Ode to Joy
1. I am not sure why, last winter, sat beside my dad in the Ninian Stand, I was thinking about the way the pitches I played on as a child used to…
Torcia Verde – a Unique Pocket of Football and Lisbon
“Sporting Clube de PORTUGAL!!” was something I would get used to having shouted at me during my few days in Lisbon every time I mistakenly used the despised term “Sporting Lisbon.” Many…
Emma Hayes, Carla Ward, and exhaustion in the women’s game
“I just feel re-energised,” Emma Hayes said after her first game in charge of the US Women’s National Team (USWNT). “You can see we’re building something.” And so Hayes begins the building…
Manchester United and Erik Ten Hag – Standing, but on Flimsy Foundations
After weeks of deliberation, Manchester United’s new sporting owners have made a call about their men’s first team managerial position; Erik ten Hag stays. Yes, two trophies in two seasons makes for…
Ange Postecoglou and the Price of Dogma
Over the past year, the footballing world has received a taste of Ange Postecoglou to the extent it never had before. He has been around for quite a while as a manager,…
Breaching the Golden Glass Ceiling: Arsenal and The Invincibles
David Dein and Arsène Wenger first met during the 1988-89 season, a relationship embarked upon through “chance conversations and spontaneous invitations”, as detailed in Amy Lawrence’s fantastic Invincible: Inside Arsenal’s Unbeaten 2003-2004…
Imagine Sisyphus Happy – Jurgen Klopp: Part-Manager, Part-Philosopher
As a woman and a professor of philosophy, I have seen football always very differently. I had poor knowledge of tactical systems, but I enjoyed from all my heart the great spectacle…
Switzerland Women’s Euros 2025: Are We Actively Progressing?
Women’s football is being catapulted into wider exposure, greater demands, and higher levels of investment in a once male-dominated industry. With the back-end success of the Women’s Euros in 2022 and the…
Manchester United: Like a Rolling Dice
In football, a single game is often too brief a sample of events to draw definitive conclusions from. Even the most formidable teams have their off days, appearing as mere spectators while…
The Boehly-Roman Empire: What the New Chelsea Regime Is Missing
I know what you’re thinking: that pun is just taking it too far. You’re right. It is. But there’s more at play here than a contrived attempt at punnery, and with these…
The Richarlison Remontada
It’s no secret that Richarlison struggled at the beginning of his Spurs career. He needed help and sought therapy, struggling through injuries, and didn’t have a regular position under Antonio Conte. However,…
Martin Ødegaard and Arsenal: A Perfect Fit
Tony Adams was just before my time. The man nicknamed Mr. Arsenal, who captained the club for 14 years, retired the summer I started watching football, having just led the team to…
Dear Liverpool FC: A Love Letter to the Reds
Football is just a leisure activity, but one we all love and one I cannot imagine my life without (though it certainly sometimes ruins our whole weekend). We shape our lives in…
Pape Matar Sarr – A Key Piece to the Spurs Puzzle
You wouldn’t think when the young midfielder sat on the bench for the majority of last season, that he would start every game he was available in this season. The young Senegalese…
The story of Sunday Mba, Nigeria’s unexpected hero at the 2013 Nations Cup
Football has a knack for producing the unlikely, whether in the form of a modest nation’s fairytale rise or a football club achieving greatness against all odds—like Greece at the 2004 Euros…
Jürgen Klopp Made Us Walk Together
There are some days you just don’t forget. Your first day of university, your first date, the day you buy your first car. Everything about that day is clear, down to the…
Uncle Sam Has Moved Into Town – Football and the USA
Although the age-old trope of Americans not understanding European football still persists to this day, it would be churlish to deny their expertise in monetising their native sports. The National Football League,…
Balancing the Cultural Tightrope – A Battle We Underrate
In a world that is becoming more globalized, we’re seeing an increase in players with dual passports. Germany’s most elite team, Bayern Munich, currently has twelve players in their first team that…
Hearts of Oak FC: A Jewel of African Football
Adorning the southern coast of the Gulf of Guinea is Ghana’s bustling, metropolitan capital: Accra. Home to over 2.5 million, of which 56% are under the age of 24, Accra is becoming…
On the feel and functionality of Cole Palmer
A lot of changes have occurred at Chelsea Football Club over the past eighteen months. Ownership has changed. Coaches have been fired and hired more than once. The change of ownership has…
Dinamo Zagreb and the Changing Winds of Croatian Football
Dinamo Zagreb’s start to the season currently sees them in third place in the Croatian Premier League, 4 points off leaders Rijeka and rivals Hajduk Split in second with a game in…
Liverpool Are Fun Again
The Champions League is the pinnacle of club football, but the Europa League is not that bad, right? You are still competing for a major title, you are still going up against…
Transported to Another World: The Art of Radio Football Commentary
Time and time again, radio football commentary has engaged me in the game like no other medium. My infatuation with it was actually born from my environment rather than personal interest. I will…
Ballon d’Or: The Golden Ball Filled With Air, Glitter, and Confusion
If Monday’s Ballon d’Or gala was a scene from a movie, the art director would get an Oscar. A red carpet entry to the breathtaking Théâtre du Châtelet. Dark tuxedos, beige upholstery,…