Innehållsförteckning för January 2017 från FourFourTwo UK

So 2016 was weird. That’s why we’re celebrating 12 months of shocks, surprises and upsets with our Men of the Year roll call, which features everyone from Leicester City and Michail Antonio to Hal Robson-Kanu and Donald Trump (courtesy of our Woman of the Year, Megan Rapinoe). Less surprising is the inclusion of double European champion Cristiano Ronaldo, Germany’s official Player of the Year Jerome Boateng and the hottest striker in the world right now, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Everyone welcomed the opportunity to reflect on the year gone by, while blowing bubbles, trouncing us at table football or trying not to drop a ketchup-covered hot dog on their living room’s carpet. We hope you enjoy reading the issue over the festive period as much as we enjoyed putting it all together.…

“THREE YEARS AFTER TRIALS WITH SVEN’S BENFICA, I WAS LOADING VEGETABLES ONTO TRUCKS. YOU NEED TO BE PERSISTENT TO SUCCEED” CLUBS 1988-92 Hogaborgs 1992-93 Helsingborgs 1993-97 Feyenoord 1997-2004 Celtic 2004-06 Barcelona 2006-09 Helsingborgs 2007 Manchester United (loan) 2012 Raa 2013 Hogaborgs COUNTRY 1993-2009 Sweden MANAGERIAL ROLES 2010-12 Landskrona 2014 Falkenbergs 2015- Helsingborgs DID HE PLAY IN SCOTLAND FOR TOO LONG? HOW GOBBY WAS A 20-YEAR-OLD ZLATAN? WOULD HE LET HIS SON PLAY FOR RANGERS? FourFourTwo has arrived in Nordic Noir territory, just a few miles north of the setting for TV crime drama The Bridge , and there is a sense of foreboding in the air on this autumn afternoon in southern Sweden. Henrik Larsson is in the final weeks of his second season as…

WILL JOSE’S MIND GAMES WORK ON MARCUS BIGNOT OF GRIMSBY? CAN HE GENERATE ANY SPITE TOWARDS ACCRINGTON BOSS JOHN COLEMAN? My Year As A Fox From Peter Schmeichel on Strictly to Rodney Marsh on I’m A Celebrity, footballers have been front and centre of reality TV’s nonsensical rampage, so 2017 will really have to up the ante to shock us. But how? Big Sam undergoing gender reassignment surgery? Michael Owen spending a year living as an urban fox on the Russia-Ukraine border? At FFT we’re all set for Steve Ogrizovic: Mall Cop. Guardiola achieves nonmanifestive consciousness During an 8-0 win at Stoke, Manchester City’s play becomes so tikky, so takky and so lavishly flowing that Pep briefly frees himself from the human body’s trappings and achieves the ultimate goal of…

There’s usually no love lost between footballers and assistant referees, but that wasn’t the case at a fifth-tier match in Slovakia. The game was all set to kick off when FK Nizna’s Lubomir Vajdecka knelt down and proposed to the lineswoman, Petra Lepackova, who was delighted to accept. The duo had been dating for some time and Vajdecka knew that with his missus appointed to run the line at the match, it was the ideal setting to pop the question. “It was completely spontaneous and I’d decided it two days before,” he tells FFT. “Petra was nervous because of doing the officiating and I was nervous for different reasons. I did have a speech but I barely said a word of it.” That was because his bride-to-be then burst into…

Kasper Dolberg CLUB Ajax POSITION Forward VALUE £13m FOOT R HEIGHT 1.87m NATION DEN AGE 19 TECHNICAL His quick feet, ability on the ball and goalscoring record help to make him the complete striker. He is also strong outside the box, from where he has scored some impressive goals already. His capacity to shoot accurately, beat opponents and combine well with his team-mates have made him look like a true Ajax player. Arriving from Danish club Silkeborg in 2015, he started in the youth ranks before joining the likes of Johan Cruyff, Marco van Basten and Patrick Kluivert by finding the net on his first-team debut, against PAOK in July. A left-winger at first, Dolberg has converted to become a lone frontman. MENTAL A laid-back and very calm character, he…

