50 Articles

It’s that time of year again: World Soccer awards season, when we recognise the players, teams and coaches that defined 2024. A big thank you to our panel of experts who voted in this year’s awards. This year, there was an undeniable theme to the award winners and the contenders–although we’ll let you discover what that is for yourself on page 28. It’s also the time of year when many competitions come to a close. Congratulations to the new champions of South American football, Botafogo, and to all the teams that came out on top in Europe’s various summer leagues.…

1 min.

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Delivery available in every country Don’t miss our New Year Sale! • Pay only £15 for your first 6 issues of World Soccer • Never miss an issue with delivery direct to your door • Big savings–save £37 in your first 6 months* • You’ll also receive the World Soccer e-newsletter STAY INFORMED STAY INSPIRED. 3 EASY WAYS TO SUBSCRIBE: 1 VISIT shop.kelsey.co.uk/NY25WS 2 CALL 01959 543 747 QUOTE CODE NY25WS 3 SCAN THE QR CODE Calls charged at your standard network rate. Lines are open 8.30am-5pm Monday to Friday. Terms & Conditions: *Savings are based on the standard cover price of £5.99 plus postage and packaging for your first 6 months. You will pay £15 for your first 6 issues, then continue to pay £29.99 every 6 months thereafter. Overseas…

5 min.

Rodri: a worthy World Player of the Year

Rodri. It had to be Rodri. Just look at Manchester City’s prowess with him and their problems without him. They’re a constellation of stars and Rodri is the one who makes them shine brightest. No wonder they miss him. Look at how important he was for Spain in becoming European champions. It’s why I voted for Rodri ahead of Vinicius Junior in the Ballon d’Or and World Soccer awards. A very simple message was contained in the angry reaction of Vinicius Junior and Real Madrid to the Brazilian not winning the Ballon d’Or. The message was how much the award for best men’s player in the world mattered to them, not how little. If Vinicius and Real had just shrugged, and posted congratulations to Rodri, it would have suggested eyes…

5 min.

Chasing ratings

Kenneth Wolstenholme was much more than the man whose commentary spontaneity delivered one of the most enduring clichés in modern English language in the closing seconds of the1966 World Cup final. Wolstenholme, who died in 2002, had been the voice of what little TV football coverage there was in the 1950s and in launching Match of the Day on August 22,1964. He achieved much more in his life than a footnote to broadcasting trivia. Wolstenholme was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) after flying more than100 missions as a bomber pilot in the Second World War; later he led an RAF pilot instruction team when his No.2 was Nicholas Winton, renowned now for his work on the Kindertransport out of Czechoslovakia. Television was then in its infancy and the BBC…

1 min.

BOOKS THIS MONTH

VIVA COLOMBIA By Mark Biram (Pitch Publishing, £18.99) Viva Colombia offers a social history of Colombian football through 15 distinct episodes and15 national team players–from the joie de vivre of the Colombian style, best personified by Carlos Valderrama, to the travails of Colombian society illustrated by the tragic murder of Andres Escobar. From Colombia’s first World Cup appearance in 1962 through to the present day, it considers what some of the most emblematic players to wear the shirt tells us about the South American nation. WORK & PLAY By Dave Proudlove (Pitch Publishing, £16.99) Work and Play: The Industrial Roots of English Football is a fascinating examination of the roots of some of English football’s most famous clubs, and how the relationship between industrial communities and football clubs still survives…

4 min.

The perils of three at the back

When Chelsea won the Premier League under Antonio Conte in 2016-17, they became the first team since Everton in 1962-63 to win the English league title while using a back three as a default. As tactics have become more flexible, there have been champions since who have used a back three in certain games or in certain parts of certain games, but no side with a regular back three has won the league. Which is intriguing in itself, but of particular relevance in relation to Manchester United’s appointment of Ruben Amorim. Amorim, both at Braga and at Sporting, has favoured a 3-4-3 system. He has two basic ways of playing it. At times, he has used two holding players protecting the three defenders, with wing-backs supplying the width and what…

2 min.

REPORTS WE COULDN’T MAKE UP

1 A SPRINKLE OF CHICANERY During November’s 2026 World Cup qualifying action in South America, ten-man Venezuela held on to secure a vital draw at home to Brazil–but they needed a bit of help from the groundsman to get it. As the visitors chased a stoppage-time winner, the ground’s sprinklers emerged to water the pitch, forcing the referee to pause the match and forcing a furious reaction from the Brazilian players. 2 EASY COME, EASY GO Italian football clubs are known for their limited patience when it comes to head coaches, but Piacenza took that to new levels when they sacked one manager on the same day they had hired him. Simone Bentivoglio had just taken his first and only training session when he was given his marching orders, with the…

4 min.

