How do you solve a problem like the Europa League?
Search Results for: tag/euro-2012
Team of the Years
The PFA Team of the Year has just been announced for the current season with a few eyebrows being raised over the only non-Liverpool/Manchester City inclusion: Paul Pogba. So as people debate whether his penalties and assists are worth his inclusion in the eleven, we thought we’d look back to some of the last few […]
Ronaldo In Moscow
"That 1997-98 Uefa Cup campaign was the last we saw of the ‘pure’ Ronaldo. Nike’s ‘R9’ brand soon sprang into action, forgetting it had a human at its core. The striker changed his Inter shirt number from 10 to 9 and became the greatest commodity in world sport, selling everything from tyres to sunglasses. Rushed […]
Champions League of Champions League Winners
The first Champions League final of a new decade takes place this week in unchartered conditions. Yes, Lisbon might have hosted the showpiece twice before but not without a few genuine supporters and thousands of corporate associates, and certainly not in late-August. These finals are often, unsurprisingly, determined by goals. Sometimes maybe good goals, sometimes […]
South Of The River
"South London, to fans who came to the game with the advent of the Premier League, probably seems rather similar to, say, East Anglia – not a hotbed, but with one or two clubs who occasionally spend a season or two among the elite before sinking back to their natural level." It was not always […]
Location, Location, Location – The Blizzard Podcast Episode Ninety
Which is more important? How it looks or where a stadium is?
Marcus Rashford: Becoming English Football’s Most Likeable Star
Twitter, even so-called “Football Twitter”, can be the most toxic of social media platforms. At times, it’s overwhelming to wade through the anger and vitriol, the partisan politics, the fake news and everything else that makes you type angrily into a keyboard. Indeed, it’s so bad that Amnesty International released a special report on the […]
Location, Location, Location
"Colchester United, Northampton Town, Stoke City, Swansea City: outsiders have to take a detour to visit the town. If you’re looking for the stadium and come across something interesting, you’ve got lost. "It seems as if no club in England these days can build a stadium without the muscle of a major supermarket chain who […]
Workers Rights, Tony Richardson
The following article first appeared in Issue 39, released in December 2020. The story of the Nepalese labourers building Qatar’s World Cup stadiums. Tribhuvan Airport, Kathmandu, Nepal. November 2018. Football is the icebreaker. It always is. Within seconds of sitting down in departures my neighbour and I have exchanged the basics; who we love, who we […]
Where Now For Iceland?
"In some ways Iceland has been lucky. Had the country’s banks collapsed a few years earlier than they did in 2008, there would not have been the same level of investment in football and none of this would have been possible. But by then the pitches were already built, the indoor complexes well established, the […]