Table of contents for February 2026 in FourFourTwo UK

X @JamesAndrew_ E james.andrew@futurenet.com Happy New Year and welcome to 2026! This year, all roads lead to New Jersey for July’s World Cup final – nothing is certain in life, but it looks likely to be the last global tournament for two of the best players ever, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Both have graced the game at the very highest level, but time catches up with us all – Ronaldo turns 41 this February, while Messi celebrates his 39th birthday during the World Cup itself. It’s likely to be their last hurrah, but don’t discount either of them lifting the trophy on July 19 – Portugal and Argentina will both be strong contenders in North America. Ronaldo also has his sights set on another big milestone – becoming the…

01 Which Chelsea defender broke the WSL’s all-time appearance record in November with her 211th outing? 02 True or false: last year, England became the first European side to boast a perfect winning record without conceding during World Cup qualifying, having played multiple matches? 03 Who is the only Ireland men’s international ever to score a hat-trick away from home? 04 Martin O’Neill returned as Celtic boss back in October. How many league titles did he lead the club to in his first stint as Parkhead gaffer? 05 Which European club play home games at Estadio Coliseum? 06 Everton’s Idrissa Gueye was sent off for appearing to slap which team-mate at Old Trafford recently? 07 Who has managed the most England men’s matches? 08 Which Lionesses star was crowned as…

@JoeDonnohue NEMANJA VIDIC I was tempted to choose Papiss Cisse, whose arrival at Newcastle United in January 2012 set in motion perhaps the most ridiculous goalscoring run a new signing has ever had. The Senegalese striker scored 13 goals, including four braces, in his first 12 league matches. After that, though, Cisse couldn’t maintain that level of consistency. Luis Suarez, on the other hand – a January 2011 arrival at Liverpool from Ajax – went on a prolonged scoring run, netting 54 times in his final 66 Premier League appearances before he left Anfield. But the Uruguayan was only on Merseyside for three full seasons and didn’t win the league. So, how can either be the greatest January transfer when Nemanja Vidic exists? In 2006, Vidic arrived at Manchester United…

David Beckham hadn’t even scored a winning goal. But still, amid the euphoria of a stoppage-time equaliser, he resembled Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man – limbs outstretched, embodying both the divine and the mortal. It was a career that always teetered between the two. Watching Beckham, you could be forgiven for thinking such talent was god-given, such was the effortless beauty of his passing. Yet for every bolt from the heavens, there was always a simmering feeling that the boy wonder was only human. He’d grafted to get where he was, hours of training spent on honing his trademark ping. Beckham could have stood on top of the world at France 98, but instead fell with a casual flick out at Diego Simeone. In the fallout, England’s titans toppled, too…

A lmost exactly five years ago to the day, Tony Pulis left management for the final time. Sacked by Sheffield Wednesday after just 10 games, having previously struggled to win over the fans at West Brom and Middlesbrough, ‘Pulis Ball’ was considered archaic and unattractive by most people in football. The world had moved on. Understandably then, there’s a wry smile on his face today, as he talks to FourFourTwo at his home on the South Coast. Pulis retired as a villain, but half a decade later has become the unlikeliest of heroes – the godfather of the Premier League’s in-vogue style, which has seen a succession of managers place greater emphasis on corners and long throws. “I used to get slaughtered!” he laughs. “I was on the phone recently…

If dog-sitting duties have ever come between you and attending football, it could be time to switch allegiance to Scottish fifth-tier side Cowdenbeath. Thanks to the huge stock car racetrack running around the pitch, the club’s Racewall home has long held a reputation as one of the most dog-friendly venues in British football, with four-legged fans welcomed. Yet the Blue Brazil have taken things one step further – offering a season ticket for dogs. The genius move is the brainchild of Cowdenbeath’s commercial manager Graham Lyons, who’d been regularly taking his own shih tzu dog – Ozzy Pawsbourne, the Prince of Barkness (no, we’re not kidding) – along to games. “Ozzy had become a bit of a celebrity at the ground and was getting a lot of attention,” Lyons tells…

Whether it was the formation of the Premier League in 1992 or the World Cup expanding to 48 teams this year, a competition rebrand always seems to ruffle a few feathers. That was certainly the case 10 years ago, when the EFL Trophy was launched in its current format, with 16 Category One academy teams (either Premier League or Championship) invited to compete alongside 48 from Leagues One and Two. Sixteen regional groups, each containing one academy team and three EFL clubs, would battle it out for a spot in the knockouts, with a Wembley final the prize. The move came just two years after the release of FA chairman Greg Dyke’s England Commission report, which sought ways to make the national team more competitive by giving the brightest academy…