OBITUARIES

Rachid MEKHLOUFI (1936-2024) Aside from being a prolific goalscorer in France for Saint-Etienne, Mekhloufi was also a key figure in Algeria’s independence movement. In April1958, less than a year after firing Les Verts to the Ligue1 crown, he left France to play for the FLN, a team put together by the National Liberation Front, which represented Algeria’s independence movement. They toured the world playing club and international opponents, despite FIFA refusing to recognise the team. In total, they played an estimated 83 matches, often attracting massive crowds, of which Mekhloufi played 40 and scored 42 goals. When Algeria gained independence in 1962, the FLN was disbanded and succeeded by a FIFA-recognised team. Mekhloufi–who had won four France caps and gave up the chance to play at the 1958 World Cup–went on…

2 min.

ESM XI

SEASON RANKINGS Cumulative votes through the season NOVEMBER 2024 GOALKEEPERS Caoimhin Kelleher (Liverpool) 3 Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa) 3 Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich) 3 David Raya (Arsenal) 3 David De Gea (Fiorentina) 2 Michele Di Gregorio (Juventus) 2 Peter Gulacsi (RB Leipzig) 2 Franco Israel (Sporting) 2 Jan Oblak (Atletico Madrid) 2 Inaki Pena (Barcelona) 2 Matz Sels (Nottingham Forest) 2 Yann Sommer (Internazionale) 2 Alisson (Liverpool) 1 Marco Carnesecchi (Atalanta) 1 Mike Maignan (Milan) 1 Alex Meret (Napoli) 1 Vanja Milinkovic-Savic (Torino) 1 DEFENDERS Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool) 15 Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli) 9 Willi Orban (RB Leipzig) 6 Federico Dimarco (Internazionale) 5 Gabriel (Arsenal) 5 Bremer (Juventus) 4 Josko Gvardiol (Manchester City) 4 Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich) 4 Ibrahima Konate (Liverpool) 4 William Saliba (Arsenal) 4 Trent Alexander-Arnold…

2 min.

12 MOVES you might have missed…

“Joining San Diego FC as a partner is an exciting opportunity to help build something truly special in a city and league that are experiencing incredible growth”Ex-Spain midfielder Juan Mata announces that he will join the ownership group of MLS’s newest club San Diego FC MARCELO Almost exactly a year after winning the Copa Libertadores, the former Real Madrid and Brazil left-back had his Fluminense contract terminated by mutual consent. Javier MASCHERANO Following the departure of Gerardo Martino after Inter Miami’s failure to progress through the MLS playoffs, Mascherano left Argentina’s Under-20s to take the role. Age HAREIDE The 71-year-old Norwegian stepped down from his role as head coach of Iceland and announced his retirement from football after a 39-year managerial career. Claudio RANIERI The 73-year-old came out of retirement…

3 min.

The month in numbers

“Edoardo [Bove] is doing well, he is recovering and we are happy”Fiorentina confirm that midfielder Edoardo Bove is out of intensive care after the 22-year-old collapsed on the pitch during the Serie A clash with Internazionale 4 The number of co-hosting nations of Euro 2028–England, Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland–after Northern Ireland formally withdrew, with plans to refurbish their proposed stadium Casement Park now shelved. 40 Age of LAFC striker Kei Kamara when he came out of international retirement to play for Sierra Leona in their penultimate AFCON 2025 qualifier versus Chad in November. 67 Years since the last player to net a hat-trick of penalties in the English top flight before Bournemouth’s Dutch forward Justin Kluivert achieved the feat in their Premier League clash against Wolves. 58…

11 min.

Striking gold

Gently stirring his thick black coffee in the stuffy back-room office of his funeral parlour, Mario Galeano’s pinched eyes quiver as his memory wanders back to the phone call he believes helped turn Jhon Jader Duran’s life. “I told his mother this could be everything, or this could be nothing,” Galeano, Duran’s former coach, recalls, “but that we had to give it a go; he had to leave Zaragoza and go to Medellin.” With his mother’s blessing, the next day Galeano and Duran left Zaragoza, a rugged rural gold-mining town where the 11-year-old had spent his entire life, on the six-hour drive to Medellin. There, flitting across Colombia’s second city from trial to trial, Galeano and Duran would spend the next month chasing a dream that held no guarantee of…

4 min.

THE REIGN OF SPAIN

It may be over14 years since Andres Iniesta scored the goal that made Spain world champions, but glancing around the footballing landscape in 2024, it is tempting to ask whether the country has ever been so dominant. Looking at the results of this year’s World Soccer awards, there are Spanish fingerprints everywhere. The Men and Women’s Players of the Year, Rodri and Aitana Bonmati, are both Spanish, while the second and third players in both votes play for Spanish clubs. The Men’s Manager of the Year, Carlo Ancelotti, manages a Spanish club, and his three nearest challengers are all Spaniards. Barcelona Femeni won the Women’s Team of the Year award, and the Men’s award went to–yep, you guessed it–Spain. Only Englishwoman Emma Hayes bucked the trend, winning the Women’s Manager…

5 min.

