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Long-form football features, in-depth stories and exclusive content from the Footy Times team.
First Steps on the Grand Stage: The Inspiring Rise of the Debutants
The expansion of the 2026 FIFA World Cup to a massive 48-team format was met with plenty of debate, but it has undeniably achieved one of its core goals: opening the gates for the global game's rising underdogs.
This summer, four…
The Diaspora Advantage: How Cape Verde Built a World Class Roster from 14 Countries
The beautiful game thrives on fairy tales, and the 2026 FIFA World Cup has delivered its ultimate protagonist before a ball has even been kicked in the knockout rounds. Cape Verde (officially Cabo Verde), a stunning archipelago of ten…
World Cup 2026: Five pre-tournament predictions
For a sport that is so meticulously data-driven at the top level, football still remains wonderfully alive for diverse analytic opinions because the data only tells the facts and omits the context that provides the story.
And in…
Playing in the Shadow of Bombs: The Glaring Hypocrisy of American World Cup
The intersection of geopolitics and sport has long been a battleground of double standards, but the 2026 FIFA World Cup—co-hosted by the United States, Mexico, and Canada—has pushed this hypocrisy into plain view. As the tournament kicks…
Football’s Selective Conscience: A World Cup Indictment
In November 2022, the captains of seven European nations planned to wear a rainbow-coloured armband at the World Cup in Qatar. It bore a small multicoloured heart and the words “OneLove.” It symbolised, its organisers said, inclusion and…
FIFA Revokes Iran Fans’ World Cup Tickets, Says Federation
Iran fans World Cup- Iran's football federation says its fan ticket allocation for the World Cup group stage has been revoked just days before kick-off. According to the FFIRI, it can no longer provide a single ticket to supporters, some of…
The Beautiful Game’s Ugly Reality: How Geopolitics and Host Hostility are Sabotaging Iraq’s World…
As the 2026 FIFA World Cup prepares to kick off across North America, the tournament's central promise—to be a global celebration of unity through sport—is rapidly crumbling. For the Iraqi national football team, the Lions of Mesopotamia,…
Riquelme: The Last Pure Number 10
There is a moment in the 2006 World Cup quarter-final against Germany, in the 71st minute at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, that tells you everything about Juan Román Riquelme and nothing about football's wisdom. Argentina lead 1-0. The…
The World Cup of our Times
It was a long summer afternoon I remember like yesterday. The latest issue of the bi-weekly Bangla magazine, which had satiated most of my growing appetite for reading when I was eight, had arrived. That summer afternoon, about a month…
2026 FIFA World Cup Fixture Schedule and Kick-Off Times
2026 FIFA World Cup Fixture Schedule and Kick-Off Times | The 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off in the early hours of Friday, 12 June IST, with hosts Mexico facing africa/">africa/">South Africa at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.…