Sponsorship deals in Sunday League have long been the turf of the local builder and restaurateur, so when adverts for a sex club appeared on shirts in the East Midlands, eyebrows (among certain other appendages) were inevitably raised. ‘Club Paradise For Swingers’ – alluring name – first struck up a shirt advertising deal with Long Eaton outfit Chilwell FC. “The club’s owner is a mate of mine,” explains Ady Bott, former Chilwell club secretary. “It’s a nice place to go to relax.” Not everyone was titillated by the new partnership, though. Ex-player-manager James Hunter – far too mortified by the memories to speak on the phone – told FFT on Twitter that the players had been “forced to wear the kit and humiliated every weekend, and even offered ‘freebies’ to…

@halesowentownfc 54’ 0-0 Delaney shoots wife after Anderson feeds him the ball #HALvTAM @DTguardian 1pm: City press conference preparing for Barça, Utd press conference announcing Official Mattress & Pillow Partner. Times have changed. @G00000000000007 The young man off to school fancy dress. @stephhoughton2 Not a bad feeling being the first female to be on the front cover of FourFourTwo! @emma_coolen Amazing to see female footballers don’t have to be half-naked to make a cover. @TheJackClarke Thank you FourFourTwo for introducing me to Rory Smith – some fantastic columns!…

LIONEL MESSI The Flea’s still goal-crazy after all these years, reaching 50 for 2016 on November 1, although Copa America agony soured his Barça double and prompted a brief international retirement. LUIS SUAREZ During 2015-16, Suarez broke Messi and Ronaldo’s six-year stranglehold on the La Liga Pichichi Trophy by scoring a frankly ludicrous 40 league goals, with 16 assists to boot. RIYAD MAHREZ Having deservedly won both Fans’ and Players’ Player of the Year, the winger unexpectedly extended his contract – then bagged a brace on Leicester’s Champions League debut. GONZALO HIGUAIN Higuain hit a final-day hat-trick to equal Serie A’s goalscoring record set in 1929. His 36-goal campaign – 17 more than his nearest rival – brought a £75m move from Napoli to Juventus. ANTOINE GRIEZMANN Griezmann’s 2016 brought…

“JAY Z KNOWS A FAIR BIT ABOUT FOOTBALL. HE’S WATCHED A FEW ARSENAL GAMES, AMONG OTHERS” Grunwald is a sleepy sort of place. Nestled on the banks of the River Isar, its tree-lined streets are a world far removed from central Munich, which lies eight miles to the north. Everything here moves along at a sedate pace. Even local dog-walkers only break into a trot to shelter in a nearby coffee shop when one of the frequent rain showers gets a bit too heavy. In this most stylish of suburban idylls, Jerome Boateng’s house fizzes in total contrast to the surrounding tranquility. Delivery vans come and go. An odd-job man attends to the front hedge, and then, toolbox in hand, dives into the house – a white, low-level building that’d…

The small North Atlantic island nation of Iceland is still trying to get its collective head around the events of the 2016 European Championship in France. “We were taught in our childhood that it would never happen,” says proud supporter Sveinn Asgeirsson, as he settles in at a small Reykjavik bar and prepares to watch his team in World Cup qualifying action in Croatia. “We are such a small country. I never expected it.” However, there were at least some signs of progress; some hints that this scenic country of 330,000 people could make an impact on the global stage. “I saw how Iceland was developing,” Arnar Fridriksson affirms. “Young players were coming through and showing a higher calibre of play than we’d seen before. We hoped it would happen…

If you’ve ever typed a football team’s name into YouTube’s search engine, you will probably have stumbled across a video of someone at home, playing as them on FIFA . “What a lot of people don’t understand is how seriously integrated into football things like FIFA and Football Manager are to younger fans,” says Spencer Owen, AKA Spencer FC, star of the FIFA-heavy YouTube channel. “That doesn’t mean I just sit there and start shouting about how I’m losing a game; I like to talk about real football as I do it. If I’m buying a player on a game, I will also mention what things I know about him in real life.” If you think this all sounds like a piece of cake, think again. “We…

FAMOUS FIVE Malcolm Macdonald scores every goal in a 5-0 win over Cyprus in April, becoming England’s first player since 1938 to net five in one game. It’s the perfect retort to Don Revie who, the forward recalled, “said I was only there as the press demanded it, and if I didn’t score he’d never pick me again.” Supermac’s England career ends seven months later. Tough crowd. THE WONDER OF PERU Inspired by a glorious kit and the artistry of Teofilo Cubillas (below), Hugo Sotil and ‘The Left-Footed Poet’ Cesar Cueto, Peru win the newly-named Copa America by beating Brazil in the last four and then Colombia in October’s play-off final. PENALTY, REF! Conspiracy theories abound in the Leeds United end as Bayern Munich captain Franz Beckenbauer fells Allan ‘Sniffer’…

