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Long-form football features, in-depth stories and exclusive content from the Footy Times team.
FIFA Faces Fresh $2.1bn Funding Battle as Uefa and Concacaf Demand Cash for All 211 Members
FIFA is facing fresh pressure from two of its confederations after Uefa and Concacaf called for billions of dollars from its reserves to be distributed to football associations around the world.
Uefa president Aleksander Čeferin and…
The Story the BBC Won’t Tell: Palestinian Football’s Dead
The BBC published a long, carefully reported feature this morning about Israeli football's "golden generation" — the Under-20 side that reached the semi-finals of their World Cup in 2023, the Arab and Jewish players who prayed side by side,…
Loris Karius: From Setback to Schalke Comeback
Loris Karius is enjoying a remarkable revival at Schalke after years in the shadows. The German goalkeeper has rebuilt his career in Gelsenkirchen and is now attracting attention with a series of impressive performances in the…
Chelsea’s Midfield Crisis After Enzo Fernández
Chelsea's decision to sell Enzo Fernández for £125 million has left Xabi Alonso with a midfield problem that the club failed to solve before the transfer window closed. The intended replacements, Lamine Camara and Manu Koné, did not…
What Happens During a Football Medical? Inside the Tests That Can Make or Break a Transfer
A football transfer can look complete long before a player pulls on his new club's shirt. The fee may have been agreed, personal terms settled and a contract prepared, but there is still one important hurdle before the paperwork is…
Argentina Spent a Decade Doubting Messi. They Owe Him an Apology, Not a Verdict
There is a version of this story that ends in New Jersey on July 19, with Ferran Torres wheeling away in the second period of extra time and Lionel Messi standing with his hands on his hips, watching Spain do to Argentina in a final what…
The Workers Cup: An Ode to Labourers Who Built Qatar’s Stadiums for the World Cup
Adam Sobel’s The Workers Cup explores the lives of migrant labourers who built Qatar’s World Cup infrastructure, using a football tournament as a window into their dreams, hardships and resilience. Muhammed Noushad reviews the documentary…
Who Are Johor Darul Ta’zim? Chelsea’s Malaysian Opponents
There is a subplot to Chelsea's pre-season visit to Malaysia that will not have been lost on anyone old enough to remember the night of 3 May 2005. Johor Darul Ta'zim's chief executive officer is Luis Garcia — the former Liverpool…
The Last World Cup of Football’s Last Great Generation
There is a generation of football supporters — those born somewhere in the corridor between the mid-eighties and the late nineties — for whom the game has been organised, for their entire conscious lives, around a small number of enormous…
Remembering Escobar for a Reason After Three Decades
Andres Escobar’s ghost still seems to be casting a poignant shadow over Colombian football. Otherwise, why should a footballer fear for his life, for a sporting failure, even after 32 years since Escobar's martyrdom in Colombia? I should,…