Cultured Football #245
Frankfurt Bet. India. One Winner in Chelsea vs Strasbourg. Small is Beautiful. Football Tourism Paradox.
Ebnoutalib’s rapid rise from fourth tier to potential star
By Kit Holden for the BBC
Eintracht Frankfurt have made a habit of identifying attacking talent early: Randal Kolo Muani, Omar Marmoush and Hugo Ekitike all rose to prominence in Frankfurt. Their latest project is Younes Ebnoutalib, who in the spell of eight months went from the regional leagues to the Bundesliga via a goal-filled spell at second tier SV Elversberg. If recent history - and a debut goal - is any guide, the question is not whether he will develop, but how long Frankfurt will be able to keep him before others decide he is ready.
No games, no league and now no City Football Group: Indian football faces up to ‘global embarrassment’
By John Duerden for The Guardian
After finally taking root in the US, football’s claim of being the world’s game sounds more convincing than ever. And yet the biggest country remains untouched: India. In the world’s most populous country, a domestic league that was meant to start last September still hasn’t kicked off yet, big names are walking away, and the whole project looks increasingly chaotic.
Liam Rosenior’s Chelsea move and the breaking point for Strasbourg
By Matt Spiro for Inside French Football
Everyone knew that Liam Rosenior’s spell with Strasbourg was also an audition for the bigger job at sister club Chelsea. Yet Strasbourg fans have every reason not to like it along with the reminder that the potential of success for them matters very little for those who own the club: Chelsea is all that matters.
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Inside SG Sacavenense: The Lisbon Club That Lives for Its Community
By The Half Space Journal
SG Sacavenense is a club shaped by work, loyalty, and community, running youth teams, social projects, and a promotion push with the same seriousness. From academy pathways to players juggling jobs and football, this is a lovely portrait of how the game survives and thrives away from the spotlight.
The Football Tourism Paradox
By Josh Bland for Against the Run of Play
Football travel promises connection but can also deliver contradiction when it exposes tensions between locals and visitors. Hard though it might be to admit, there exists the reality that it quietly dilutes the very cultures it seeks to celebrate.
Each week on Cultured Football we pick the five great football stories from the previous seven days.
In Case You Missed It Here’s Last Week’s Most Read: As Big as Chile
By Nebojša Marković for The Belgrader
I stumbled upon this piece about a football club from the small Serbian village of Žabar, formed during the COVID pandemic and drawn into an unlikely friendship with a much bigger club thousands of kilometres away. And I’m glad I did. And I’m glad I did, even if there is a melancholic ending to it.