RODRI

The brightest, most illuminating of midfield lights as Manchester City won yet another Premier League and Spain joyously clinched their fourth European title, Rodri’s coronation as the World Soccer Men’s World Player of the Year represents a much-needed sea-change in the way football’s glittering individual prizes are doled out. Unsurprisingly, the extravagant skills of attackers and creative midfielders have long tended to be the sole criteria when electing an MVP; in 42 years of our award, only two players who were neither a forward nor midfield playmaker–Italian defenders Paolo Maldini in1994 and Fabio Cannavaro in 2006–have received the ultimate accolade. In recent times, Rodri has shaken up the entire appreciation process, ripped off the blinkers and widened the perspective. Thanks to the Madrid-born Rodri, high-level dirty work in the engine…

4 min.

SPAIN

With hindsight, it is easy to look back at Spain’s success at Euro 2024 and see a squad built for glory. It had all the necessary elements: gritty, experienced winners like Dani Carvajal; thrilling, emerging talent like Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal; an elite world-class midfielder at the peak of his powers in Rodri; all marshalled by a coach, Luis de la Fuente, who knew the players intimately from his time leading the youth ranks. There was genuine tournament knowhow, too. Not only had Spain reached the semi-finals of Euro 2020, only eliminated on penalties by eventual champions Italy, they were also reigning UEFA Nations League champions. At Under-21 level, they had reached three of the previous four European finals, while the Under-23s bagged silver at the Olympics in Tokyo…

3 min.

CARLO ANCELOTTI

Since the first World Soccer awards back in1982, only four men have been named World Manager of the Year more than once: Sir Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho, Pep Guardiola and now, Carlo Ancelotti. Ferguson had to wait five years between his first two awards, Mourinho’s came in back-to-back years, while Pep won his first two in the space of three years. For Ancelotti, the wait has been 21 years. His first came in 2003 after he’d won the Champions League for the first time; his second came after he’d lifted the trophy for the fifth time. It is difficult to explain why he has been overlooked so often, but mostly it is an issue of timing. His best seasons have been overshadowed by bigger and better storylines. When he won…

4 min.

AITANA BONMATI & BARCELONA

Cajoled into conducting a touchline broadcast interview, in English, after Spain’s defeat in the Olympics bronze medal match against Germany in the summer, Aitana Bonmati was not happy; a fourth-place finish on Spain’s Olympic debut was not good enough. Her team, she said, deserved their fate, they made too many mistakes, and fourth was “a bad result for us”. For anyone who has watched the Netflix documentary Acerca de #SeAcabó (English title: It’s All Over) it was no surprise that Spain looked jaded, exhausted after a traumatic year of struggle with their own federation. Which makes the continued excellence of Bonmati, who retains her World Soccer Women’s World Player of the Year crown, and Barcelona, who replace the national side as Women’s World Team of the Year, all the more…

4 min.

EMMA HAYES

On the evening of Wednesday, May1, it appeared that Emma Hayes’ magic touch had finally deserted her. In the space of 32 days, the departing Chelsea head coach had seen her team lose the League Cup final, fail in their defence of the FA Cup and then surrender a first-leg lead against Barcelona by losing 2-0 at home to crash out of the Champions League. To cap it all, her team had just lost 4-3 to Liverpool with the winning goal struck in the dying moments by Gemma Bonner–a player that Hayes had sold in her first season at Chelsea in 2012. “I don’t think the title will be heading to us this year,” said Hayes, effectively conceding the championship that night. Hayes had already agreed to leave Chelsea at…

8 min.

WILLIAM TROOST-EKONG

William Troost-Ekong’s strong mentality has been shaped by doubt and scepticism. His father wanted him to take a more conventional path and certain coaches questioned his ability, but that only added fuel to the fire. When others might have given up, or lowered their ambitions, he kept going. This refusal to admit defeat, combined with a willingness to explore, has led to a nomadic and eventful career that reached unexpected new heights in 2024. Professional football has taken the centre-back on a whirlwind tour of Europe, to top division clubs in seven different countries, and the cusp of greatness with Nigeria in the latest Africa Cup of Nations. Released by Tottenham Hotspur at 19 and exiled by the national team in 2023, Troost-Ekong has persevered through many setbacks. While football…

5 min.

