No, you're not misreading it, this is the story of Scottland in Zimbabwe, and how they are beginning to dominate African football.

Scottish football is used to some pretty wild stories. In recent years, we have seen St Johnstone win a cup double. Falkirk gaining back-to-back promotions to the Premiership, and the league is becoming increasingly competitive with every passing season. This all doesn’t quite compare to the completely bewildering events unfolding in Zimbabwe for the new champions, Scottland FC.

Residing quietly as part of the Caribbean Islands sits a small autonomous country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Historically being colonized by the Dutch in 1634 Curaçao became a major cog in the Dutch West India Trading Company and played a huge part in the transatlantic slave trade. Curaçao, thankfully, has managed to move with the times. Slavery was abolished in 1863 and eventually in 2010 Curaçao became the autonomous region within the Kingdom of the Netherlands where it remains today.

With the 2026 World Cup edging ever so closer every day, the full list of competitors is almost confirmed. The European play-offs are yet to be concluded, not only that but also the inter-confederation play-offs (ICPO) need to be resolved.

The ICPO are a unique path to qualifying for the World Cup with six teams from five continents competing for the two available places that will gain access to the golden ticket of World Cup qualification. As Europe have their own play-offs to decide their final competitors they are not involved in this mini knockout phase. Instead, nations from Asia, Africa, Oceania, South America and CONCACAF compete for their last shot of glory.

Famously we have the likes of Swansea, Cardiff, Wrexham and Newport County plying their trade in the English football league system even though they reside in Wales. These clubs applied and exceptions were made to allow them to compete in a different football league to their own. This has come with positive results with all four of these clubs being at the professional level in England.  

The dream to top all dreams. How often have mates sat around in the pub dreaming of becoming professional footballers? Many players have represented pubs in local football leagues, many players have used pub football to play for a local league team, and some have even gone as far as reaching the lower levels of the football pyramid. What would happen if that local pub team performed to a level so high that they qualify for UEFA competition? This is the story of Bruno’s Magpies, the best pub team in the world.

The Island Games, a biennial event organised by the International Island Games Association (IIGA). A huge celebration of sports and culture, bringing many island territories to one place and competing in a range of sports from cycling to archery.

The games date back to 1985 and were held on the Isle of Man. All island members represent non-sovereign territories with sporting teams representing places such as Shetland, Ynys Mon, Saint Helena and as far as the Falkland Islands. The event runs for one week, with around 14 different sports being competed in, although the inaugural edition consisted of just seven sports.

In one of the most remarkable stories of the season, we have witnessed a fairy tale happen in Sweden. A story not dissimilar to that of Leicester City winning the Premier League. In stark contrast to Leicester’s historical title win, Mjällby AIF resides in the small fishing village of Hällevik, also part of the Sölvesborg Municipality in Blekinge County.

Welcome back to Niche Football Journalism. This week, we have a different kind of article. If you listened to the podcast from Thursday, you may understand why we have released this today. We’ve had guests on the podcast recently, and we tend to tell stories from all around the world that do not often get the light of day in the modern mainstream media. However, today, we are looking at something that has come out in recent days and that has caused a huge stir in the world of football. The 2026 World Cup ticket prices.  

This isn’t a rant about FIFA charging too much for their tickets. Unfortunately, FIFA is the governing body and is free to charge what it wants. The issue is that the average football fan is now being priced out because of this.

In years gone by, it has been projected that FIFA has become a greedy organisation and will go to extreme lengths to squeeze every penny out of the people who make the game what it is, the fans.

Now, the Champions League has kicked off for the 25/26 season, and the regular names are amongst the competition. Real Madrid, Liverpool, Barcelona and so on. Then you see the name, Pafos FC, who? You may be thinking. Who is this team that has made it to the Champions League proper?

Most young footballers dream of playing international football for England. Some forge long, decorated careers, while others international careers fade into obscurity. 

Let’s look at ten “one cap wonders” - players whose England careers were all too brief.

A mild night in the Jetisu region of Kazakhstan produced one of the most remarkable stories in football from the last decade. The once capital city of Kazakhstan, Almaty, brought fever dreams to life with the performance of the football club, Kairat. A nation with a league ranked 34th in the UEFA Coefficient rankings has produced an incredible feat by reaching the Champions League, League Phase.

This is not the first time a Kazakhstan side has reached the promised land. FC Astana appeared in the Champions League in the 2015-16 season, although they did not progress past the group stage. Historically, Astana are the most successful team in Kazakhstan, winning the title on seven occasions.

The Chinese Super League was a hot topic of conversation five to ten years ago. Attracting the biggest stars from the beautiful game, offering outlandish wages and incentives to bring the very best to the country. With all the money and all the attention globally, the Chinese Super League still has not been the success it once tried to become.

Referees are the mutually agreed-upon unpopular figure on the football pitch. Fans hurl abuse at officials at every game, players argue with a lot of their decisions, and managers will get in the ear of the fourth official. The majority of what happens is just an exchange of words, usually people telling how the referee got a decision wrong. All is forgotten afterwards, and everyone from both sides moves on to the next game.  

The ultimate football quiz is here to test your footballing knowledge—20 questions of football trivia. Test yourself and see how you score.

The “Barclaysman” is a term thrown around in general pub chat while watching the Premier League Sunday fixtures with a few mates and a few more beers. But what is a “Barclaysman”? Often used to describe a player with cult status amongst fans, not necessarily the best players, but one that embodied what it was to be a footballer in the Premier League during the Barclays Bank sponsorship era from 200 to 2016.

With that in mind, we have devised a starting XI full of prime Barclaysmen. Let’s take a trip down memory lane.

Russia, not a popular country in the current era amidst all the happenings with Ukraine and the threats to other nations. Thankfully, this is a football article, so we don’t have to get into the weeds with all that. Instead, let’s focus on the Russian Premier League, which has just kicked off.

The league consists of the usual names, such as Zenit Saint Petersburg, Rubin Kazan and the Moscow clubs CSKA, Spartak and Lokomotiv. All clubs that have represented the country on the European stage.

There are always those players who, when mentioned, strike fear into opponents. The likes of Roy Keane, a bruiser of a central midfield player who would leave it all on the pitch, and sometimes off it, to give his team the best chance of coming away with three points.

In a different vein, there are the likes of George Elokobi and Adebayo Akinfenwa. Both are extremely strong and use size as an advantage. Aggression, size, mentality and strong desires to win, all combined, can produce a somewhat ‘scary’ footballer. However, these are all traits and abilities used on the pitch. Who then is the most dangerous footballer off the pitch?

By now, we are used to seeing British footballers play abroad. Harry Kane scoring goals for fun in Munich, Bellingham lighting it up in Madrid, and more recently, a gold rush of players to the Saudi Pro League.

But beyond the headlines, there’s a wave of British footballers making names for themselves in unexpected corners of the world, away from the bright lights of Europe or the money from America or Saudi Arabia.

As football fans, we all choose a team and the majority keep this team close to their heart through thick and thin, and for many, through a lifetime. It’s the beauty of the sport. Internationally, there is the opportunity to support the nation of your birth, your ancestral nation or even the nation you reside in.

What if, though, your nation stepped away from the sport? To top this off, what if the people behind the scenes did not give an official reasoning for why the beloved game was pulled? Amidst all the controversy, a story emerges.

Ali Dia claimed to be George Weah’s cousin, tricked his way into Southampton’s squad, and delivered the most infamous cameo in Premier League history.