Introduction
Editor’s Note – Jonathan Wilson
Aleksandar Holiga, The Captain’s Coup
Zvonimir Boban, a controversial interview and Croatia’s conflicted relationship with its national side
Carl Worswick, The Dentist of Medellín
Francisco Maturana discusses René Higuita, the drug lords and how he reinvented the game in his homeland
James Young, The Short Unhappy Life of Dinorah De Assis
Love, betrayal, murder and the end of a striker’s glorious career
Sergei Novikov, The Russian Lower Leagues
From Borodinsky to Zakamsk, one photographer’s journey through the backwaters of the Russian game
Jonathan Wilson, The Glory and the Grief
Cameroon’s brilliantly unexpected victory couldn’t eradicate doubts about Gabon’s hosting of the tournament
Luke Edwards, Setting Sun
Leyton Orient’s slide out of the football league and why it matters
Uli Hesse, The Great Disgrace
Brutality, unrepentance, the Shame of Gijón and falling out of love with West Germany
Dan Edwards, Numbers Made of Sequins
How Argentina improvised to find lightweight shirts for the 1986 World Cup quarter-final
Callum Rice-Coates, Southern Comfort
Football played a vital role in maintaining morale on Ernest Shackleton’s Antarctic expeditions
James Montague, The Lost Kingdom
The Hakeem al-Araibi affair has confirmed the end of the unifying dream of Bahraini football
Ian Hawkey, Legs of Thunder
The redemption of Jerry Sikhosana and Orlando Pirates’ Champions League glory
Hassanin Mubarak, The Yellow Shirts of Doom
How political meddling ruined Iraq’s only appearance at a World Cup, in Mexico in 1986
Ned Boulting, Mit sexy Knien
How a novelty song about Karl-Heinz Rummenigge became an unlikely hit
Igor Rabiner, Tanks, Corruption, Death
The extraordinary story of the USSR’s first professional club and the collapse of Communism