ANDRES INIESTA

The way that Andres Iniesta always told it, in that last fraction of a second just before the greatest explosion of joy in Spanish football history, there was silence. Standing there at Soccer City, Johannesburg, watching the ball sit up before him in the116th minute of the World Cup final, he could hear it. He knew. All he had to do, he said on the plane home from South Africa, trophy on board, was wait. Gravity would put the ball on his foot, and he would put it into the net and them into paradise. It had to be him who scored the goal that made Spain world champions for the first time, defeating the Dutch late on a Sunday night in July 2010. There was no one they would…

4 min.

MAKRAM DABOUB

Football coaches all have their own challenges but few have faced the situation that Makram Daboub did in 2024, and it is a testament to the Tunisian and those around him that the year was the most successful in the history of Palestine’s national team. This has come at a time when the news from home has never been so grim. The year started with the Asian Cup in Qatar but the squad’s thoughts were elsewhere. Even at that time, three months into Israeli attacks on Gaza, over 20,000 people were reported to have been killed. Not only had there been no football in the territory or the neighbouring West Bank since the Hamas attack on Israel in October, players struggled to get out to report for training camps–a long-standing…

4 min.

VINICIUS JUNIOR

At the start of the 2023-24 campaign, the question most people were posing about Real Madrid was how would they cope without Karim Benzema? In the event, it was not a problem. The acquisition of Jude Bellingham helped get them off to a flying start in La Liga, but the hero of their Champions League triumph was, once again, Vinicius Junior. It seemed like insanity when, back in 2018, Real agreed to pay Flamengo £40 million for a16-year-old Brazilian winger without a single senior competitive game to his name. But with the benefit of hindsight, the deal looks like a bargain. It is a move that changed the market, adding extra impetus to a trend where the big European clubs were buying on promise rather than reality. But not every…

2 min.

ROUND-UP PEOPLE OF THE YEAR

HONOURABLE MENTIONS Akram AFIF There is something about the AFC Asian Cup that makes Afif come to life. In a repeat of 2019, the winger was named Asia’s Footballer of the Year after firing Qatar to the continental crown. Gian Piero GASPERINI The only manager to get the better of Alonso in 2023-24, his Atalanta side’s victory in the Europa League final was the culmination of one of the most impressive and exciting projects in European football. Alex MORGAN The career of one of the United States’ greatest players of all time came to an end in September. Her only regret was not signing off with a gold medal, having been left out of Emma Hayes’ Olympic squad. Xabi ALONSO The achievements of Alonso and Bayer Leverkusen in 2024 still…

3 min.

FAREWELL TO…

George Baldock The English-born Greek international spent the majority of his career at MK Dons and Sheffield United. Sol Bamba A cult hero for multiple clubs, the Ivorian defender notably helped Cardiff City gain Premier League promotion in 2018-19. Franz Beckenbauer Germany’s greatest-ever player, Der Kaiser is one of only nine players to have won the World Cup, Euros and Ballon d’Or. Stan Bowles A Queens Park Rangers icon as the club’s sixth-highest goalscorer of all time and one of the game’s true entertainers. Andreas Brehme A versatile German left-back, notable for scoring World Cup penalties with both feet–versus Argentina in the final of Italia ’90 with his right, and against the hosts at Mexico ’86 with his left. Kevin Campbell Adored by the Goodison Park faithful for steering Everton…

3 min.

DUFF GUIDES SHELBOURNE TO TITLE

Like so many of football’s rags to riches stories, the rise of Shelbourne to their first League of Ireland title since 2006 owes much to their manager. Former Republic of Ireland winger Damien Duff, who was appointed back in November 2021, said helping Shelbourne win the LOI Premier Division surpassed the two Premier League titles he won with Chelsea or his100 international caps. “It has been the greatest three years of my life,” said the 45-year-old. “I spent 20 years as a footballer, but I have enjoyed these past three years more. It’s tiring, but also gratifying. Football was easy for me, what I had been doing since I was a child. Managing is the hardest thing I have done in my whole life and I guess that’s why it’s…

2 min.

ANOTHER NORWEGIAN ROLLER-COASTER

Winter comes once again to Norway’s fjord-riddled shores to signal the conclusion of another dramatic Eliteserien season. For only the second time in the last decade, the title race was decided on the final day of a thrilling campaign, as Kjetil Knutsen’s impressive Bodo/Glimt side sealed their fourth title in five years. In contrast to previous seasons where Bodo have tended to wrap up the title with games to spare, they were pushed all the way by SK Brann, who ended up with the silver medal for the second consecutive season since their promotion. Impressive, certainly, but this will feel like an opportunity missed. A seven-game winning streak between September and November–including a 4-1 hammering of Bodo–had taken them to the summit of the table with just two games to…

1 min.