Hull Daily Mail February 26, 1914 “The Hull City ground today was the venue of a unique football match. Two teams made of 11 brothers opposed each other. The Charlesworths hail from Scunthorpe, where the majority are working, while the Coverdales are natives of Hull. The Coverdales were first to attack and Larry and Fred forced corners. They were continually on the aggressive and the Charlesworth backs were busy. The shots rained in, but the majority of them were wild. An excellent run by Geoffrey Coverdale saw Frank score the opening goal. The Coverdales were by far the smarter and had a far better idea of combination than the Charlesworths. The Charlesworth team brought along a mascot – a tall person that was dressed in a kind of boiler suit…

HE ANSWERS Martin Keown Former Arsenal and England centre-back “It’s all about your body shape. If your opponent can see the number on your shirt, then you can’t see him. If the ball’s stood up to the back post you will have to take it at its highest point or the other guy will get above you. Your feet are key: you must leap like a high-jumper and make sure you anticipate and get into position as best you can by moving in short strides.”…

THINK FAST “The Premier League is different to other leagues as it is faster and more competitive. Football in Brazil and Ukraine is slower, which gives you more time to decide what to do with the ball. Here, there is no time. You need to know what you are going to do before you receive the ball.” NEED FOR SPEED “You need pace to be a modern winger. The fastest player I’ve faced is Theo Walcott at Arsenal, and Eden Hazard is probably the fastest player at Chelsea. In England it’s rare to find a slow winger. If you are slow, you’ll be better off as a midfielder – maybe as a number 10. You need to be clever and use a change of pace to beat defenders.” WATCH YOUR…

In this section, we use our comprehensive knowledge of the game to highlight our favourite new innovations, giving you a quick glimpse of some stand-out features. This month, along with the adidas PureControl above, you’ll find offerings from Umbro and Puma, and two Nike boots that now boast the outstanding Nike Anti-Clog Traction – ideal for this time of year. PUMA EVO SPEED 17.SL OPTICAL FG: 141388 - £180 The stunning new Optical evoSPEED reflects the light, while a new toe guard element aids durability. NIKE TIEMPO LEGEND VI SG PRO AC SG: 151191 - £230 Nike Anti-Clog Technology takes the meaning of unstoppable playmaking to a whole new level. UMBRO VELOCITA III PRO SG: 140967 - £140 The third gen Velocita features a neoprene and airmesh upper with a…

Stefan Grey: The lensman in Dortmund saved the day this month with his very own Fussball table. “Normally the players bring the football to us; however, this time we brought the football to BVB. Aubameyang plays a mean game.” Echte Liebe, brother! Joe Waldron: The illustrator enjoyed a massive nostalgia trip working on our YouTube feature. “I watched loads of old clips, from Roberto Carlos’ impossible goal to that Ronaldinho advert. And how could I not re-watch Remi Gaillard kicking balls into French bins?” Johann Sigurdsson: Our man in Reykjavik rounded up some giddy Iceland supporters as we named them our Fans of the Year. “I did not know what to expect – would the ecstasy from the Euros be gone now? Thankfully, there was no need to worry about…

1 NO THIRD INGREDIENT REQUIRED England Cheadle North West Counties Division One outfit Cheadle Town offer quite the selection of pies on a matchday. Obviously the non-league staple of meat and potato is available for any of the traditionalists present, but if fans fancy something different in their pie, the second option is totally different: potato and meat. Each pie costs £1.50, or as Cheadle might call it, 50 pence and a pound. 2 LOCAL GUNNERS’ SANTA CLAUSE Bulgaria Sofia Arsenal’s swathe of Bulgaria-based supporters had to get creative for their beloved team’s Champions League tie at Ludogorets Razgrad. Banned from wearing Gunners-related gear in the home end, they still turned up in red and white, wearing Santa hats instead. Pausing only to mutter “humbug”, Ludogorets’ executive director Angel Petrichev…

