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Claudio Caniggia was born 9 January 1967 in Henderson, Buenos Aires. He played 50 times for his country and was a key player in both of their 1990 and 1994 World Cup campaigns. Over a 20 year period he controversially played for both Buenos Aires giants and fiercest of rivals - River Plate and Boca Juniors. He also went on...

Football's greatest managers knew how much the sport owed to socialism. The very language is socialist – solidarity, unite, goal, come together. In short, football is a socialist sport. Matt Busby, Bill Shankly and Brian Clough were the embodiment's of the golden age of the socialist manager. The founding principle of their management style was a socialist one, in so...

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...

George Best hailed from humble beginnings in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Born 22 May 1946, he was blessed with a prodigious talent. He was discovered in 1961, at the age of 15, by Manchester United scout Bob Bishop, whose telegram to United manager Matt Busby famously read: ’I think I've found you a genius’. His local club had rejected him for...

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...

Stuart Pearce, MBE, is the current manager and former player at Nottingham Forest. Born 24 April 1962, in Shepherds Bush, London, 'Psycho', as he became affectionately known to the City Ground faithful and subsequently the England fans, gained international notoriety for his honest but fiercely uncompromising, combative style of play and leadership. A career in professional football wasn't proving to...

Marcelo Alberto Bielsa Caldera was born in Rosario, Argentina on July 21, 1955. Nicknamed El Loco, Bielsa has managed domestic football clubs in Argentina, Mexico and Spain and also the national teams of both Argentina and Chile. Considered an eccentric with idiosyncratic ideas, he has developed a very clear and precise vision of how football should be played; sporting a...

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...

Wanderers Football Club was founded and captained by Charles W Alcock in 1859 as an amateur football and social club in London. Originally named Forest Football Club, the club changed its name to Wanderers in 1864. At that time the team was mainly comprised of former pupils of the leading English public schools, such as Harrow, Eton and Westminster schools....

The first ever inter-city football derby clash was played on Boxing Day 1860 at Sandygate between the two oldest football clubs in the world – Sheffield FC and Hallam FC.The Sheffield Rules were a code of football devised and played in the English city of Sheffield between 1857 and 1877.The match was played on the oldest football ground in the...

Legendary Sardinian playmaker Gianfranco Zola, OBE, was born 5 July 1966 in Oliena. He is currently the manager of English Championship club Watford. Zola spent the first decade of his playing career playing in Italy, most notably with Napoli and Parma, before moving to English Premier League side Chelsea. At Napoli, the young and talented Zola was lucky enough to...

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...

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...

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...

Emilio Butragueño Santos (born 22 July 1963 in Madrid) is a former Spanish footballer. He joined Real Madrid's youth system in 1981. During this period, Butragueño acquired the nickname 'El Buitre' (The Vulture), a play on his surname. He was given his senior debut by Alfredo Di Stéfano on 5 February 1984. Prior to his first team debut, there was...

Athletic Club defender Andoni Goikoetxea Olaskoaga (born 23 May 1956 in Alonsotegi, Biscay) produced one of the worst tackles in the game’s history when he broke the ankle of a young Maradona. He is known as the Butcher of Bilbao and was given a 16-match ban for the incident. It was by no means an accident on the Butchers part as...

Bruce David Grobbelaar, was born 6 October 1957 in Durban, South Africa. He was goalkeeper for a number of clubs in South Africa, Rhodesia and Canada before making the number one spot his own at Liverpool during their dominant period throughout the 1980s. Grobbelaar played 627 times for Liverpool, being a trusted servant to three of Liverpool's greatest managers; Bob...

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...