Cultured Football #273
New Dawn. Best Badges. Pitchside Pictures. Championship Resumes. La Liga.
The New Dawn of Hellas
By Nejc Mravlja for Nejc Mravlja
Greece has struggled to recapture the heights of Euro 2004 over the subsequent two decades. Now there are signs of a new generation of players emerging, attracting attention of some of the continent’s biggest clubs. At the heart of this lies improving academy work at home and growing opportunities abroad, combining to give Greek football reason to look forward again.
South America’s Best Badges
By Ben Dudley for Scenes we want to see
You’ve probably heard about and seen plenty of the biggest clubs in South America. But do you know Club Deportivo Morón from Argentina? What about Manta Football Club from Ecuador? More specifically, have you seen the club crests?
Don’t Delete the Ugly Frame | vs Port Vale
By Brett Patzke for Pitchside | Brett Patzke
This is a delightful recent discovery. Brett Patzke is Wolves’ pitchside photographer who, it turns out, is also quite good with the written word. Here he shares his appreciation for the renewed freedom to get close to the game again - something possible in the Championship but not Premier League - whilst reflection on technically imperfect photographs that end up being just right. Fascinating.
Most people find Cultured Football through someone else. Be that link.
The EFL Championship is like a thought experiment designed to drive football clubs round the twist
By Ian King for Unexpected Delirium
The Championship returned this weekend with the usual belief that it is all up for grabs. With promotion carrying such extraordinary rewards, the result is a division where ambition and anxiety collide to bring about unpredictability. There are of course favourites but if history is anything to go by, holding tightly to those beliefs is a sure way of ending up looking foolish.
LaLiga 26/27 Season Preview
By Jordan Thomas for La Liga and Beyond
If you’ve been following Cultured Football this past few weeks you know that I’ve been including a previous or two in every issue. And I couldn’t pass up this look at the La Liga, could I?
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: Why stadium design is getting more outlandish
By Tom Ravenscroft for Dezeen
When I first saw images of Birmingham City’s new stadium (above) I assumed they were AI-generated concepts produced by a fan. Instead, it is the winning design. Yet Birmingham are not alone. Clubs - and countries - increasingly want to build stadiums that are instantly recognisable, which often means going for architecture that projects a distinctive visual identity.