You know what would really tempt us to go to a football match? Seeing a goalkeeper impersonating the Nirvana baby in a swimming pool. FourFourTwo might have found our new favourite team, then, after Spanish Segunda Division club CF Reus came up with an interesting way to boost crowds at their Estadi Municipal. The stadium only has a capacity of 4,700 but even that is proving hard to fill, with attendances generally low outside of the country’s top flight. Having one of the biggest clubs in the world on their doorstep doesn’t help, either – Reus lies only 100 kilometres away from Barcelona. Thankfully, communications officer Xavier Guix had the perfect idea: get the entire squad to pose for a series of pre-match posters, depicting them as stars of iconic…

“I LOOKED YOUNG AND SEXY IN MY BOBBY’S HELMET, THEN I’D TAKE IT OFF AND BE A MESS” Hi Howard. Would you take this deal: you get to live for an extra 10 years, but must talk like Adele until you die? Hi pal. That’s an interesting one. I’d have to contextualise it. If I was going to die next week, at 45, I’d have Adele’s voice like a shot to give me the extra 10 years. But if you’re talking about extending from 85 to 95, I don’t think I’d bother. It’d be good for singing, though, right? Indeed. You were a policeman as well as a referee. What was the craziest arrest you were ever involved in? I got called out to a naked guy chained to a…

Bayern: Creating a Global Superclub Uli Hesse (Yellow Jersey, £14.99) As Hesse points out, Bayern Munich are a club of contrasts. On one hand, they embrace their most famous alumni, like Franz Beckenbauer and striker Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, like no other club. Yet there’s a ruthless side to the German behemoths, efficiently deployed over a long period to win copious amounts of titles and trophies. As with his superb book Tor!, Hesse picks apart some long-held Bayern legends. Far from emerging from nowhere in the late 1960s, Bayern were a prosperous outfit during the 1930s, only to be treated harshly by the Nazis. He also presents fascinating tales about the club’s rivalry with Borussia Monchengladbach in the 1970s and how Beckenbauer almost joined 1860 Munich. Meanwhile, Bayern’s unsung hero is Franz…

He may be a humble schoolteacher from Barnsley, but Peter Richardson has been thinking pretty big. After some success managing the school team, he decided to write to every club in the Premier League and Football League and apply for the role as first-team gaffer. The letters were tongue in cheek – Richardson vowed to sign Kenwyne Jones for Chelsea, and wanted to make penalty areas bigger at Wolves to increase the club’s chances of winning spot-kicks. Thirty-seven clubs responded – most sent polite rejection letters, while Coventry City sent him a text. Only one job offer came his way, after he’d asked to take charge of ‘Redbridge’ at National League side Dagenham & Redbridge, allowing then-boss Wayne Burnett to focus on ‘Dagenham’. “They offered me the opportunity to take…

“I DEFINE MYSELF AS A FIGHTER ON THE PITCH. I’M NOT SCARED OF TOUGH TACKLERS. I WANT TO WIN” What has it been like playing for Palmeiras even though you agreed your £27 million move to Manchester City in the summer? I love to play football so when it comes to the 90 minutes, nothing else matters for me. I have been thinking only about Palmeiras – they’ve given me everything. If I’m an established player now, I owe Palmeiras for that, so my goal was to help them win the Brazilian title for the first time since 1994. I wanted to leave on a high to say thank you for all that they’ve done for me since I was 15. Now the season is over, I have time to…

ICELAND WERE A VINDICATION OF THE DECISION TO EXPAND EURO 2016. A 40›TEAM WORLD CUP COULD WELL BE WORTH IT The moment from 2016 that will stay with me the longest is not the sight of Leicester City’s players, captured on Christian Fuchs’ mobile, celebrating the least likely league title win in English history while together in Jamie Vardy’s – just as improbable, really – surprisingly nice kitchen. It is not the sight of Wes Morgan, Championship stalwart, lifting the Premier League trophy. Nor is it the sight of Claudio Ranieri standing proudly alongside Andrea Bocelli, instructing those in the King Power Stadium to bask in the sheer power of Nessun Dorma. Without doubt, they are historic moments – moments that took the breath away – but they’re a close…