TENSIONS FLARE IN NAIL-BITING TITLE DECIDER

Few countries across Europe will witness a more thrilling conclusion to this season’s title race than Iceland. Second-placed Breidablik went into the final round trailing opponents Vikingur Reykjavik on goal difference and needing an away win to overtake the league leaders and become national champions for the third time in their history. Breidablik ultimately made it look easy, running out 3-0 victors and dethroning their archrivals in dramatic fashion–but that only told half the story. Tensions on the final day were heightened by Breidablik supporters reportedly breaking into the match venue in Reykjavik the night before in protest at their meagre allocation of away tickets. Between 250 and 300 wooden pallets–which had been brought in to temporarily boost capacity for the title showdown–were spray-painted in Breidablik green and caused an…

3 min.

KAIRAT CLINCH TITLE AFTER UNFORGETTABLE BATTLE

The 2024 Kazakhstan Premier League season will live long in the memory thanks to an epic title race that went right down to the wire. With just a few games to play, more than half the league had a chance of being crowned champions. Ultimately, Kairat emerged victorious to claim their first league title in four years while record seven-time champions Astana narrowly missed out. The fact that no team managed to average even two points per game should illustrate what a topsy-turvy campaign this was. At the midway stage of the season, defending champions Ordabasy had built up a decent lead. Fresh from winning their very first top-flight title in 2023, they lost just one of their first13 league matches to go five points clear of five-time champions Aktobe.…

2 min.

MATCH-FIXING SCANDAL COMES HOME TO ROOST FOR SHAKHTYOR SOLIGORSK

Belarus does not often make global football headlines. Rare examples include when Diego Maradona was appointed chairman of Dynamo Brest in 2018, or when the league became one of only four worldwide–along with Burundi, Nicaragua and Tajikistan–to continue at the height of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. More recently, in May 2023, it was announced that three top-flight clubs would be sanctioned for their roles in a match-fixing scandal. Energetik-BGU Minsk and Belshina Bobruisk were hit both with sanctions, but it was reigning champions Shakhtyor Soligorsk who drew the harshest punishment. The 2020 and 2021 title winners were stripped of their 2022 crown, fined heavily and hit with an eye-watering points deduction: 35 points in that season and a further 20 points for the 2024 campaign. They immediately dropped…

2 min.

BEST OF THE REST

In the 100th year of the Allsvenskan, the top flight of Sweden, it was highly appropriate that the country’s most successful domestic club, Malmo (27 league titles), enjoyed the honour of topping the pile in 2024. The Sky Blues, who finished an impressive11 points ahead of runners-up Hammarby to claim their fourth title in five seasons, had two driving forces: ever-reliable former Leeds United centre-back Pontus Jansson and the flamboyant midfielder Sebastian Nanasi, who earned himself a move to Ligue1 Strasbourg in August. Like Malmo, Latvian outfit Riga FS had the immense satisfaction of claiming back-to-back titles. RFS, who won their first national crown as recently as 2021, had to grit their teeth to prevail, pushed all the way by capital city rivals FC Riga and left short of numbers…

4 min.

SERBIA

Red Star Belgrade have won seven league titles in a row–can anyone stop their dominance? It would be nice if more clubs were able to compete for the league title to make the competition more attractive and more exciting for supporters, but in Serbia the chances of this happening are practically zero. The only club that has any chance of stopping Red Star’s dominance are city rivals Partizan. It won’t be this campaign as Red Star are already runaway leaders, but next season it’s possible that Partizan could give Red Star a run for their money. Latest events in and around the club indicate that Partizan could soon bounce back. Namely, their chairman Milorad Vucelic and chief executive Milos Vazura were forced to resign, replaced by a (for now provisional)…

1 min.

ONE TO WATCH

Andrija MAKSIMOVIC (Red Star Belgrade) 2024 was a great year for the 17-year-old attacking midfielder. First, he helped Serbia reach the Under-17 European Championship semi-finals, then he broke into Red Star’s first team and even made his Champions League debut where he impressed in a 4-0 defeat to Internazionale at the San Siro. A couple of weeks later his international debut followed in the UEFA Nations League against Switzerland. His calmness on the ball and sweet left foot quickly put him on the radar of big European clubs and it’s almost certain that he will leave Belgrade next summer. In November, he scored an amazing free-kick against Vojvodina.…

4 min.

Orlando Pride crowned 2024 NWSL champions

One of the ironies of the NWSL using a play-off system to decide the winner is that, of all the major women’s leagues, it is the one that least needs such a system. With five different champions in as many years, the regular season NWSL Shield is far more competitive than the leagues in England, Spain, France and Germany, who have only mustered six title winners between them in that time. The league’s competitiveness was underlined when Orlando Pride went from seventh in 2023 to first in 2024. They started the campaign with a 23-match unbeaten run and ended it with a series of wins too, to become only the third team (after North Carolina Courage in 2018 and 2019) to win both the Shield and Championship in the same…

3 min.

