football

Wigan Athletic have turned to the town’s coal-mining heritage for their 2026/27 away shirt. We look at the design, the railway-inspired pattern and the history behind one of the most meaningful football kits of the summer.

England are through to the 2026 World Cup semi-finals after beating Norway in Miami, with Jude Bellingham scoring twice again. On decisive moments, forty years of England players, and an Argentina side waiting in Atlanta.

When the bombs fell on Britain's cities, football grounds stood in the firing line. From Highbury to Bramall Lane, this is the fact checked story of the grounds that were hit, what really happened, and the myths that grew in the rubble.

There are stadiums. And there are temples. The Azteca is a temple. It sits high above Mexico City where the air runs thin and the noise runs thick, a concrete cathedral that has swallowed teams whole for the better part of a century.

Portugal drew Spain, Argentina drew Egypt, and both ties carry the same subplot. Two legends, twenty years of magic, and one question the knockouts always ask in the end. Can they still last?

Pelé conquered it in 1970. Maradona broke English hearts there in 1986. Now England return to the Estadio Azteca for the first time in forty years. Why one ground on a bed of volcanic rock became football's most mythical stadium.

York City return to the Football League this summer, just as a memorial garden opens where Bootham Crescent stood for 88 years, with a preserved terrace, a wartime tunnel and an original turnstile. The story of a lost ground, and what remains.

VAR rows that will not die, a jargon word that deserves the sack, and the small nation that nearly did the impossible to Argentina. Here is the real story of World Cup 2026, and why it has us dreaming of a British beach and a proper kickabout.