IT’LL BREAK YOUR ARM Swansea’s struggles are sad but you know what they say: never mess with a swan. They are stronger than they look! Ben Grace RESPECT REQUIRED Players often walk away from the ref when they are being booked. Bring the free-kick forward to where they’re stood. Jonathan Earle TAKE THE PLUNGE The best national teams have players in leagues around the world. More English players should gain experience abroad. Archie Messent WELL DONE, SAINTS It is remarkable that Southampton continue to compete even though they lose top players and managers to other clubs. Alex Talman FEES ARE ALL WRONG Paul Pogba cost £89m, yet Sunderland as a club are supposedly worth just £150m. Prices in football make no sense. Josh Jones LAST MONTH’S SPINE LINE: “‘Fulham…

“ARSENAL PLAYERS PUT ON INSTAGRAM A PICTURE OF THEM CELEBRATING IN THE DRESSING ROOM. THAT MADE US LAUGH – THEN FOCUS” MARC ALBRIGHTON WINGER CHRISTIAN FUCHS DEFENDER ANDY KING MIDFIELDER LEONARDO ULLOA STRIKER JASON BOURNE BBC RADIO LEICESTER DAVE BEVAN FAN AND AUTHOR OF THE UNBELIEVABLES JOHN LEDWIDGE GROUNDSMAN, KING POWER STADIUM BRAD VARNHAM PA ANNOUNCER, KING POWER STADIUM MA: Our only aim for the season was to stay up – that, and to finish higher than we had the year before. The way we had ended the previous season meant that we finished 14th, and it almost looked like we hadn’t even been in a relegation scrap at all. That gave us real confidence going into the 2015-16 campaign. CF: I joined the club [on June 3, 2015]…

“I AM NOT A PERSON WITH COLLEGE DEGREES – EVERYTHING THAT I HAVE LEARNED, I HAVE LEARNED THROUGH EXPERIENCE” This is something that I was able to benefit from during the many years I collaborated with him for his weekly column in Telesport, the sport section of Dutch daily De Telegraaf. He enjoyed triggering a reaction with his analyses, and he provided the odd wake-up call not only for Dutch football but also the government. Cruyff once criticised the Ministry of Finance in relation to a tax law. Such was Cruyff’s standing, it changed within a month. Everyone knows that Johan was a phenomenal football player and manager. Most people also know he was an idealist; a pioneer; a rebel. But what most won’t have had the chance to see…

“I thought it would be nice to hear from the people who invest all their time and money into going to games,” Arsenal Fan TV founder Robbie Lyle tells FFT . “I wanted to give the fans a voice.” Together with his partner Tao, Robbie grabbed a video camera and a microphone and stood outside the Emirates Stadium as fans streamed out following a 2012 North London Derby against Tottenham. “We were unknown at that stage,” he explains, “but my thinking was: ‘There are 60,000 people here. By the law of averages, someone will want to talk about the game.’” They initially enjoyed a cult following, before the opening day of the 2013-14 campaign proved to be a breakthrough. Arsenal fans had grown exasperated by the club’s…

“IF I HAD KNOWN THERE WAS ANY CHANCE OF A POINTS PENALTY FOR NOT PLAYING, I’D HAVE FIELDED THE YOUTH-TEAM LADS AND THE LAUNDRY LADIES THAT DAY" Middlesbrough supporters headed down south to Wembley Stadium in their thousands, with hope in their hearts – and anger, too. It would be the Smoggies’ first (and, to date, only) FA Cup final, yet their joy was laced with pain, their euphoria tempered by relegation from the Premier League. The Boro fans arrived at the symbolic home of English football to protest, finding themselves at war with officialdom and the FA suits they blamed for their club’s demise. Little did they know, Boro’s players were at war among themselves, unwilling to go down without a fight. At least, that may have been…

Who? The midfield battler and FA Cup winner achieved cult status at Everton with his 30-yard screamer against Wimbledon on the final day of 1993-94, to ensure the Toffees avoided relegation. His name lives on in Wales fans’ innovative brass band – The Barry Horns. I hear they’re big in France. What about their namesake? Horne hung up his boots at Belper Town in 2002. A spell as PFA chairman came next, plus punditry and the occasional newspaper column, before he served on Wrexham’s board of directors. He now teaches physics and chemistry in Chester. So he must know his periodic table… Probably better than the Premier League table. Horne earned a First in chemistry back in 1983 and was doing his PhD when his football career took priority. Whether…

