Cultured Football #168

Making Austria Great Again. PSR Loophole. Six Copa Stars. Innovating in Football. Data to Fight ACL Injuries.

Jun 29, 2024

Austria are everything England are not – and never have been

By Barney Ronay for The Guardian

Whatever happens from now on, Austria have been one of the best surprises of Euro 2024, playing the best football of all teams bar Spain. Their success is down to Ralf Rangnick who, contrary to what was said after his experience at Manchester United, is actually a very sharp coach who can gel a team to perform way beyond the values of the individuals. In short, he is the exact opposite of Gareth Southgate.

Bonus Pick (1): A tactical deep-dive into how Austria play. [ ACHRAF LAMDARHRI for ACHRAF TALKS FOOTBALL]

Bonus Pick (2): How the soul-crushing, brain-rotting boredom of England has united all of the three lions’ supporters. [Tom Curren for SCOUTED]

Why Premier League's 'swap weekend' could be another PSR loophole

By Dan Roan for BBC

The biggest surprise about clubs challenged by PSR using transfer of academy players to get around the sanctions is that it has come as a surprise at all. After all, Barcelona and Juventus had already executed a high-profile transfer with similar intent when Miralem Pjanic was swapped for Arthur. If you’re curious to know why this is happening and what the potential benefit is, this piece is for you.

Six Under-The-Radar Stars to Follow in the 2024 Copa América

By Pedro Coates for Hudl

Given that English clubs seem to have REALLY woken up to the potential of getting young talent from South America, it is worth looking at those players who are likely to be breakout stars of the Copa America (and, yes, I know that not all of those featured are South Americans.

Thinking of someone who might enjoy Cultured Football? Let them know.

Share Cultured Football

Innovating an Age-Old Game

By Austin Cornilles for Butterflies

It is hard to innovate in a game that has been around for well more than a century. Yet Pep Guardiola has managed to do that thanks to a different take on some old ideas.

Women's Super League clubs unlocking secret weapon to combat ACL injury crisis

By Beth Lindop for the Mirror

With research indicating that female footballers are between two and six times more likely to suffer ACL injuries than their male counterparts, and with a number of high profile ACL injuries, it is clear that more needs to be done to understand why this is happening and how to prevent it. Data could be the key to doing so.

Bonus Pick: Given how most clubs view their women’s team, it will be interesting to see how the independent and highly ambitious London City Lionesses fare next season. [Tom Garry for The Guardian]

My promise to all readers is that Cultured Football will always be free. However, encouragement is always welcome. If you’re looking for ideas on how to do that, here are three:

Share the newsletter: tell people about Cultured Football either on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit or directly through email.
Buy my books: I’ve written a few books but two that I am particularly proud of are Echoes of an Italian Summer - a collection of little known stories from Italia 90 - and Il Re Calcio - a collection of stories from Italian football in the 90s.
Leave a Comment: Are there any articles you particularly enjoyed? Anything I missed? Other thoughts? Let me know!