The PFA is urging Fifa action against illegal Israeli settlement clubs and incitement to genocide, writes JAMES NALTON

MODERN football requires its best football managers to be politically savvy. They don’t necessarily need to have full knowledge of specific policy or detail beyond that of their clubs, but on wider issues, a political grounding and a general understanding of what’s happening outside the lucrative football bubble is important, or at least useful.
Football managers have to deal with as much media scrutiny as politicians do, and need knowledge of a range of issues beyond sport. Their job is no longer just about managing and coaching a group of players.
Football was already an inherently political sport but it has increasingly become a political tool on a global scale outside the sport itself. Top-level football’s mingling with billionaires, their media, nation-states, and geopolitics has further embedded it into the system of global capitalism.

The PFA is urging Fifa action against illegal Israeli settlement clubs and incitement to genocide, writes JAMES NALTON

The powerhouse Liverpool forward secured a record-breaking 90 per cent of the vote, while Arsenal’s Alessia Russo topped a wide field to win the women’s award, writes JAMES NALTON

JAMES NALTON writes on how the title win has sparked long-awaited celebrations among fans after a triumph four years — and one pandemic — in the making

JAMES NALTON hails the rise of the number of Chinese players heading to the Crucible