Don’t deny that Pelé was the greatest footballer
The real problem for many is that the Brazilian played in an older, unfamiliar time, but his legacy will never…
ByFootball
Dive into the world of football with our collection of columns, articles and longer-read features.
Qatar are the real winners of the World Cup
Despite the migrant deaths, the homophobic laws, the alleged corruption, in the end football trumped everything.
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How much does it cost to watch a game of football?
Is it cheaper to watch matches at home or the pub? The football cost-of-living crisis – in numbers.
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How I went viral at Spurs, why believing isn’t magic, and Jack Grealish’s calves go global
It feels weird having it in the desert, but the highlight of the season is still the World Cup.
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Gareth Southgate’s real legacy will be measured not in trophies but in happiness
This is one of the most united England squads in recent memory.
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Qatar proves that sportswashing works
Once we promised not to watch the World Cup, but now the excitement of football has silenced concerns over corruption,…
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Qatar 2022 is gaslighting LGBTQ+ people
Fifa pretends to show allyship, but uses us as a political football.
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The Qatar World Cup is a moral disaster – is it braver to step away, or step inside?
Nothing that happens on the pitch can possibly salvage the horrors that brought this tournament about.
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Leader: What the World Cup tells us about power
In sport, as in politics, principles do not count for much if we only observe them when the cost of…
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Iran’s brave act of defiance puts England to shame
The day before England faced Iran on the pitch, Ehsan Hajsafi told the media that Iranians should know “we are…
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Don’t kid yourself any good can come of the Qatar World Cup
My experience shows Qatari events cannot transcend their debased foundation.
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The unlikely success of a Ukrainian football team, with Adam Crafton
Shakhtar Donetsk has been unable to play at home since 2014.
In Qatar’s paranoid parallel universe, the World Cup is just a prop in a theatre of war
This is not just “sportswashing”: it’s very real power play.
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The tragedy of English football
The miracle of 1966 aside, Paul Hayward’s “biography” of England’s national team is a story of sorry failure.
By Strength, lovely lips and superhuman skill: why Erling Haaland can’t be stopped
The wonder striker at Manchester City has scored 23 goals in his first 15 games for the club. Incredible.
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Why have so many of England’s golden generation failed as football managers?
As Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard have learned, coaching is a specialist vocation, not an appendix to a gilded first…
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The Qatar World Cup is immoral and weird. How did we allow this to happen?
The whole enterprise is a kind of power move – a gigantic middle finger levelled in the general direction of…
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Arsenal took a gamble on Mikel Arteta – and now it’s paying off
Three years ago Mikel Arteta inherited a demotivated squad – but he has since reignited the team’s passion for the…
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Football’s data delusion
A new book by Rory Smith looks at why the English Premier League is still searching for its Moneyball moment.
By After the England-Germany game, I have a cunning plan to win the World Cup
Instead of sending to Qatar the so-called Lions we have seen play poorly in recent weeks, I think we should…
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