There’s no doubt that being a referee can be a largely thankless task, with the emotive nature of the game meaning that officials often have to maintain control in the face of immense pressure and sustained abuse. Some referees fail in this respect, of course. Most...

Football in the UK has undergone a marked transformation through the Premier League era, and not only in terms of the number of foreign players and the influx of huge cash sums. The game is also different tactically too, with pretty much all of the sides that lined up...

There is a myriad of football formations in the modern age, some of which are universally popular such as the 4-3-3 and the 4-2-3-1. However, there are others that are decidedly more trend-driven and fleetingly popular, including the currently in-vogue 3-4-2-1 system....

The term “golden generation” has been applied to various international sides down the year, with recent iterations including the English and Portuguese teams of the noughties. While neither of these sides was able to fully realise their potential or yield the fruits...

When France won the World Cup in 2018 following a thrilling 4-2 victory over Croatia in the final, many believed that it could kickstart another period of dominance for Les Blues on the international stage. Ultimately, Didier Deschamps’ men couldn’t emulate the...

When Belgium slumped to a 2-1 defeat to eventual winners in the quarter-finals of Euro 2020, it appeared as though the country’s so-called “Golden Generation” had reached something of a watershed moment. While it becomes increasingly unlikely that the world’s...