccination campaigns throughout Europe will finally see an end to empty stadiums for the entirety of the 2021/22…

The Championship is a division swamped with clubs hemorrhaging millions of pounds in pursuit of promotion. Derby County and Birmingham City are examples of teams who have loosened their purse strings recently without much success. Neither side has achieved promotion, and both are currently entangled in a relegation scrap. Financial negligence and mismanagement are rife…

In just 7 days, the U-21 European Championships group stage has come to a close, a tournament whose peculiar scheduling and lack of preparation haven’t taken any of the spectacles away. In the 24 group stage matches, we witnessed captivating individual performances, fluent midfield dominations, and more than enough goalkeeping errors.   Though many of…

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…

One year after narrowly surviving relegation, West Ham sit fifth in the league table after 28 matchdays, whilst having one game in hand on several of their top four rivals — Chelsea, Leicester City, Liverpool and Manchester United. It has been a turbulent period for West Ham since moving out of the historic Boleyn Ground…

For decades, the prospect of drawing FK Crvena zvezda (Red Star Belgrade) in Europe would be enough to thoroughly excite fans across the continent. Over 30 years since their last European trophy, this is no different. They notoriously possess one of the most imposing fan bases.   In addition to this, their long-established unity and passion…

In the world of football these days, it takes bold minds, great thinkers, risk-takers and innovators to change the usual norm, to use a limited budget to achieve success, to outthink the richer clubs, and to use unorthodox methods to succeed in a hugely competitive sport. This is exactly what Mathew Benham has achieved at…