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When I was growing up, often in my neighbourhood playground, there were heated arguments between groups of kids who wanted to play cricket and those who wanted to play football, respectively. One of the many justifications regularly…

The tireless work ethic that Cha Bum-kun exemplified had impressed the Eintracht manager Friedel Rausch, who called him “the best and the most willing forward" he had ever seen, soon after Cha joined Eintracht. His first goal came at the…

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.…

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 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…

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…

The 1934 FIFA World Cup was held under the auspices of the Fascist regime in Mussolini’s Italy. I would love to point out the differences which the 1934 World Cup and the recent ones, but I can't help but be inundated by the similarities.…