The Dutch striker on recovering from major surgery, being touted as Rangers’ answer to Henrik Larsson and the time Dick Advocaat ruined his Christmas It’s two years since you underwent surgery to remove a brain tumour in October 2023. How are you doing? Really well! I enjoy life even more now. Grabbing a coffee with my wife or friends and just chatting nonsense – things that used to feel normal now feel special. I see life very differently than before the surgery. I find it much easier to talk and I’ve developed a more open personality. I’m more emotional too. Sometimes I get goosebumps or even tear up more quickly when I see or hear something beautiful. On the flip side, injustice in the world affects me more now. It…

BRING ON THE WALL DORTMUND, GERMANY There are few greater sights than the Yellow Wall, and it was packed for Bodo/Glimt’s Champions League visit. The sea of yellow and black was only interrupted by that one steward in the middle. “Pal, any chance of not wearing bright orange next time?” Pic Geert van Erven/Soccrates/Getty Images “AAAAAARGH!” GENOA, ITALY Lautaro Martinez saved the worst form of his career for Argentina’s 2022 World Cup triumph, but he’s always on target for Inter – netting in a win at Genoa. His mates soon jumped on him – was he being crushed, or merely getting flashbacks to all the missed sitters in Qatar? Pic Simone Arveda/Getty “AAAAAARGH!” LA BOCA, ARGENTINA Actually, perhaps Lautaro Martinez was paying tribute to this iconic image of Diego Maradona unveiled at…

The third round of the FA Cup is one of the best weekends in the football calendar. Every season, when the Premier League teams enter the draw, there’s a renewed sense of excitement about watching a match-up you’ve never seen before. And unless you support one of those big teams, everyone is hoping to see a famous cup upset. That’s what the FA Cup is all about. It’s a celebration of the English football pyramid and a competition that gives fans hope that they can achieve something special. This year, 747 teams entered, and from those early stages until now, it’s been a scrap as the lower-ranked sides battled their way through. The third round has always been a great way to start the new year. This time, there were…

There’s an aura of focused calmness about Granit Xhaka as he explains why he joined Sunderland in July. “I didn’t expect to be back here in the Premier League,” he admits, as he sits down to chat at the club’s Academy of Light training base. “But I was done with my decision very quickly.” Four seasons ago, Xhaka faced the Black Cats when they were a League One club, in a mismatched Carabao Cup quarter-final that Arsenal won 5-1. But fast-forward to November 2025, and the midfielder was helping Sunderland end his old club’s 10-match winning streak, in a Premier League fixture that finished 2-2 at the Stadium of Light. Even weeks before Xhaka’s arrival at the club, the 33-year-old would have been considered an unthinkable signing for a side…

The crowd hold their breath as Leandro Trossard looks to find space on the edge of the area. Going one way and then the other, the anticipation grows further as the Belgian takes aim, before rocketing the ball into the corner to put Arsenal ahead at Sunderland. All around FourFourTwo the crowd are going mad, but this isn’t the away end at the Stadium of Light, nor is it a pub in North London. This is more than 5,000 miles away in Los Angeles. FFT have joined hundreds of fans who have gathered at 9.30am at Cosm, in Hollywood Park, to watch the Premier League fixture on an 87-foot diameter, 12K+, dome-shaped LED screen. You really feel like you’re inside the stadium itself – albeit it’s slightly warmer than the…

Played 400 games across 25 different clubs and six different continents Had his shoes nailed to the floor by the Crazy Gang Spent 101 days being brutalised in a Singapore jail Survived after his heart stopped for three minutes Had a penguin in his bathtub This is his incredible story “I was held in one of the roughest prisons in Singapore for 101 days. There were no beds or proper toilets. I was in cells with rapists and murderers. I was punched and beaten up every day. My nose was broken twice. I needed stitches for my eyes, my armpits and my chin. They tried to rape me. “After two weeks, one guy tried to help me out. He said, ‘You have to fight back, or it will never stop.’ I…

XI BEST: Viktor Johansson, Richard Wood, Martin McIntosh, Semi Ajayi, Chiedozie Ogbene, Lee Frecklington, Dan Barlaser, Matt Crooks, Chris Sedgwick, Alan Lee, Adam Le Fondre. WORST: Neil Cutler, Tom Newey, Daniel Ayala, Grant Hall, Laurence Wilson, Danny Schofield, Scott Allan, Dominic Ball, Bruce Dyer, Dexter Blackstock, George Hirst. PLAYER B: Viktor Johansson was an unbelievable keeper, who made saves he had no right to and offered everything you want from a No.1. Stoke fans have been saying the same since they signed him. How he’s not playing in the Premier League, I don’t know. W: We brought in Dexter Blackstock on huge wages. He started five games, fell out with the fans, then got injured and never played for us again. He didn’t look bothered and laughed at the fans…

