All About The Beautiful Game
With the World Cup rapidly approaching, many nations have started recruiting dual nationals. Just look at Ghana: they’ve convinced Mohammed Salisu, Iñaki Williams, Tariq Lamptey, Patrick Pfeiffer, Stephan Ambrosius, and Ransford Yeboah to swap allegiances. However, while strong moves, sometimes nations need to look closer to home when picking their squads. In 2018, zero African … Read more
Recently, Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis made headlines after declaring he wouldn’t sign any more African players. The Italian, seemingly forgetting that many of his best players in recent years are African, stated that it was ridiculous that he paid their wages and they left in the middle of the season. De Laurentiis further stated … Read more
In 2021, French side LOSC Lille stunned the world. The club, located in northern France, had gone a decade since their last league title — stuck behind heavyweights PSG and Monaco. This changed two seasons ago — Lille’s smart recruiting saw them finish first in the league, beating PSG and clinching Champions League football. However, … Read more
Schalke 04 have one of the best academies in the world. Over the past few years, many of Germany’s top names have come from their academy: Manuel Neuer, Leroy Sané, Ilkay Gündogan, Julian Draxler, and more. Mesut Özil joined the side at a young age, while US international Weston McKennie did the same. Despite this, … Read more
Australia is heading to their fifth consecutive World Cup, having bested Peru on penalties earlier in the year. Unfortunately for the Aussies, they also have struggled at the tournament: five total appearances and they’ve made it out of the group stages once. That was in 2006 when they promptly lost in the Round of 16. … Read more
For the second consecutive time, Italy will not be heading to the World Cup. This is no recent development: they’ve known since March’s loss to North Macedonia in qualifiers. However, a lot has changed since this occurred, particularly an important—and brutally honest—complaint from Italy coach Roberto Mancini directed at the lack of young players and … Read more
Barcelona’s academy has always been special: the likes of Lionel Messi, Xavi, and Andres Iniesta graduated from the legendary La Masia. Just look at some of their academy prospects in 2016: Ansu Fati, Eric García, and Nico, among others. However, even with academies as good as Barcelona’s, sometimes talents slip through the cracks. One that … Read more
In recent years, Colombia has become a hub for footballing talent. In 2014, teenager James Rodríguez picked apart some of the world’s top teams in the World Cup, finishing as the tournament’s top scorer. He moved to Real Madrid shortly thereafter. Since then, the list of Colombians playing at big clubs has grown: Davinson Sánchez, … Read more
While it seems like, in many leagues, the season has just ended, it’s already beginning to start elsewhere. That’s the case in Switzerland, where the league kicks off this weekend with several high-profile matchups. With the success of the Swiss national team at the Euros and qualification for the World Cup over Italy, it appears … Read more
While many fans might not notice, the Greek Super League played a huge role in English football last season. Wolverhampton Wanderers finished tenth in the Premier League last season thanks to the strong goalkeeping of Jose Sa and the attacking of Daniel Podence, both bought from Olympiacos. Luka Milivojevic, Crystal Palace’s captain for much of … Read more