1 GEORGE BEST EGGS Bestie was an endorsement trailblazer, hawking sausages, slippers and even jigsaws in the 1970s. Here, he’s unexpectedly puritan about nutrition, saying: “Terrible game – I hadn’t eaten my egg for breakfast.” 2 BOBBY MOORE PUBS Why British brewing employed clean-living Bobby Moore for their ‘look in at the local’ campaign remains a mystery. “It’s great to get together,” says the World Cup-winning skipper in an unenthusiastic monotone. Bestie must have been busy with his egg. 3 TREVOR BROOKING ATARI The West Ham tyro flogging Pele’s Soccer with Morecambe and Wise made for one of 1982’s more peculiar combos. While Trev is thrashing him, Hatters supremo Morecambe ponders aloud: “Ever thought of playing for Luton reserves, youngster?” 4 BRIAN CLOUGH STORAGE HEATERS Cloughie led East Midlands Electricity’s…

 Hi Phil. You’re pretty nifty at beating defenders, so tell us: how do you do it? “Attacking midfielders need to play with happiness – dribbling at pace, making things happen” Hi. I always try to be quick in possession, whether that’s running with the ball, playing a quick pass or trying a trick. I often use my body to hide the ball and this is one of the things I enjoy doing the most when I’m playing. I really like to dribble with the ball, and that’s my role in the team. I try to find spaces for my team-mates. You have a very fluid dribbling style. Do you know where this comes from? Brazilian football has a unique style; we have happiness in our game. If you look at…

FFT spent our youth setting off car alarms with stray footballs, which only attracted the neighbourhood watch rather than top-flight scouts. But for wing wonder Riyad Mahrez, the streets served as an ideal training ground for honing his dribbling skills and lighting his creative spark. The 25-year-old trickster was initially ignored by academies in France during his teenage years, and had to wait until he was 18 before he was finally offered a trial with a professional club. But Mahrez, named PFA Player of the Year earlier in 2016 after winning the Premier League title with Leicester City, believes that his street education may have been a blessing in disguise. “Maybe not joining an academy was a big advantage,” he tells FFT. “When you come from the streets,…

Cold weather, rough conditions and bad results can damage team morale and leave you with a crisis of confidence. But you’re not alone: even the top pros aren’t bulletproof. Nike Academy psychologist Claire Davidson carried out a study, with 200 players across England’s top four leagues answering a survey that measured their resilience. The results showed many professional players admitting they struggled to deal with pressure and setbacks. “Some players thrive on pressure – like a last-minute penalty – while others will see a tough situation as a threat and they crumble,” says Davidson. Yet there is something you can do to bolster confidence. “Control the controllables,” adds Davidson. “You can’t control being smaller than your opponent or if you get named on the bench. But you can look for…

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MK Dons vs Wimbledon December 10 In the third tier, the franchise club meet the revival club in a league fixture for the first time River Plate vs Boca December 11 El Monumental plays host to the Superclasico in Argentina. What chaos will unfold this time? Everton vs Liverpool December 19 Monday Night Football – Brendan Rodgers was sacked after drawing this fixture last season Bayern vs RB Leipzig December 21 The Bundesliga high-flyers face off. Will Bayern put the controversial upstarts in their place? Rangers vs Celtic December 31 It’s a New Year’s Eve grudge match, as Celtic make their first Old Firm visit to Ibrox since 2012 Liverpool vs Man City December 31 Jurgen Klopp takes on Pep Guardiola in the late kick-off: the final Premier League fixture…

It must have been the trickiest journey home since David Batty and Graeme Le Saux flew back from Moscow after a bout of handbags. Evesham United were drawing 1-1 with Frome Town in the FA Trophy when Ashley Williams (not that one) launched into a last-minute tackle on Frome’s Clayton Green. “He made a meal of it,” says the still-peeved Evesham midfielder. “He squealed a bit.” Williams was sent off and then stormed off. The issue was that the pair are, or were, best friends, and so Williams had agreed to drive Green home. All the way to Wales. He didn’t ditch him in the end, but he didn’t give him time to change, either. “He rolled up in just a pair of shorts that were soaking wet,” laughs Williams,…

