“We didn’t know anything at all about him. The ones we were focused on were Garrincha and Didi. This young kid, 17 years of age, playing for Brazil… who was he? We didn’t know. But we found out.” This was how Cliff Jones reflected, over five decades later, on his first encounter with the then little-known, less-feared Pele. Education, he ... Read More »

Osaka’s Suita City Football Stadium will stage matches at the FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2016 presented by Alibaba E-Auto for the first time as stadiums and host cities were announced for December’s marquee competition. The Suita City Stadium is the first stadium in Japan to be funded by individual and corporate donors and is the home of J1 League ... Read More »

After opening their 2016 Copa America Centenario campaign with a goalless draw, Brazil flexed their muscles by putting seven past Haiti on Wednesday. Philippe Coutinho was the star of the show, scoring a hat-trick as the Haitians tumbled out of the competition. In the day’s second and final game, Ecuador and Peru shared four goals in a thrilling draw that left ... Read More »

They may be ranked 500/1 outsiders by some bookmakers to win UEFA EURO 2016, but minnows Northern Ireland go into tomorrow’s tournament with the longest unbeaten streak of any team in France. The Green and White Army have not lost in their last 12, and it’s this superb form that has seen them climb to a record-high 25th spot in ... Read More »

With a surname like hers, 14-time England women’s international Natasha Dowie seemed destined to go into football. While her father, Bob, is a coach and former Director of Football at English Premier League side Crystal Palace, her uncle, Iain Dowie, was a renowned frontman in the Premier League during the 1990s, becoming a fans’ favourite at the likes of ... Read More »

As well as being the most popular game on earth, the beautiful game also has a following in space. Just ask Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, who revealed that football’s popularity even extends to the International Space Station (ISS).  “Aboard the ISS we watch the top world and European championship matches, some of them live!” said Kononenko in an interview with ... Read More »

While tight scorelines and miserly defences were the order of the day in the opening exchanges of the 2016 Copa America Centenario, all that changed when Mexico and Uruguay took centre stage on Sunday, with El Tri emerging 3-1 winners in an absorbing encounter. Earlier in the day, Venezuela edged out Jamaica by a solitary goal. The day’s resultsJamaica 0-1 ... Read More »

Born in Stockholm but with that period in Kenya, in addition to spells at Burnley, Feyenoord, Stoke City, Manchester City and now Celta de Vigo, Guidetti has no shortage of footballing lessons to draw on either. “I’ve learned something at every stage,” said the powerful, well-travelled front-man, with justifiable pride. “In Africa sometimes I’d play with boots on, sometimes barefoot; ... Read More »

For the first time in their history Guinea-Bissau will play at the continental finals after they joined six other countries in qualifying for the CAF Africa Cup of Nations 2017 in Gabon on the weekend. There was less success for a trio of former champions as Zambia, South Africa and Sudan were eliminated and will have to watch from the ... Read More »

Participants in the second edition of FIFA’s Female Leadership Development Programme (FLDP) will attend workshops in Zurich from 6-9 June. Launched in 2015 to ensure that there are female role models and women at decision-making levels in football, the FLDP aims to identify, support and develop strong female leaders in the sport, while advocating for women to access senior ... Read More »