Soccer reaches boiling point
Kieran Longworth Kieran Longworth

Soccer reaches boiling point

The year is 1994 and America is preparing to host its first World Cup. The soccer kind. It all begins in Rotterdam. With a team otherwise uninvolved.

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One More Time
Kieran Longworth Kieran Longworth

One More Time

Andy Afford looks at the World Cup through the prism of squad ages. Is it really just a number, or is there something more to growing up?

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Archipelago-go
Kieran Longworth Kieran Longworth

Archipelago-go

Four debut nations are bound for the World Cup North America. The documentation of who they are and how they got there is told through the journey of one unlikely Cape Verdean.

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Not Operating Normally
Kieran Longworth Kieran Longworth

Not Operating Normally

From madness in Mexico to catastrophe in Cape Town, Paul Simpson charts the World Cup’s most curdled campaigns. We start in Cheshire with Roy Keane. Obviously.

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Young Sports Journalists of the Year 2026

It’s back again and with good reason. Meet the authors of this year’s very-best think pieces

Stories
Heavy is the Head
Heavy is the Head

Scientists have shown that exercise makes us healthier and leads to a longer life. But at an elite level, the situation can become more complex.

The Real Cost of Betting
The Real Cost of Betting

Such is the nature of greed: as soon as a means of making money is found, it's exploited and thus begins the decay of sporting integrity.

The Beautiful Game's Ugly Bargain
The Beautiful Game's Ugly Bargain

There is something quietly unsettling about watching a footballer pull on a gleaming shirt sponsored by a sovereign wealth fund

Cheating, the Quiet Way
Cheating, the Quiet Way

We say we want clean sport. We demand fairness, integrity, and a level playing field. Yet the way we actually consume sport tells a different story.

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A male tennis player dressed in white, kneeling on the grass court, passionately celebrating with his eyes closed, holding a tennis racket in one hand, during a match with an audience in the background.

 

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