Football prints

The South Yorkshire city of Sheffield is officially recognised as having several football 'firsts', including the world's first football club, the world's first football ground and the world's first inter-city football derby. Sheffield is where many of the original rules and innovations that still permeate the modern game today, were created and documented. The football heritage of the city is...

Sheffield is the birthplace of football and boasts the world's oldest clubs; Sheffield FC founded in 1857 (officially recognised by FIFA and the FA as the oldest football club in the world) and Hallam FC founded in 1860 (the world’s second oldest club). Hallam still play on their original ground, Sandygate Road, which is officially recognised by the Guinness Book...

Sheffield FC is the birthplace of the modern football and the world’s oldest club. With over 1,000,000 official football clubs world-wide, 'The Club' is the original pattern that has been repeating and tessellating since 1857.  Established on October 24th 1857 in the industrial north of England, ‘The Club’ Sheffield FC is the birthplace of the most popular game in the...

Ruud Gullit (born as Ruud Dil, September 1st 1962 in Amsterdam) is a Dutch footballer turned manager, who played professionally in the 1980s and 1990s. Raised in the school of ‘Total Footall’, he remains one of the most prestigious and accomplished players of the beautiful game and his incredible versatility allowed him to play as defender, midfielder and forward. In...

Leader, Winner, DestROYer. Central midfielder Roy Maurice Keane, was born on 10 August 1971 in Cork , Ireland. He began his 18-year playing career at Cobh Ramblers in the League of Ireland, before moving to Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest. After 3 highly impressive years, Manchester United secured his services for a record British transfer fee. An intimidating presence, Keane was noted...

The legendary and iconic Roberto Rivelino, born 1946 in Sao Paolo, featured in three World Cups for Brazil, including their third and most celebrated success in Mexico in 1970. Lining up alongside the likes of Pele, Carlos Alberto, Gérson, Tostao and Jairzinho, he played a key role in what is widely acknowledged as being the greatest football squad of all...

Roberto Baggio was born into a family of 8 brothers on February 18, 1967, in Caldogno near Vicenza in the north east of Italy, where his playing career began. Baggio played most of his professional career in pain, only hitting full fitness for a handful of games a season. Yet for much of that time, he was considered one of the most extraordinary and...

Jose René Higuita Zapata is a former Colombian football goalkeeper nicknamed 'El Loco' – 'The Mad One'. Born 27 August 1966 in Barrio Castilla, Medellín, he pioneered the Scorpion kick and was notorious for his over-confident outfield play which included dribbling the ball out of defence and acting as sweeper. This same over-confidence led to some incredibly bad decisions in...

Raymond James 'Ray' Houghton (born 9 January 1962, Castlemilk, Glasgow, Scotland), is revered by Irish football fans for being the scorer of a hugely important goal in the national team's history. The Republic of Ireland's first match in the 1988 European Championship was against England on 12 June 1988 at the Neckarstadion in Stuttgart, West Germany. It was the Republic’s...

FIFA has been beleaguered over ethical matters for many years. Platini, the president of UEFA, was once considered a sure bet for the presidency of FIFA. In October 2015 the Frenchman was handed a provisional 90-day suspension, together with FIFA president Sepp Blatter, amid allegations of corruption. Both men have vigorously professed their innocence. The following text is taken from...

During the 1980s, the French national team exhibited an elegant, skilful, and attacking style of play. Similar to their South American counterparts the team earned the nickname of the "Brazilians of Europe". They flourished under their coach Michel Hidalgo, and were led by the immensely gifted playmaker and captain Michel Platini, who, alongside Jean Tigana, Alain Giresse, and the tough...

Paul McGrath was born in Ealing, London, UK (1959). At the age of four weeks old he was given up for adoption. Enduring a tough childhood, he grew up behind closed doors in a number of Church run orphanages in 1960s Dublin. His first professional football club was St Patricks Athletic, Ireland, where he drew the attention of several English...

Paul John Gascoigne (born 27 May 1967, Dunston, Gateshead, England), commonly referred to as Gazza, joined Newcastle United as an apprentice in 1983. His talent as a youngster was recognised by manager Jack Charlton who handed him his full first team debut in 1985. He spent three more years at St James' Park where he won the PFA Young Player...

Pablo Aimar, nicknamed The Clown (‘El Payaso’) with a 'tear-like' birthmark on his left cheek, made a name for himself at Buenos Aires' River Plate, playing in the #10 shirt. He was considered to be one of the best and most talented young players in Argentina and the 'heir apparent' to Diego Maradona. Indeed, Diego himself stated that Aimar was...

Born 26 February 1973, in Kristiansund, Norway, Ole Gunnar Solskjær spent most of his career playing in England with Manchester United. Scoring 126 goals in 366 games during an incredible period of success for the north west giants, the prolific striker was, and still remains, a firm favourite with the Old Trafford faithful.  Before his arrival at United, Solskjær played for the...