WEST BROMWICH ALBION Chris Green Writer, 57 Darren Fletcher Club captain, 32 Q: In what year did the club last win the FA Cup? CG: 1968. What a year! DF: I know this. Is it the same year that England won the World Cup, or later? 1967... no, ’68. 1-1 Q: Who scored Albion’s winner against Crystal Palace on the opening day of this season? CG: Rondon! A rare high point this season. DF: Palace… A header… Salomon Rondon. 2-2 Who is the club’s longest-serving first-team boss? CG: Was it Fred Basset? Actually, scrub that –it was Fred Everiss. DF: I couldn’t tell you. No idea. Gary Megson? 3-2 Fan Albion’s ground is the highest in English football. True or false? CG: Definitely true. DF: That one’s true. No problems…

Answers 1) Estadio Jose Alvalade, Lisbon; 2) Commerzbank-Arena, Frankfurt; 3) San Siro; 4) Goodison Park; 5) Stade Bollaert-Delelis, Lens; 6) Allianz Arena; 7) Estadio Municipal de Braga; 8) Macron Stadium; 9) Nelspruit World Cup Stadium; 10) Old Trafford; 11) Rungrado 1st of May Stadium, Pyongyang; 12) Dean Court; 13) Petrovsky Stadium, St Petersburg; 14) Craven Cottage; 15) Camp Nou; 16) Roots Hall; 17) Ibrox; 18) Wembley; 19) Skonto Stadium, Riga; 20) Etihad Stadium YES, REALLY Shay Given is the most searched-for Premier League player on Bing so far in 2016-17; Leicester are only the 15th-most searched-for club…

Breakthrough year Makes his Palmeiras debut in March 2015 and helps them win the Copa do Brasil that season, before clinching the Brazilian league’s best newcomer award. Gold rush Starts every match and scores three times as Brazil claim gold at the Rio Olympics, thanks to a penalty shootout victory over Germany at the Maracana. Double on debut Misses out on a late call-up to the 2016 Copa America because of visa issues but scores twice when he does make his senior debut, in a World Cup qualifier in Ecuador.…

“LIFE ISN’T ONLY ABOUT FOOTBALL. AFTER PLAYING I’D LIKE TO GO INTO THE MOVIES” Crammed inside an auditorium at the Portuguese Football Federation’s headquarters, a throng of journalists hold up their phones as if they’re hysterical teenyboppers at a Justin Bieber concert. The lights dim and a blanket of silence engulfs the room. Rio Ferdinand and Ricardo Quaresma – two familiar faces among the panel of luminaries sitting up on the stage – look over their shoulders at a giant TV screen. Inspiring music plays in surround sound as the screen flickers with a montage of Portugal’s talisman. Having left his seat for a prime view from the floor, Cristiano Ronaldo is fixated on the monitor, eyes wide, grinning ear-to-ear like a child mesmerised by their favourite cartoon. The film…

There isn’t a country on Earth where national symbolism is held in quite as high regard as the United States of America. The national anthem is belted out loudly and proudly before almost every sporting event, and there is a very long and particular set of rules outlining how the flag should be displayed, folded and disposed of. So when, in August this year, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick refused to stand for The Star-Spangled Banner as it boomed out before his team’s pre-season games, a country stopped and stared. But that was exactly what he wanted. “I am not going to stand up and show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of colour,” Kaepernick explained. “To me, this is bigger than…

Michail Antonio is in a playful mood. The West Ham United winger has spent the previous 25 minutes frolicking about to R’n’B amid a sea of bubbles, in front of a photographer who applauds his every move. This air of frivolity surrounding him spells bad news for FFT. Antonio sits down and then points at our tired brown leather shoes and offers to buy us some new ones before bursting into laughter. We politely decline. He has good reason to be in jovial spirits. Over the past 12 months, Antonio has transformed from a figure of social media fun into a cult hero on the fringes of the England team. In November last year, West Ham co-chairman David Gold was tricked into retweeting a picture posted by a mischievous fan,…

Your club’s been linked with an exotic foreign signing about whom you know nothing. Where do you turn? FourFourTwo.com , obviously, but soon after that it’s Adam Ali’s channel, ScoutNationHD. “I started making scouting videos on New Year’s Day, 2013, so I have been at it for nearly four years now,” Adam says. “The first videos I made were of Jackson Martinez, who had signed for Porto, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who was still playing for Saint-Etienne at the time. The standard of them was pretty poor, to be honest, as it was the first time I had ever edited video. “I used to search the internet to find articles about young players I could feature, but there’s a new system on YouTube that lets you do polls,…