Round-Up

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL EIGHT TAKES EARLY SHAPE With two rounds still to play at the time of writing, seven of the eight quarter-final places in the Champions League were known with only the Group A runners-up spot still to be decided. Lyon had secured their last-eight place for the tenth season in a row by winning their first four games, which included beating both Roma and Wolfsburg, who were contesting the remaining qualifying place. Chelsea and Real Madrid had sewn up Group B ahead of Twente and Celtic. This is Real’s second qualification after reaching the last eight in 2021-22. In Group C, Bayern Munich were held 1-1 by Valerenga but qualified along with Arsenal, who secured their spot with home-and-away wins over Juventus. Manchester City, helped by their…

4 min.

UEFA Nations League round-up

LEAGUE A Shocks were few and far between in the battle for the quarter-final berths in League A. Three nations–Spain, Portugal and Germany–finished undefeated in the autumn, all group winners and all genuine contenders for the UEFA Nations League title. Even when deprived of a host of star names–Rodri, Dani Carvajal, Nico Williams and Robin Le Normand–freshly minted European champions Spain continue to impress while Portugal, who underlined their state of rude health with a 5-1 thrashing of Poland in Porto on Matchday 5, may come in for criticism domestically but they remain a powerhouse. Germany are clearly on an upward path after a lengthy barren spell. Full marks to Bundestrainer Julian Nagelsmann, who not only has the team playing with considerably more verve and positivity, but has done so…

4 min.

Six of the best

South America’s 2026 World Cup qualifiers look well on the way to definition. Six teams will make it through automatically to the next World Cup in North America, and a gap has opened up between the current top six and the rest. The surprise is that Paraguay are among them. The table shows one major change from this time last year after the first six rounds. Venezuela have fallen–plummeting from fourth place to eighth. In the six frenetic rounds played between September and November, they picked up just three points. Everyone else picked up more, and the team that did best was Paraguay, with12. This represents a remarkable turnaround. A year ago, Paraguay had managed just one goal from the first six rounds. And then they were bundled out of…

4 min.

All to play for

After six games out of ten played in Asia’s third round of qualification for the 2026 World Cup, just one point separates second in Group C (Australia) and sixth and last (China). All five teams are very much in the hunt for automatic World Cup qualification. The four remaining matchdays, played in March and June 2025, are going to be epic. The Asian Football Confederation gets plenty of criticism for plenty of things but has got World Cup qualification completely right, at least in the latter stages (there is still an issue with the ten teams that lose in the first round being eliminated after just two games). There are 18 teams remaining and fighting for Asia’s expanded automatic World Cup allocation of eight. The top two from each of…

4 min.

New Zealand cruise into third round

New Zealand unsurprisingly romped through the second round of the Oceania qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup and remain strong favourites to take the one guaranteed final place on offer to the region, with a French overseas territory likely to claim a place in the inter-confederation play-offs. The second round was staged across different venues, with Group A kicking off in Suva, Fiji. The hosts’ veteran striker Roy Krishna, now 37, kept his unlikely dreams of a World Cup debut alive with the only goal to see off the Solomon Islands. New Caledonia also got off to a strong start, sealing a resounding 3-1 victory over Papua New Guinea whose coach Warren Moon had been replaced shortly before the series. The two remaining matchdays took place in Port Moresby, PNG,…

4 min.

Ghana dumped out of AFCON qualifying

Ghana were the big losers in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, a rapid-fire three-month qualifying campaign that delivered multiple surprises before ultimately producing a formidable field for next year’s finals tournament. The 24 countries that booked berths must, however, now wait more than a year before the tournament in Morocco, which kicks off on December 21, 2025 and will finish on January18, 2026. Morocco participated in the preliminaries despite being guaranteed a berth as hosts and produced the only 100 per cent record, fuelled by the emergence of Real Madrid’s Brahim Diaz as their new talisman. His seven goals in four matches made him the top scorer in qualifying, which kicked off in September and was completed by November in three international windows. Holders Ivory Coast also coasted…

5 min.

Drama aplenty in Nations League

There were plenty of loose ends to tie up in the latest round of action in the 2024-25 CONCACAF Nations League, from the headline acts and 2026 World Cup hosts Mexico, Canada and the United States in League A, to promotion and relegation in Leagues B and C, plus 2025 Gold Cup qualification. LEAGUE A As the League A knockout stages began, traditional big-hitters Mexico and the United States eventually turned on the style to overcome potentially tricky quarter-final ties against Honduras and Jamaica respectively. The progress alongside them of Canada, who defeated Suriname, and Panama, who narrowly overcame Costa Rica, meant all four of the seeded teams given byes to the quarter-finals progressed to the semis. These two-legged ties were Mauricio Pochettino’s first competitive games as United States coach…

4 min.

