You’ve no doubt heard Emily Herbert commentating on WSL matches on radio and TV – as well as Premier League and EFL games – with the necessary precision, plus flair, wit and palpable enjoyment. Our co...

Glitzy draws, OJ-era chaos, grass laid over AstroTurf and a host nation that barely cared – the 1994 World Cup arrived amid suspicion and slapstick. Yet it became a watershed that would alter US sport and global football politics alike “The United States was chosen,” the columnist George Vecsey wrote in the New York Times in 1994, “because of all the money to be made here, not because of any soccer prowess. Our country has been rented as a giant stadium and hotel and television studio.” Nobody could seriously doubt that. The USA had played in only two World Cups since the second world war and hadn’t had a national professional league for a decade. And that meant there was a great deal of skepticism from outsiders, even after Fifa made it clear there would be no wacky law changes to try to appeal to the domestic audience: Would anybody actually turn up to watch? But there was also hostility in the United States. A piece in USA Today on the day of the draw told Americans they were right not to care about the World Cup, what it sneeringly described as the biggest sport in “Cameroon, Uruguay and Madagascar”. “Hating soccer,” wrote the columnist Tom Weir, “is more American than mom’s apple pie, driving a pickup or spending Saturday afternoon channel surfing with the remote control.” Excerpted from The Power And The Glory by Jonathan Wilson, copyright © 2025 by Jonathan Wilson. Used with permission of Bold Type Books, an imprint of Basic Books Group, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc. Continue reading...

Perhaps their worst start ever in the Champions League is bound to raise questions for one of France’s premier clubs.Helen M Jerome spoke to two current WSL managers with first-hand knowledge of PSG –...

They thought it couldn’t be done…. And having lost every single one of their last eight WSL away games against Chelsea, the odds were stacked against plucky Everton.So how did they finally end Chelsea...

They thought it couldn’t be done…. And having lost every single one of their last eight WSL away games against Chelsea, the odds were stacked against plucky Everton.So how did they finally end Chelsea...

Kildunne is known for her startling speed and audacious tries, but there’s more to the talented full-back than rugby, from a passion for photography to a sideline in DIY tattooing Ellie Kildunne says it’s not quite sunk in yet. A couple of months on from winning the Rugby Union World Cup with her England teammates, she’s still on a high. I ask if she slept with her winner’s medal by her bed the night they won. “That night?” She gives me a look. “It’s still by my bed. Every day. I wake up and the medal’s next to my bed. And it’s, like, as if!” But Kildunne is not resting on her laurels. She says the medal is also a reminder of what’s left to achieve – for her, and for women’s rugby in general. “Your heart’s telling you that you’ve done it, but I need to refocus. So it’s about how can we win the prem, how can we win another Six Nations, more World Cups? How can we keep fans coming to games? We’ve sold out Twickenham, so how do we do it again?” Continue reading...

A medicinal chemist from Austria had an idea and clubs, including Dortmund, have taken note. But how is saliva used to analyse players?

Expert says sport serves as a bridge between communities.

Sonia Bompastor’s Une Vie de Foot – co-written with memoirist Farid Haroud – is a fascinating autobiography from someone who has witnessed and helped facilitate many changes in women’s football.From e...

In her decorated career – which now includes winning the Rugby World Cup with England’s Red Roses – Rosie Galligan has been knocked down. But she got up again… and again. As she tells Helen M Jerome, ...

Nottingham Forest and Ghana forward Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah has had a year to remember, from securing promotion to the WSL to making her Ghana debut and securing the bronze at WAFCON.Boye-Hlorkah spoke...