Introduction

Issue 40: Editor’s Note – Jonathan Wilson
Jonathan Wilson’s Editor’s Note from Issue Forty

Politics

The Years of Lead – John Irving
Juventus, Torino and visiting Turin during Italy’s decade of political violence

The Green Giant – Leonard Jägerskiöld Velander
Sampdoria’s Morten Thorsby and changing football’s relationship with the environment

The Rebels – Ewan Flynn
The chaotic attempts to break sanctions and arrange a tour of South Africa in 1982

The Conspiracy Club – Jarrod Kimber
The Australian NBA star’s brother who ended up playing professionally for FLAT Earth FC in Spain

Investigation

The Secret Room – Ben Jacobs
Afghanistan’s women’s national team and the difficulties of their fight for justice

Russia

Tanks, Corruption, Death – Igor Rabiner
The extraordinary story of the USSR’s first professional club and the collapse of Communism

The Warlord’s Toy – James Beardsworth
How a football club in Grozny became a token of Vladimir Putin’s power

Photo Essay

The Covid Landscape – Colin McPherson
Hand sanitiser and social distancing: how the pandemic changed football

Individuals

Mit sexy Knien – Ned Boulting
How a novelty song about Karl-Heinz Rummenigge became an unlikely hit

Game of Thônes – Rob Hunt
Aimé Jacquet, the reclusive pragmatist who won France the World Cup

The Whistle and the Book – Chris Lepkowski
The Welsh referee Clive Thomas looks back at a career defined by controversy

A Foot in Each Camp – Simone Pierotti
An interview with Edgar Castillo, the only man to play for the USA and Mexico

A Season in the Sun – Matteo Marchello
The brief golden age of the Foggia leftback Maurizio Codispoti

The New Gazza – Jonathon Rogers
Chris Holland remembers how his promising career was derailed by an attack in a nightclub

Theory

Left Fist Forward – Ben Welch
How does confidence affect players and to what extent does it matter?

Eight Bells

Eight Bells (Smash-and-Grab) – Greg Lea
A selection of the greatest smash-and-grab raids in football history