Ten-man Botafogo cling on to win first Libertadores

Botafogo’s 3-1 victory over fellow Brazilians Atletico Mineiro was a thoroughly predictable outcome in the final of the 2024 Copa Libertadores–which came about in a thoroughly unpredictable manner. The expectation was that Botafogo would impose themselves on the game in Buenos Aires, their impressive front four coming at Atletico from all angles. Instead, they lost midfielder Gregore to a red card in the first minute after a wild challenge on Fausto Vera, and were forced to grind out a result based on a mere 20 per cent possession. This should have suited Gabriel Milito’s Atletico, a side built to enjoy having the ball. But if Botafogo were a man short, Atletico were woefully short on confidence, looking every inch a team going into the big day on a run of…

4 min.

Three in a row for Ulsan

There was a familiar name at the top of the K-League as the 2024 season ended in November, but there was some surprise about the team that finished bottom to drop out of the top tier for the first time ever. Ulsan HD may have rebranded, changing from Ulsan Hyundai Horangi ahead of this season, but the results have been similar. The southeasterners have lifted the title for a third successive time, becoming only the third Korean club (after Seongnam and Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors) to do so. It was a fairly smooth triumph, if you leave a controversial coaching change in July to one side. Korea legend Hong Myung-bo, who initially said that he wasn’t interested in the national team job made vacant by Jurgen Klinsmann’s sacking in February, angered…

4 min.

Cavalry capture first Canadian crown

In the short history of the Canadian Premier League (CPL), the dominant club has undoubtedly been Forge FC and, when the play-off final of the 2024 edition kicked off on November 9, they were on the verge of an historic achievement. While the Hammers had triumphed in four of the previous five CPL play-off finals, they had never done so after also topping the regular season. Indeed, no club has ever completed the league and play-off double. But, having pipped Cavalry to the regular season title by two points and seen their manager, Bobby Smyrniotis, named Coach of the Year for the first time, Forge appeared well placed to become the first. Instead, the 2024 final saw Cavalry write an exciting new chapter in their history books. As the play-offs…

4 min.

Cavalier triumph in Caribbean Cup final

A year after losing in the final of the inaugural CONCACAF Caribbean Cup, Cavalier went one better and edged out Cibao of the Dominican Republic on away goals to win the 2024 edition. The competition is the successor to the Caribbean Club Championship, which ran from1997 to 2022 before being revamped under CONCACAF’s aegis in 2023. Then, Cavalier were comprehensively beaten 3-0 in the final by Suriname’s Robinhood, but this time they came out on top. The result sent Cavalier into the last 16 of the 2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup with Cibao handed a place in the first round as compensation, but the tournament proved a disappointment for the Dominican Republic, whose two representatives at the group stage had both qualified for the semi-finals. In their semi-final with Haitian representatives…

4 min.

Arab nations ready for 26th Gulf Cup

The Arabian Gulf Cup means different things to different teams at different times but it’s safe to say that the 26th edition, which runs from December 21 to the third day of 2025, is a bigger deal than the 25th. Last time around, it was almost an afterthought as it kicked off just a few days after Lionel Messi had lifted the 2022 World Cup. Qatar and especially Saudi Arabia, who did not send a full-strength team, did not pay it as much attention as usual. Iraq didn’t mind, as they hosted the eight-team tournament for the first time since1979 and then won for the first time since1988. The final in Basra was a thriller. Oman equalised in the tenth minute of added time. Iraq thought they had won it…

3 min.

The American Dream

Thirty-four years after their last–and only–overseas tour, to Bergamo in Italy, the Pacific Island of Tonga is planning another foreign tour. The Tonga Football Association is preparing for 2025 with a tour to California to give the senior squad game time and as part of a plan to widen the playing base by finding eligible players. The plans are being driven by Kilifi Uele, the technical director at the Tonga FA and one of the island’s greatest players. Uele says: “Our collective vision is to showcase our talented young players, with a particular focus on those who could earn scholarships to colleges and universities in North America. Additionally, we aim to identify senior players who have the potential to play in USA Men’s leagues.” The TFA will send three teams…

4 min.

Tales from the 211

SAN MARINO MAKE HISTORY WITH UNLIKELY UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE PROMOTION San Marino scored goals in their narrow defeats to Denmark, Kazakhstan and Finland at the tail end of 2023–the first time they had ever netted in three consecutive matches. But when their charismatic coach Fabrizio Costantini left last December and their top two goalkeepers quit on consecutive days in February, the prospects that the micro-state would ever end their world-record winless run–140 games over a 20-year period–looked very bleak indeed. But the Sammarinese defied the odds and beat Liechtenstein1-0 in September thanks to a strike by19-year-old Nicko Sensoli. After then drawing1-1 with Gibraltar in their penultimate UEFA Nations League D match in November thanks to a stoppage-time penalty by Nicola Nanni, they went into the return fixture against Liechtenstein three…

20 min.

