Football Opinions

Latest opinions articles covering football.

Oct 11, 2026

Portugal suspended Ronaldo on Friday, and their president already wants him back in November

The federation’s disciplinary council has opened an urgent case over Cristiano Ronaldo’s walkout, and Pedro Proença should have let it run before nami...

Oct 9, 2026

Napoli sold Kvaratskhelia and still won the league, and that is the wrong lesson for the McTominay talks

McTominay’s camp want more than €8 million a year and Napoli offered about €5 million. Real Madrid are asking about him, and the clock on his contract...

Sep 25, 2026

Harry Kane’s 100th Bundesliga goal came too late for the Ballon d’Or, and he should win it anyway

The 2026 vote closed its window on the night of the World Cup final. On what he did before then, Kane’s case is still the strongest.

Sep 24, 2026

Ronaldo thought about retiring after the World Cup, and 21 goals are half the reason he stayed

Cristiano Ronaldo is 21 goals short of 1,000 at 41, and his scoring rate says he gets there this season. Whether Portugal are better for it is a harde...

Sep 10, 2026

Pochettino wants the 2016-17 title given to Spurs, and the Premier League’s own finding is why he will not get it

Pochettino says Chelsea’s admitted rule breaches should cost them the 2016-17 trophy and hand it to his Tottenham side. The problem is what the Premie...

Sep 6, 2026

Tottenham have not scored a league goal all season, and De Zerbi’s answer is that a squad is not a team

Spurs took their first point of the season at the City Ground without managing a shot on target. No Tottenham side has opened a league campaign goalle...

Sep 2, 2026

Liverpool have not won in six, and the case for keeping Iraola is his own first season at Bournemouth

Two draws, two points, and a winless run that stretches back into last season. Liverpool have spent again, and the best argument for keeping faith wit...

Aug 29, 2026

Atletico have given Alvarez until Sunday, and a deadline is the wrong tool for this

Julian Alvarez has not trained for three days and will not travel to Sevilla. Atletico’s chief executive says he is confused and struggling, and the c...

Aug 28, 2026

Chelsea have spent all summer buying, and the £7.5m goalkeeper might be the important one

Chelsea agreed a deal for Emiliano Martinez on 27 August, five days before the window shuts. It is the cheapest signing of their summer and it says th...

Aug 24, 2026

Atletico’s own fans booed Alvarez, and then the club decided he should not go near them

Diego Simeone said the club, not the player, chose to keep Julian Alvarez away from the stands after Sunday’s 2-2 draw. Eight days from the deadline,...

Aug 10, 2026

Liverpool have thrown away a two-goal lead twice in a week, and fitness is only half the answer

Two up on Leeds in Chicago, two up on Monaco at Anfield, beaten both times. Andoni Iraola says his players do not have ninety minutes in them yet. The...

Aug 10, 2026

Barcelona are about to sell the man who won Spain the World Cup, and the maths says they are right

Three weeks after his extra-time goal beat Argentina in the World Cup final, Ferran Torres has agreed personal terms with PSG. Look at Barcelona’s for...

Jul 28, 2026

Chelsea chasing Welbeck and Henderson is the clearest sign yet that BlueCo has changed its mind

Positive talks for a 35-year-old striker and interest in a 36-year-old midfielder do not look like anything Chelsea have done in four years. That is e...

Jul 20, 2026

Spain look built to last, and that should worry the rest of the world

Spain backed up Euro 2024 with the World Cup, and with Lamine Yamal only nineteen and Rodri collecting the game’s top prize, the dynasty question is a...

Jul 18, 2026

Whatever happens against Spain, this feels like Messi’s long goodbye

At 39, and openly admitting he is exhausted, Lionel Messi has dragged Argentina to a third World Cup final. Sunday against Spain may well be the last...

Jul 18, 2026

England’s 60-year wait goes on after another semi-final collapse

England led their World Cup semi-final and lost it late to a Messi-inspired Argentina, and sixty years on from 1966 the wait drags on. Thomas Tuchel w...

Jul 15, 2026

France’s run of World Cup finals ends as Deschamps bows out a game short

France’s decade of reaching finals ended in Dallas, and with it the Deschamps era. A 2-0 semi-final defeat to Spain leaves the most successful France...

Jul 12, 2026

Four teams, two ties, and a France-Spain semi-final that feels like the final

The World Cup is down to four, with France v Spain and England v Argentina to come. Two heavyweight semi-finals, one wide-open trophy race, and a pick...

Jul 9, 2026

France are the team to beat at the World Cup, but the hard part starts now

France have won all five games and look the tournament’s most complete side. Their history says the knockout rounds are where even the best teams come...

Jul 8, 2026

Ronaldo’s World Cup story ends with the one prize he never got

Spain’s late winner in Dallas sent Cristiano Ronaldo out of his sixth and final World Cup, the one prize that eluded him across two decades at the top...

Jul 6, 2026

Brazil’s earliest World Cup exit since 1990 asks harder questions than Ancelotti will admit

Carlo Ancelotti is calling a last-16 defeat to Norway the start of a new cycle. The harder truth is that Brazil’s problems ran through this whole camp...

Jul 2, 2026

Why France already look like the team to beat at World Cup 2026

Germany are already home and Brazil needed a scare to survive. France, meanwhile, have strolled into the last 16 with Mbappe level with Messi’s tourna...

Jun 30, 2026

Germany’s exit to Paraguay is the same old story, just with better players

A four-time world champion ranked 10th went out to the 41st-ranked side on penalties. The talent has come back to this Germany team. The tournament re...

Jun 30, 2026

The 48-team World Cup was supposed to be soft. The last 32 says otherwise

Germany and the Netherlands are gone, both on penalties, and the expanded format that was meant to cushion the big sides has done nothing of the sort...