The day has only just begun, early in the morning at a boutique hotel in central London, but Michael Laudrup is sat in front of FourFourTwo, animatedly explaining the mechanisms behind Barcelona’s Dream Team of the ’80s and ’90s. The playmaker helped the club lift its first European Cup, but it was the total football style of Johan Cruyff’s side that captured the world’s imagination. “I’d start as a number nine, then drop back into midfield to receive the ball between the lines,” Laudrup says. “Opposition defenders usually stayed deep, which gave me space. From there, I could feed Txiki Begiristain, Jose Mari Bakero and Hristo Stoichkov, making intelligent runs through the defence.” Sitting in a plush armchair, the Dane is using his hands to illustrate how those moves unfolded…

NOTTS COUNTY 0 HULL 1 EFL Trophy, 1998 “I was 15 and still a schoolboy when I debuted for Notts County, coming on as a sub – I was the club’s youngest ever player for 26 years, until that record got broken not too long ago. It was a massive moment and the headlines that came from it were the start of my career path. I was so skinny and small, playing against absolute units, but I just had no fear when I came on. I almost scored and I got someone sent off – one of the Hull players didn’t like having this 15-year-old kid going past him, must have thought, ‘I’m not having this’, then took me out and got shown a second yellow card for it!” MIDDLESBROUGH…

TRUMP SEES RED Donald Trump and Gianni Infantino have been getting on famously, but things go wrong during an Oval Office press call, after a reporter asks the FIFA president why he’s wearing trainers. JD Vance chimes in asking why FIFA never say thank you, and a row breaks out. “You don’t hold the cards, Johnny!” Trump rages, but Infantino proves him wrong by pulling a red card out of his pocket and giving the US president his marching orders. Incandescent, Trump moves all World Cup matches in Democrat cities to Mar-a-Lago, increases ticket prices to $1 million and gives Ukraine’s play-off place to Russia. FIFA have the power to banish Trump, but instead suspend a two-match ban for 12 months. ANGE AT WATFORD?! Fired by Spurs and Nottingham Forest…

Cristiano Ronaldo’s time at Al Nassr has made him the first person in history to become a billionaire thanks to their football career – but even his wealth isn’t enough to get him into the list of the 50 richest people in the sport. And Wrexham co-owner Ryan Reynolds can forget about it, too – while he’s valued at around £300m, you’ll need a net worth of at least £2.6bn to make our list, restricted to people who own at least 25 per cent of a club, or otherwise have an active role. Numbers are based on publicly available figures. Where possible, we’ve used Forbes valuations as of early December. Despite hours of painstaking research, inevitably there may be some omissions, given the sheer number of clubs in world football.…

JOSH KING FULHAM, 19 The Cottagers’ best piece of business this summer might not have been an incoming signing – arguably it was tying down King to a new long-term contract. In July, the midfielder put pen to paper on a deal that runs until 2029, preceding a season in which he’s gone from occasional sub to regular starter in the Premier League. He’s an academy graduate who’s been at Fulham since age eight and would have had his maiden Premier League goal against Chelsea in August, if not for a debatable VAR call. Still, his cool, composed finish at Stamford Bridge demonstrated he was no ordinary youngster, and that his role in the first team would prove more than a flash in the pan. King is a direct, attacking…

You returned to your native North East to sign for Newcastle in WSL 2 this season. Was that an easy decision? I had a few teams to choose from, but once I looked around, I had this feeling that I wanted to come home. I’m really proud of what I’ve done in the WSL and what I’ve achieved. It felt like the time for a new challenge. As soon as I made the decision, I knew it was right. Newcastle were in the fourth tier just three seasons ago. What are your thoughts on the club’s project? I’ve had a lot of experience with clubs trying to progress. I could see growth at Newcastle, where they want to go and what they want to achieve, but it won’t happen overnight.…

The perennial number two talks about seizing the limelight in Poland, tough times at Newcastle and winning the Scotland squad over with Hadrian’s Wall In November 2024 you were named manager of Polish club Lechia Gdansk. How have you found the job? Since I arrived, I’ve barely had a day off, but it’s been hugely fulfilling. At the time, the club were in the relegation zone with only two wins, there was a transfer embargo, threat of a points deduction and a lot of financial problems. At times I’ve felt like a firefighter, but we found strength in adversity, picked up some unbelievable results and managed to secure our top-flight status with two games left last season. Have you learned much Polish since joining the club? Dzien dobry! [Hello!] Thankfully,…

Few words are a greater buzzkill in the football shirt universe than ‘template’. Even the most casual of fans in 2026 will tell you that a bespoke kit is far superior to any template that a brand has handed out to multiple teams with as little effort as possible. As the interest in shirts has increased over the years, more and more people are not content with their team having the same base look as another, especially when they peer over their shoulder to see other sides enjoying all manner of custom designs. Despite this popular opinion, I’d suggest that templates aren’t necessarily a bad thing for the kit industry in and of themselves. In my mind, the issue is rather poorly utilised templates. When a manufacturer lazily rolls one…