Internationals

2026 WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS SOUTH AMERICA Section • 6 direct slots available, plus 1 play-off slot Nov 14–Maturin Venezuela 1 (Segovia 46) Brazil1 (Raphinha 43) Venezuela: Romo–Aramburu, Ramirez, Angel, Navarro; Herrera (CasseresJr.15), Martinez (Rincon 69); Bello (Gonzalez 80), Savarino, Murillo (Segovia 46); Rondon (Cadiz 81). Sent off: Gonzalez 89. Brazil: Ederson–Vanderson, Marquinhos, Gabriel, Abner (Estevao 90+2); Gerson, Bruno Guimaraes (Martinelli 82); Savinho (Luiz Henrique 68), Raphinha, Vinicius Junior; Igor Jesus (Paqueta 68). Nov 14–Asuncion Paraguay 2(Sanabria19, Alderete 47) Argentina 1 (La. Martinez11) Paraguay: G. Fernandez–Velazquez, G. Gomez, Alderete, Alonso; D. Gomez (An. Romero 72), Cubas, Bobadilla (Villasanti 82), Almiron (Al. Romero 90); Enciso (Sosa 82), Sanabria (Pitta 72). Argentina: E. Martinez–Molina (Montiel 78), Romero (Balerdi 46), Otamendi, Tagliafico; De Paul, E. Fernandez; Messi, Mac Allister (Garnacho 64), Alvarez (Castellanos 86);…

10 min.

Club Football

EUROPE 2024-25 UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Matchday 5 Nov 26–Prague Sparta Prague (Cze) 0 Atletico Madrid (Spa) 6 (Alvarez15, 59, Llorente 43, Griezmann 70, Correa 85, 89) Nov 26–Bratislava Slovan Bratislava (Svk) 2 (Barseghyan 24, Marcelli 88) Milan (Ita) 3 (Pulisic 21, Leao 68, Abraham 71) Nov 26–Leverkusen Bayer Leverkusen (Ger) 5 (Wirtz 8 pen, 30, Grimaldo11, Schick 61, Garcia 72) Red Bull Salzburg (Aut) 0 Nov 26–Bern Young Boys (Sui)1 (Ganvoula11) Atalanta (Ita) 6 (Retegui 9, 39, De Ketelaere 28, 56, Kolasinac 32, Samardzic 90) Nov 26–Barcelona Barcelona (Spa) 3 (Lewandowski10 pen, 90+2, Olmo 66) Brest (Fra) 0 Nov 26–Munich Bayern Munich (Ger)1 (Kim Min-jae 38) Paris Saint-Germain (Fra) 0 Nov 26–Milan Internazionale (Ita)1 (Lukeba 27 og) RB Leipzig (Ger) 0 Nov 26–Manchester Manchester City (Eng) 3 (Haaland 44 pen,…

3 min.

Jason McAteer

With a place at the 2002 World Cup on the line, Republic of Ireland midfielderJason McAteer delivered for his country against the Netherlands in a memorable clash in Dublin When the World Cup qualification group was announced and we were drawn alongside Portugal and the Netherlands, they were the firm favourites–but we were ready to qualify. Mick McCarthy had taken over an ageing squad fromJack Charlton and evolved it with a successful youth team, with Robbie Keane, Damien Duff and Richard Dunne. We were at our peak as a group. It was a settled team, with arguably the best midfielder in the world in Roy Keane. We started the campaign in Amsterdam. We went 2-0 up against a very good Dutch team. One of the most poignant moments was when…

First, let me say this is my first digital magazine. I was leery at first being as I am an old school gen x-er and prefer the paper copy. I've read my first magazine and I'm coming around. Initially, I found the interface a tad clunky... pages turn slowly, sometime when I pan/zoom around the pages, it turns the page on me. I'm chalking it up to user error. I've used this on my desk top and ipad and it works great. I can use the ipad in low light conditions, the zoom function is awesome no more squinting at the fine print for these tired eyes.

Lastly, let me comment on the magazine itself. My first, and so far only, issue has been the December 2017 issue. Its packed with all kinds of good stuff. Its like 80 pages and I'm reading it cover to cover. Lots of World Cup info. An entire page dedicated to each team which I found intriguing and informative. Love it. Can't wait for next month and given the price difference between a paper subscription, totally worth it.

If you enjoy soccer, you'll enjoy this.

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World Soccer January 2025 (Digital)

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