Apalak

When Son Heung Min played his last game for Tottenham in a friendly game at Seoul, there were widespread discussions surrounding the proper place of Son in the pantheon of Asian footballers who have excelled in European club football.…

The FIFA World Cup was held in West Germany in 1974. It is a tournament remembered for the Johan Cruyff-led contingent, hailing from what had been considered relatively footballing backwaters, dazzling the world with their dynamic and fluid…

Something miraculously beautiful is happening in Scotland now. And no, I am not talking about another lock ness monster sighting. However, the utter rarity and near incredulity of the event have left me with no other parallels. The Scottish…

The board with two numbers goes up – one number in red, the other in green, and a player trudges out of the ground as another darts in. Substitutions have been a part of the game since the 1950s. But for the first thirty years, there could…

The 1970 FIFA World Cup was held in Mexico. It was the first World Cup to be televised in colour, staged outside of Europe or South America, and allowed for in-match substitutions. Red and yellow cards were introduced for the first time in…

The 1962 World Cup in Chile is one of the least fondly remembered tournaments in the history of the World Cup. The lack of infrastructure, widespread poverty, and unemployment issues, in addition to the poorly addressed Valvadia Earthquake,…

The 1958 FIFA World Cup in Sweden was the first time that video technology in the World Cup seemed good enough to match the spectacle. And a spectacle it was. From Fontaine’s record goal-scoring spree to Garrincha and Pele’s self-exposition…

The 1954 FIFA World Cup in Switzerland remains the only world cup that saw a goals per game average of more than 5. It is also notable for an unnecessarily overcomplicated format that had conventional groups of four, but teams didn't play…

After a 12-year-long hiatus due to the Second World War, the FIFA World Cup reconvened in Brazil in 1950 for its fourth staging. Coming after two World Cups using a straight knock-out format, this was the only World Cup that did not have…

The 1938 FIFA World Cup was staged in France as Europe was driving headlong into a history-defining war without remotely acknowledging the possibility of such. The crisis-riddled backdrop cast a shadow over the proceedings. In a…