Jari litmanen

Aged 11, you left Reunion Island, near Madagascar, to join Le Havre’s youth team in mainland France. How tough was it to adapt to a different life? It wasn’t an easy adjustment. At the beginning, it w

The Atletico goalkeeper on his quest for the biggest prizes, swapping his individual awards for team silverware, and aiming to take Slovenia to the 2026 World Cup

Growing up in Glasgow during the 1950s, just a few square feet of grass could feel like Hampden Park. Not far from his family home in the impoverished neighbourhood of Milton, a young Kenny Dalglish w

When Tom Cairney joined Fulham from Blackburn for £3 million in June 2015, his new club were in a mess. Recently relegated from the Premier League under Felix Magath, the Cottagers had just finished 1

Exploring the weird and wonderful world of football across FIFA’s 211 member nations –and beyond

The place where I started playing football was a dusty street, the pitch nothing more than a stretch of earth. I was seven years old and it was the only thing I knew how to do. I grew up in Jardim Pai