Football

This might be my last World Cup

I dread hearing the words “England friendly”

The MAGA World Cup

Could football be a symbolic riposte to Trump’s xenophobia?

In 1966, I left Wembley convinced England would win again

Some people count their life in spoons; I count my life in World Cups

Gareth Southgate couldn’t fix England

Dear England is a parade of patriotic fantasies

Why you hate John Terry

Even before one of its legends endorsed Rupert Lowe, Chelsea FC was seen as irredeemable

Rochdale vs York and the triumph of local football

We hear that Brits are more smartphone-addled and skint than ever. But non-league football might be the answer

The silence of football stadiums

Why, when English football is so successful, have crowds gone so quiet?

Milan and the tragedy of decline

The final Milan derby in the storied San Siro is indicative of broader, destructive forces

Watching Britain’s best Sunday league team

The Wythenshawe Vets are stacked with Barclays-era Premier League talent. How do their rivals feel about it?

The glory of defeat in the FA Cup

By the fifth goal, the Boreham Wood terraces were emptying. Why would anyone put themselves through this?

Ruben Amorim’s sacking shows the game truly is gone

We don’t have football managers any more; we have “head coaches”

Leah Williamson: “We haven’t been brought up like boys in the Arsenal academy”

The England captain on the rapid changes of women’s football

The World Cup in the age of extremes

Next year’s edition, to be held in Donald Trump’s America, will only be the latest in a long history of…

After three glorious decades, it’s full-time for The Fan

As the final whistle blows for this column, I look back on an era in which football has grown bigger…

It’s official – women’s football is better than men’s

The Super League is more popular than ever, and the England team are even winning pots

The disgrace of the English Premier League

The top flight has hardened into an impenetrable, oligarchic elite.

Oasis live is everything music is meant to be about

Also this week: Punk rock in Blackpool and on the glory trail in Europe with Hibernian FC.

August 1966: Danny Blanchflower reflects on England’s football World Cup win.

The Lionesses have slain an old England

Our women’s team are at the forefront of a new and different patriotism.

The Lionesses make it cool to be English

Chloe Kelly’s comments mark a turning point in conversations about national identity.