WordBall 2015

The story of Xavier Hernández Creus, arguably one of the finest football players of Spain, beautifully narrated by Twenty-Minute Reads. The impact, of course, will last much longer than twenty minutes.

Uruguayan President Jorge Pacheco declared a state of emergency in June 1968 and the urban guerrillas took over the 1969 Copa Libertadores final. What a story of football, politics and history!

Cizrespor, the football club who play in the fifth tier of Turkey’s football system had a fairy tale journey when they made it to the group stage of Turkish Cup. This is the story of their fascinating journey and what a story it has been.

Alderney Football Club doesn’t boast of a great record with just two wins in 108 games but they too have a story. IBWM tells the story of the underdogs in their impeccable style.

The original ‘Gigi’ from Turin, Luigi ‘Gigi’ Meroni was an exceptionally gifted footballer. This is an amazing story of Gigi’s life, football and death.

FK Qarabağ Ağdam is a football club of refugees with a homeless fan base. The Azerbaijani football club is currently based in the capital Baku and longing for a return to its home ground in Ağdam. This is a sad story, a very sad one.

The all-star Spanish team did not make it to the inaugural European Nations’ Cup. The Antique Football does a detailed story on General Francisco Franco’s call and the aftermath.

When it comes to Italian football, Sicily is not a place that gets much attention. These Football Times writes about the island’s football, culture and history. Very our kind of article.

The fascinating story of the man who ruled his teams with a combination of dictatorial discipline, gruesome training regimes, bizarre psychological habits, military-style training camps, and strict dietary plans — the story of Hlenio Herrera

The story of football in the city of Naples is not just about the romanticism with Diego Maradona. Beyond the Field of Play writes an insightful story about the ultras of Napoli.

Leo Messi who had a deep wonder of the sea and what lay beyond his immediate horizons and Cristiano Ronaldo as the first human to ever lay eyes on the small chain of islands. And Argentina plays a classic World Cup final match against Portugal. The superbly innovative writing is actually a work of art!

A football pitch somewhere off the beaten track, away from the main road, amid overwhelming, oppressive silence. All one needs to imagine is 22 players running after a leather ball. Terrific photography and surreal writing from Przemek Niciejewski

World Cup qualifier match between Kyrgyzstan and Australia. Brilliant photo-blog by Hungarian Photographer Tamas Paczai.

Football fans come in all forms– fans, fanatics, and hooligans. Meeting with a bunch of hooligans in Russia and, probably, becoming one at the end of the journey, has been brilliantly documented through this author’s lenses.

With globalization, we now have football fans from all the clubs, especially the big clubs across the globe. The clubs are becoming bigger brand names. But can they ignore history in the name of brand building? The author raises a very important question here.

Bayer Leverkusen’s performances in the last two seasons have been very consistent. But how the 2014-15 season under manager Roger Schmidt is different has been superbly analyzed using data and visual storytelling. This article is ample testimony that even tactical football writing can be lyrical.

Football borrowed the term “moneyball” from baseball to imply the philosophy of not spending money beyond ones means in the world of splurging in the transfer market. But how apt is the term to football? Leftwing Soccer brilliantly explains by analyzing data from the last decade.

With Barcelona’s overwhelming success in the last decade, La Masia has been touted as one of the best, if not the best football academies ever. This article analyses some of the academies and looks at different phases in the career of footballers to illustrate which are the best academies and the finest players they have produced in recent times.

Pep Guardiola’s football philosophy is not just ‘tiki taka’ but actually effective positional play that help players to extract, innovate and develop tactics that make them a superior unit. A creative, insightful and in-depth analysis of Bayern Munich’s tactical display under Pep to show how he has been ‘re-inverting the pyramid’.

What is Gegenpressing? The author explains the concept of pressing the opposition right after losing possession effectively with a number of real examples from the ground. A sumptuous tactical analysis.

Bournemouth won the English Championship last season playing a very attractive brand of football under Eddie Howe. Outside of the Boot does another fantastic tactical analysis.

Swansea city climbed 53 places in English football between 1992 and 2014, the most remarkable rise in UK. Swansea also reported another robust set of figures in 2013/14 which is their third consecutive year of making profits. Swissramble looks at their P&L and does an excellent analysis of their financial performance.

When it comes to television rights, the English Premier League has one of the fairest distribution models in Europe, but the gap between the top and bottom team is increasing significantly. Swissramble cuts the huge numbers associated with the TV rights into insightful slices and dices and comes up with this mind-blowing analysis.

Jürgen Klopp’s last season at Borussia Dortmund saw the team finishing 7th at the end of the season. During the winter break in December 2014, they were #17 on the league table and Statsbomb did this superlative statistical analysis to find out what went wrong.

Experts say that USA’s win of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Canada is a result of the team’s tactical evolution. Empire of soccer brilliantly analyzes three particular games to show how the team evolved and finally emerged triumphant.

Valencia indeed had a great last season and The Tactics Room again nails it by letting the number paint the story. Tactical analysis has seldom been so enthralling.

Not actually a tribute for Steve G as the name suggests. This article analyses the now-MLS star player’s career, its limited highs and numerous lows and how he could have been much more effective in the national colors. Razor sharp reasoning and crisp writing makes this one a must-read for the football lovers.

Art work by Kako, the artist from Sao Paolo. Superlative!

There are two types of football managers, one belongs to the leftwing camp and the other to the rightwing. Brilliant story of the conflict of philosophy between the two world cup winning Argentina managers.

West Germany had won the FIFA World Cup in 1954. But their national players had been unable to beat Manchester City in five games. This is another fantastic story by IBWM.

Football is far more complex than being just a beautiful game. As we see in Ukraine, politics and Russian billionauers have entered the league big time. This is a riveting article about the different possibilities for the Crimean clubs

Carlos Tevez’s return home brought Boca Juniors in to the limelight in the last few months. But there are more serious social and security issues around La Bombonera which have been brilliantly put together in this piece.

As the name suggests, this is an article from a series that celebrates the silent workers in the middle of the pitch in the German top flight. Apart from an in depth analysis, what catches the reader’s attention is a fluid writing style that is both lyrical as well as razor sharp.

For many of the 30-something generation of football fans today, Italia 1990 was the first FIFA World Cup that they saw live. Game of the People writes the story of Gazza, Milla and the Sicilian Schillaci, the story of Italia 90.

Zamalek Sports Club was founded in 1911, only part of which was dedicated to football. The club has collected an impressive 86 trophies in its 104-year history. Here is a very informative article about football in the city of Cairo.