Football Features

Latest features articles covering football.

Aug 14, 2026

The ISL restarts on 4 September with 13 clubs, and the clubs now hold the commercial rights

India’s top division returns on 4 September after a summer in which it nearly did not happen at all. Thirteen teams will play it, one fewer than plann...

Aug 14, 2026

Barcelona are selling the World Cup final’s matchwinner, and the accounting explains why

PSG have agreed around €50 million for Ferran Torres and he has agreed a five-year deal. Barcelona offered him a new contract instead. He asked to go,...

Aug 13, 2026

Coventry open at Arsenal 25 years after relegation, and they filled Wembley on the way down

Coventry City start the 2026-27 Premier League season at the Emirates on Friday 21 August, their first game in the division since May 2001. The 25 yea...

Aug 10, 2026

Mourinho signed for Manchester United in 2013, phoned Ferguson in tears, and went to Chelsea instead

A new Netflix documentary has Mourinho and Ferguson both confirming what almost happened in 2013: a signed agreement to succeed Ferguson at Old Traffo...

Aug 9, 2026

East Bengal have scored 13 and conceded one, and Mohun Bagan still win Group A

Six points, 13 goals scored, one conceded, and second place. East Bengal’s Durand Cup group is finished, and Mohun Bagan have already won it with a ga...

Aug 5, 2026

Chelsea have six strikers and want three, and Nicolas Jackson is the expensive one

Unai Emery gave him his debut at Villarreal and Aston Villa want him now. Chelsea’s asking price is the only thing in the way, and Tottenham’s reporte...

Aug 4, 2026

The Premier League voted through its biggest funding deal in a decade without confirming what is in it

Twenty clubs unanimously backed a ten-year funding package for the EFL on 30 July. The league confirmed the term, the start date and the mechanism, th...

Aug 2, 2026

An 8-0, three hat-tricks and a 1-0 derby: the Durand Cup group stage so far

Why the group stage of Asia’s oldest football tournament keeps producing lopsided scorelines, and what it means for the quarter-final race that starts...

Jul 30, 2026

Belgium national football team: full squad and key players

A new manager, an old core and one breakout forward. Here is Belgium’s full 26-man World Cup squad with every club, the players who matter most, and w...

Jul 29, 2026

Croatia national football team: full squad and key players

Slaven Bilic has taken charge, Luka Modric is expected to bow out in October, and a 19-year-old defender has just moved for 50 million pounds. Here is...

Jul 28, 2026

Qatar national football team: full squad and key players

Qatar reached the 2026 World Cup through qualifying for the first time and went out in the group stage. Here is the full 26-man squad, the players who...

Jul 27, 2026

Mexico national football team: full squad and key players

Mexico won all three group games at their home World Cup and ended a 40-year knockout drought before England stopped them. Here is the full 26-man squ...

Jul 26, 2026

Cape Verde national football team: full squad and key players

Cape Verde reached the knockout rounds of the 2026 World Cup with 26 players drawn almost entirely from clubs outside the islands. Here is the full sq...

Jul 22, 2026

Al-Nassr’s cash crunch leaves them frozen out of the transfer window

As the Saudi Pro League window opens, the reigning champions are the odd club out. Reports in Saudi media say a liquidity shortage has delayed player...

Jul 21, 2026

France national football team: full squad and key players

France reached the semi-finals at the 2026 World Cup before losing to Spain and then to England in a 6-4 bronze-medal thriller. Here is the full 26-ma...

Jul 20, 2026

Germany national football team: full squad and key players

Germany head into a new era under Jurgen Klopp after a chastening 2026 World Cup. Here is the full squad he inherits, from Manuel Neuer and Joshua Kim...

Jul 20, 2026

Rodri and Spain dominate the 2026 World Cup awards, Mbappe takes the Golden Boot

Rodri won the Golden Ball, Unai Simon the Golden Glove and Pau Cubarsi the Young Player award as Spain swept the individual honours. Kylian Mbappe was...

Jul 19, 2026

Messi and Yamal: two Barcelona generations meet in the World Cup final

Messi is 39 and probably saying goodbye. Yamal is 19 and just getting started. The World Cup final puts two players from the same club lineage on oppo...

Jul 18, 2026

The Premier League is paying grown-up money for teenagers this summer

Brighton’s club-record £46m for 19-year-old Luka Vuskovic, plus heavy fees for teenagers at Newcastle and Manchester City, point to a summer window be...

Jul 18, 2026

England national football team: full squad and key players at the 2026 World Cup

Thomas Tuchel took England to the World Cup semi-finals before Argentina ended the run in Atlanta. Here is the 26-man squad that carried the Three Lio...

Jul 17, 2026

Spain national football team: full squad and key players at the 2026 World Cup

No Real Madrid players, a Barcelona-heavy spine and a defence that has conceded once all tournament: this is the Spain squad that has reached the 2026...

Jul 17, 2026

Messi edges Mbappe on assists as the World Cup Golden Boot goes to the wire

Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe are locked together on eight goals with one game each left, and the tie-break maths currently leaves the Argentine in f...

Jul 17, 2026

Germany turn to Klopp to rebuild after their World Cup disaster

After the humiliation of a round-of-32 exit to Paraguay and Nagelsmann’s resignation, Germany are on the brink of handing Jurgen Klopp his first inter...

Jul 16, 2026

A World Cup final of opposites: Spain’s control against Messi’s Argentina

Spain reached the World Cup final with the tournament’s meanest defence; Argentina got there on Lionel Messi and a habit of late drama. Sunday’s showp...