Delving into the treasure troves of Dutch football’s history is an often emotive and enriching experience. Juxtaposed to the relative mediocrity of the present, the Netherlands’ footballing past showcases a talent pool…
Tag: barcelona
MODERN FOOTBALL HAS become so sanitised in this day and age that it’s hard to recall if there was ever a time that top European football players were always so readily approachable. Teams…
For many millennials, Barcelona football club have been the benchmark of perfection in the world of the beautiful game. Tiki-taka, Lionel Messi and, of course, mercurial Brazilian superstar Ronaldinho, have been just…
BENEDIKT TASCHEN’S BOOK ON 1970s FOOTBALL PHOTOGRAPHY is titled The Age of Innocence. An apt title, perhaps – it was the final time when footballers were still at some level “our lads”, clubs…
WHEN IT COMES TO SPORT, half the attraction for a supporter comes from being able to have your opinion heard. Our heroes demand respect, and we’ll gladly take on a conversation in…
Clutching false papers and disguised as Russian soldiers while sheltering from the bitter winter on the back of a truck, a group of Hungarian men passed through the Alps in search of…
THE EXPLOITS and activities of elite football clubs in the current era are often ruthless, both on and off the pitch. Every European superpower has a youth system filled with talented players, plucked…
IT’S 7 JANUARY 1995 – EL CLÁSICO DAY. The tension, as always, is incredibly high, but this match between Real Madrid and Barcelona, midway through the campaign, has the feel of a contest…
BORN TO A World Cup-winning father in Mazinho, Thiago and Rafinha Alcántara have been surrounded by football and its culture for as long as they can remember, including growing up with cousin…
BAD TIMING WAS IN PEPE REIN’S BLOOD. His father, Miguel, while in goal for Atlético Madrid in the 1974 European Cup final, was guilty of perhaps the most ill-fated premature celebration in…
FINLAND, THE LAND of a thousand lakes, is a socialist utopia. It’s a nation that leaves its people wanting for little. An egalitarian state with arguably the highest quality of life in…
It was around 380BC that one of Western philosophy’s founding fathers, Plato, of Classical Greece, first speculated about the purpose of art. In his dense investigation into society titled The Republic, it is…
A bustling café looks out onto a marina harbouring luxurious yachts and boats exclusive to the affluent. The enclosed water is calm and tourists visiting this shrine to the rich are serene,…
This story starts in Valencia, but not where you might expect. The year is 2015 and Benicàssim is hosting one of biggest music festivals on the continent. Thousands of sunburnt revellers are…
And so, another one-nation final and yet another all-Madrid Champions League final awaits us. Beyond the obvious delight of the Spanish capital’s fan base and their decampment to Milan for 28 May,…
MONEY BUYS QUALITY. Quality in football is, to a large extent, determined by the individual actions of a player that are measurable. Goals scored, passes completed, assists given, interceptions made; the list…
Few players with the CV that Gerard Piqué boasts divide opinion quite like the Spaniard. From his pro-Catalan public statements to his defending, which sways from world class to erratic, we examine how the Barcelona star polarises the football world.
‘That was Cruyff’. So many things in football are indeed Johan Cruyff. Senior TFT writer Jon Townsend, a man heavily influenced by Cruyff as a player and now coach, looks back in celebratory fashion at the beautiful gifts the Dutch legend left behind.