Not many players get their face on the cover of Marca, the most read sports paper in Spain, at 18-years-old. Then, not many players are Marco Asensio.

At first glance, a trip to Livorno’s Stadio Armando Picchi appears to be an ordinary footballing experience.

English football clubs have held nicknames and titles since the 19th century, when the sport first became fully regulated and gained mass popularity. 

When Didier Deschamps lifted the World Cup aloft in 1998, many England fans felt a deep sense of ‘what might have been’.

"The masses of the people of Africa are crying for unity…"

Kwame Nkrumah, Ghanaian Leader from 1951 to 1966

Hungary in 1968 was a different nation to the one that had witnessed bloody Revolution twelve years earlier.

Irish football is a complicated affair often dominated by politics. Interspersed with the drama we get brief occasions of joy, ecstasy and delight.

As a second-generation Tamil born in Switzerland, raised and living in England (and an avid football fan), to which national team I pledge my support has been under constant enquiry.

“He alone is half the squad. The other half is made by the rest of us together.” – Mario Rigamonti

Brussels, 15 October 2013. Belgium is playing Wales in its final World Cup qualifier. Qualification for the World Cup has already been secured, so coach Marc Wilmots is trying out some things.

If I was to tell you that El Hadji Diouf’s Serbian ex-agent is a club legend at a local Irish side, would you believe me?

The Basque region. Famous for its ancient cultural heritage, powerful in its economic standing, and fierce in its un-erring desire for autonomy.

Alderney is one of those wonderful places that remains untouched by the passing of time.

The culmination of the 2005/6 season saw Glasgow Rangers finish, by their own standards, in a lowly third place.

It is not much to look at. Faded, discoloured bricks are held together by unevenly applied concrete and smudged blue paint peels unpleasantly from the façade.

Ukraine is a country on the brink of collapse. Crimea, the disputed peninsula south of the Ukrainian mainland, is currently under the control of the Russian Federation after its annexation by Russian forces in the wake of last year’s Euromaidan protests, whilst much of the east of the country continues to be ravaged by violence, with many in the primarily Russian-speaking areas calling to follow Crimea in becoming part of the Russian Federation.

Amidst the usual release of FIFA Rankings recently lay a statistic which only a keen-eyed observer would notice: the biggest drop in places had been awarded to the small nation of Guyana, a Caribbean country geographically located in South America and neighbour to one the most famous footballing nations of all: Brazil.

“Ronaldinho? To India? Is he playing cricket these days?”

Just off the North Atlantic coast lies South America’s smallest nation, Suriname.

Don Revie knew he needed to buy players. His Leeds United side were crippled by injury and looking decidedly threadbare in their attempts to remain a threat in Division One title race.

Crisis continues to engulf the Korean FA after the perceived poor performance of the national team.

“We have one of the best academies in Europe,” Prime Minister Viktor Orban boasted about his local club Puskas Akademia just last year.

We all remember where we were when the circus came to town. That is, when Sven-Göran Eriksson came to Notts County, his long Swedish overcoat swishing through the corridors of Meadow Lane, lured by the promise of cash that was never actually there.

In an early interview for Boy’s Own magazine Peter West asked Pompey-born Pat Neil whether he harboured hopes of becoming a professional footballer.