Introduction
Editor’s Note – Jonathan Wilson
Jonathan Wilson’s Editor’s Note from Issue Twenty Nine
World Cup Memories (20th Century)
The First Superstar – Brian Oliver
José Andrade was key as Uruguay won the first World Cup but celebrity took a terrible toll
Cinnamon Sticks – Chris Lepkowski
The long and ignoble history of World Cup songs, from Rod Stewart to Jurgen Klinsmann
The Great Disgrace – Uli Hesse
Brutality, unrepentance, the Shame of Gijón and falling out of love with West Germany
Numbers Made of Sequins – Dan Edwards
How Argentina improvised to find lightweight shirts for the 1986 World Cup quarter-final
The Last Great World Cup? – Tim Vickery
The joys of 1986 and a tournament before everybody knew everybody
The Assassin – Simon Hart
Toto Schillaci’s unexpected call-up and the goals that almost took Italy to Italia 90 glory
The Letter of 14 – Michael Yokhin
Russia should have been one of the strongest squads at USA 94 but internal politics intervened
Blue Skies and Brazil – Richard Jolly
Why USA 94 was the World Cup that had everything (apart from England)
Nothing Turns Away – Mardean Isaac
The World Cup final and the profound agony of Roberto Baggio
Cesar’s French Campaign – Joshua Law and Tom Sanderson
Cesar Sampaio looks back on his career and the chaos of the 1998 World Cup
At Home – Shinobu Yamanaka
How a schoolmate’s goal against Jamaica brought Japan into the football world
World Cup Memories (21st Century)
The Lost Doctorate – Scott Oliver
Theft, drugs and using the World Cup as a form of therapy
Bidding War – James Corbett
How Fifa’s corruption came to a head at the 2010 World Cup in Johannesburg
Tears Before Bedtime – Priya Ramesh
Sitting up late to watch the Dutch betray their heritage was never going to end well
The Panini Ghost – Leonard Jägerkiöld Nilsson
The player who’s been in three World Cup sticker albums but has never been selected
Everything is True, Nothing is Accurate – James Young
Truth, lies, clichés and how Brazil wasn’t as it should have been
Russia 2018
Resurrection Man – Samindra Kunti
How Tite dragged himself and then Brazilian football into modernity
Bread and Circasses – Taimour Lay
What Spartak Nalchik says about one of Russia’s minorities
The Paradox of Peru – Morten Glinva
Ricardo Gareca once broke Peruvian hearts, but now the Argentinian stands at the heart of their resurgence
After the Arrests – David Con
The collapse of Fifa, the rise of Gianni Infantino and how much has really changed?
Mexican Manoeuvres – Grant Wahl
Juan Carlos Osorio and Javier Hernández on the movement that downed Costa Rica