We are approaching that most wonderful time of the year, but for the most festively-named club in football, the 2016 season has not always been one of goodwill. FFT went to Lapland to learn why “WE HAD TO PLAY THREE KEEPERS WITH TWO OF THEM UP TOP. THEY TRIED THEIR HARDEST, BUT THAT GAME WAS REALLY EMBARRASSING” There’s a wry smile on the face of Tomi Koski as he prepares to pose for pictures for FourFourTwo. Christmas is drawing near, and that can mean only one thing. Time for the weird photoshoots. “Last winter I was standing in one metre of snow, in the forest, with my full kit on,” he says. “And I was thinking: ‘I’m a footballer, so why am I standing here?’ But I’m used to it.…

LOVE BITE Club founder Gus Mears chose not to fl og his site at Stamford Bridge in 1905 only after his Scottish Terrier bit his friend, Fred Parker, on the leg. Impressed by Parker’s stoicism, Mears agreed to form a football club there. “YOU GO GET IT…” To prevent 25-stone William ‘Fatty’ Foulke from getting tired, Chelsea got two local lads to retrieve his balls, thus inventing the ball boy in the London club’s debut season. NO OAPS ALLOWED Ted Drake’s first order of business as boss in 1952 was to rid the club of its soft image, so a lion displaced the Pensioners. Grrr! NO ARM IN IT It’s no surprise the Blues beat Jeunesse Hautcharage 21-0 on aggregate in the Cup Winners’ Cup. Their Luxembourgian foes for that…

World Cup Willie Designer Reg Hoye based the first World Cup mascot, a Union Jack-wearing lion, on 12-year-old son Leo. Willie is now a collector’s item. Saint and Greavsie During the late ’80s, ex-pros Ian St John and Jimmy Greaves invented the football show that didn’t take itself too seriously – the perfect preview for Saturday’s games. Zaire ’74 kit We’ve all seen the clip of defender Mwepu Ilunga’s comical free-kick clearance, and Zaire’s 1974 World Cup kit was just as memorable. Yes, that is a leopard on the front of it.…

Get your head up Before you receive the ball, get your head up and look around, 360 degrees, so that you have an image of the whole pitch in your head. Look for the runners As a creative player, your job is to create chances. To do this, you need to look for players in front of you and anticipate the sort of runs they might be making. Be brave You need courage to play the final pass. Sometimes there is a risk of losing the ball, but the reward could be setting up a goal for the team.…

NIKE MAGISTA OBRA II DARK LIGHTNING Anti-clog traction technology comes alive in the moisture to help prevent mud sticking to the sole and studs. Cost £305 Buy www.nike.com NEW BALANCE FURON 2.0 PRO FG BLACKOUT Well, we wouldn’t want you getting your white boots dirty. Slip into a little black number and dig in for the winter. Cost £140 Buy www.newbalance.co.uk UNDER ARMOUR SPOTLIGHT DREAMCHASER Internal traction pads stop your feet from sliding around inside the boot, so you’ll stay upright in slippery conditions. Cost £160 Buy www.prodirectsoccer.com…

Lukaku & Bolasie Everton team-mates Romelu and Yannick communicate on the pitch using African language Lingala. Who Dares Wins We’d quite like to see a few Premier League footballers on the TV show that puts folks through SAS training. Aaron Cresswell He fully deserved his first England call-up – that left foot could open a tin of beans. ▼ Saido Berahino West Brom sent their out-of-favour striker to France to undergo a rigorous four-day fitness programme. ▼ SAD lamps Light therapy used to help replace natural daylight. Going for a light kickabout in the winter sunshine could work as well. ▼ Smoking A new study has found that tobacco consumption causes hundreds of genetic mutations in human DNA – so stub it out.…

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ROBERTO CARLOS “Roberto single-handedly revolutionised the game: before he’d come along, defenders only had to defend, leaving attacking duties for the midfielders and strikers. He was a complete footballer, with power, speed, technique and his set-pieces. He could stop anyone who ran at him and go past anybody that tried to stop him. Few players stay at the top for as long as he did, and now every major European team wants to fi nd defenders with those qualities.” ZINEDINE ZIDANE “Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are now the best players on the planet, but before they hit their prime it was all about Zidane – he was the best I ever played with. Zizou made everything look easy, but he didn’t show off. He kept things very simple, but…