Mario Alberto Kempes Chiodi (born 15 July 1954 in Bell Ville, Córdoba) is a retired Argentine footballer, most notable for being the leading goalscorer in the 1978 World Cup tournament hosted in Argentina. Nicknamed 'El Matador', he scored six goals in the tournament, two in the final against the Netherlands, which Argentina won 3-1. He had his most successful year...

Marco van Basten was born in the Dutch city of Utrecht in 1964. Three times European Footballer of the Year (1988/89/92) and FIFA World Footballer of the Year (1992), he is widely regarded as one of the most talented footballers the world has ever seen. His natural grace and elegance as a player earned him the title ‘The Swan of...

Manuel Francisco dos Santos was born in Pau Grande, a district of Magé, in the state of Rio de Janeiro (October 28, 1933 – January 20, 1983). He was known by the nickname 'Garrincha' (Portuguese for 'little bird'). His nickname is thought to have derived from his love of hunting small wrens 'garrinchinhas' and the fact that he was as...

On the afternoon of Sunday 23rd October 2011, fierce northwest rivals Manchester United and Manchester City met at United's Old Trafford Stadium. Both teams had started the season in extremely determined fashion, and after just eight games, were vying for the top spot in the Premier League. Sir Alex Ferguson's United had collected their record 19th league title the previous...

Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, once wrote: ‘Ideal, eternal love, purged of all hatred, exists only between the addict and his drug’. This theory, although not necessarily aimed at them, arguably applies to the millions of people, globally, who are unconditionally addicted to the beautiful game.  There are many possible reasons for why people can fall into addiction. With...

There are relatively few players whose sheer brilliance have helped revolutionise the game of football, but former USSR No1 Lev Yashin is unquestionably one of them. He is widely considered to be the greatest and most innovative goalkeeper ever, and is the only one ever to win the European Footballer of the Year (1963). Yashin’s popularity grew rapidly thanks to...

Laurence Paul 'Laurie' Cunningham (8 March 1956 – 15 July 1989) was one of the greatest footballers that England have ever produced.  A precocious and extraordinarily quick winger, he was skillful, creative, and captured the imagination of the millions who watched him.  Born in Archway, London, Cunningham started in schoolboy football somewhat modestly, being turned down by Arsenal before joining...

Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia, Spain, and designated as a world-class city by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group and Network. It is an important cultural centre with a rich heritage, and has become a major tourist destination. The city is synonymous with the architectural works of Antoni Gaudí. His most renowned work is the immense, but still...

Kenneth Mathieson Dalglish MBE (born 4 March 1951, Glasgow, Scotland, UK) is most noted for his phenomenal successes playing and managing Liverpool FC. On 10th August 1977, Liverpool manager Bob Paisley paid £440,000, a British record at the time, to bring Dalglish in from Scottish club Celtic, as a replacement for Kevin Keegan, an Anfield hero. He made his LFC...

On August 10 1974, English league champions Leeds United met FA Cup winners Liverpool in the FA Charity Shield, the football season's 'curtain-raiser' at Wembley Stadium. It was the first time the FA Charity Shield had been held at Wembley. Ted Croker, the FA secretary, had the idea that from 1974 the league champions would play the FA Cup holders...

John Charles Bryan Barnes MBE, was born 7 November 1963 in Kingston, Jamaica, and is widely regarded as one of the best wingers in the history of English domestic league football.The English national side had missed out on a place at Euro 84, and as a result embarked on small tour of South America. The highlight of the trip was...

RIP Johan Cruyff: April 25, 1947 - March 24 2016. Born in Amsterdam, Holland, Hendrik Johannes Cruijff (Cruyff) was one of the most famous exponents of the football philosophy known as Total Football explored by Rinus Michels for Ajax of Amsterdam and KNVB. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. He was described as 'Pythagoras in...

“The parallels between Cruyff and Lennon are uncanny; working class heroes. They each suffer the life-defining loss of a parent. They get together with a bunch of other local boys. They invent something completely new. They become the face of the new pushy affluent generation of young people in their countries. And they both liked using words to spring surprises....

John ‘Jack’ Charlton, OBE, DL, was born in Ashington, Northumberland, 8 May 1935.Big Jack played his whole career for Leeds United in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. He made a club record 773 appearances and was an integral part of the successful side who won the league championship in 1969, FA Cup in 1972, League Cup in 1968 and two...

Hristo Stoichkov Stoichkov (Христо Стоичков Стоичков), was born 8 February 1966 in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Nicknamed 'The Dagger' (Камата), he was the key member of the Bulgaria national team - the Golden Generation, that finished fourth at the 1994 World Cup. He was also honoured as European Footballer of the Year in 1994 whilst playing for Johan Cruijff's Barcelona. Known for...