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Q&A: Nicole Allison, Worcester City Women Owner and Sports Consultant

18 May, 2025

As founder and owner of Worcester City Women, experienced sports consultant and football business professional Nicole Allison has been pioneering a new approach to structuring women's football off the pitch. Having previously worked at organisations such as the English Football League, guided Tottenham Hotspur Women's transition to full-time status as General Manager, and set up her company NA Sport in 2019 to offer consultancy, education...

What Is An Inverted Winger? (+ Tactical Analysis)

12 May, 2025

Wingers are often the most high-profile players in football. In the modern game, they're at the heart of most deadly attacks, their mixture of skill, speed and clever exploitation of wide space making them some of the trickiest players to deal with on the pitch. But they're also a continuously evolving breed; the days when legendary English wingers like Stanley Matthews were required to simply race up the touchline, paint their boots with...

The 10 Champions League Top Scorers Of All Time

07 May, 2025

For many football fans, the UEFA Champions League is the pinnacle of the sport. Each year, this elite knockout competition gathers together the most talented players in world football, pitting historic clubs against each other in games that arguably showcase a higher technical skill level than in any other soccer competition on earth. The list of previous winners of the Champions League is a roll call of legendary clubs: Real Madrid, Bayern...

Who Owns Brighton & Hove Albion?

01 May, 2025

The 2024/25 Premier League season saw the emergence of a surprisingly large number of outside contenders for UEFA Champions League qualification. With Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United both plummeting down the league table, a group of upwardly mobile clubs have filled the gaps left behind, challenging with some of the richest, best-resourced outfits in world football. As well as the likes of Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth, and Fulham,...

The 10 Oldest Premier League Players of All Time

29 Apr, 2025

For many people, the Premier League represents the physical pinnacle of football. Not only is the standard of play in England's top tier extremely high, the level of fitness, stamina, speed and strength required to operate effectively in this division arguably outstrips any other domestic league. Numerous top players from Europe and South America have moved to Premier League sides and initially struggled to cope with the physical demands of...

Hala Madrid Meaning Explained: Where Does Los Blancos' Chant Come From?

22 Apr, 2025

Real Madrid are one of the most successful clubs in the history of football. Known all over the world for their superstar players, their illustrious coaches, their famous, dazzling white jerseys, and their ability to consistently perform miracles in Europe's premier club competition the UEFA Champions League, they're a truly special team. The club's wealth is astronomical, with recent data suggesting that Madrid are the richest football...

Soccer Throw-In Rules: Complete Guide

21 Apr, 2025

A recent trend on X (formerly Twitter) focused on celebrating the ' Barclays Era ' of the Premier League, when sides like Portsmouth, Wigan Athletic and Stoke City bloodied the noses of the country's best teams in the 2000s and early 2010s. Praise was heaped on numerous players including Stoke's Rory Delap, a cult figure known above all for his long, arcing throw-ins. Delap was capable of causing havoc in opposition penalty areas, and in...

The Top 10 Most Expensive Left Backs Of All Time

20 Apr, 2025

The role of the full back in soccer has changed dramatically. As little as 20 years ago, the vast majority of professional football players operating in the full-back positions (aka left back or right back) were primarily defensive-minded, and regularly getting forward to support their teammates in attack was not a major concern. All that has changed though; today, left back and right back are arguably the two most demanding roles on the...

What Are Patterns Of Play? (And How To Coach Tactical Patterns)

19 Apr, 2025

The vocabulary of football has expanded massively in recent years, with terms like transition , press resistance , and half-space all entering the popular lexicon of the sport and allowing casual fans to impress their friends with technical terms like never before. One of the more simple additions to the way people speak about the sport is the phrase 'patterns of play', which you'll now regularly hear on popular football podcasts or...

What Position Does Messi Play?

19 Apr, 2025

Many people believe that Lionel Messi is the greatest footballer ever to play the game. The record-breaking Argentina forward has won an incredible eight Ballon d'Or awards — more than any other pro — as well as 45 team trophies including 10 La Liga titles, four Champions League trophies and the 2022 World Cup. But simply reeling off Messi's successes doesn't even begin to capture the magic he brings to a football pitch; for two decades,...

What Is A Buy-Back Clause? (+ 5 Real Examples)

18 Apr, 2025

In modern football, top-level players have more control over their own destiny than ever before. While clubs and managers used to exercise all the power, football transfers have changed and players and their agents now have much greater ability to choose their next move and seek a new challenge when it suits them. One way that clubs can still maintain a level of control over the players at their disposal is by inserting a buy-back option...

6 Soccer Conditioning Drills To Up Your Game

17 Apr, 2025

Professional soccer has evolved rapidly in recent years, as the advantages of improved health, nutrition, cardiorespiratory fitness, strength and conditioning in the game have become abundantly clear. Clubs across the world have made significant strides to attempt to compete at the very top by training their players in all these core elements of fitness and stamina. Today, elite players are stronger and fitter than ever before, and there is...

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