Wolverhampton forward Adama Traoré is one of the fastest soccer players in the world. The 23-year-old Spaniard has clocked in at a blistering 23.61 mph in training and has reached speeds of 22 mph in games.
Traoré’s physique is what separates him from other speedsters like Kylian Mbappé and Mohamed Salah. The Wolves forward stands at 5-10, but weighs 159 pounds, the majority of which is muscle.
The statistic for goals in a calendar year is obviously a strange one since it combines feats from two separate seasons (the back-half of one campaign and the first half of the next), which isn’t really a useful metric. However, when looking at the top goal scorers from each calendar year over the past decade, there are a few interesting trends which speak volumes about the 2010s.
To coincide annually with The Guardian’s excellent list of the 100 best male footballers in the world — compiled by a panel of 239 experts from 63 different nations — we here at The18 have compiled our own list over the last few years. There are no experts involved, there’s no rhyme or reason for anything, but we do hope you’ll join us on this adventure into the bowels of the beautiful game.
We’re nearing the end of the decade and we here at The18 have watched a whole lot of soccer over the last 10 years. So to commemorate the end of the era, we’ve compiled a best XI of our favorite soccer players — and our least favorite soccer players.
While other outlets are doing Best XIs for the decade, we wanted to go a different route. Anyone can say Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were the two best male players of the decade; who really cares about that? What’s more interesting, to us, is who people choose to like and dislike.
There are many ways to define a club’s ambition. Perhaps the easiest is a straightforward look at which club spends the most money.
As the 2010s come to a close, we at The18 looked at which 18 clubs spent the most money over the last decade. No surprise, Manchester City is at the top having spent $1.71 billion. (Note: All numbers used in this article are from TransferMarkt.com.)
Sergio Ramos has had his best idea since deciding to pull a Panenka on Rui Patrício at Euro 2012. The Real Madrid captain said he believes there should be two Ballon d’Or trophies, thus eliminating that tiresome argument over whether the award should simply be given to the best overall player on the planet (always Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo) or to the player who performed most influentially over the strictly defined duration of a season (usually Messi or Ronaldo, but sometimes a little less clear).
If you're like us, perhaps you're not the most on-top-of-it gift giver in the world. Perhaps it's a few days before the holidays. Perhaps your nephew's birthday is coming up in a hurry and you need something – anything – for him. Well, don't worry. We've got you covered. So long as what you're looking for is a list of the best soccer gifts money can buy. If not you've come to the wrong place, friend, and we wish you the best of luck in your search.
Soccer is increasingly a young person’s game. More and more focus is being put on youth soccer to create the next Lionel Messi, Christian Pulisic or Mallory Pugh. So what do you give as a gift for the budding soccer star in your life? We here at The18 have put together a list of the 18 best soccer gifts for kids to answer just that question.
For fans of Major League Soccer, the offseason is entirely too long. It’s a point that Vancouver Whitecaps manager Marc Dos Santos was recently fined for expressing with some decidely colorful language.
“Players at the top level, they have three weeks, one month maximum, on break,” Dos Santos said. “I’m telling you, three months and a half of a break in a soccer season is Mickey Mouse. It’s amateur. It doesn’t happen in the world.”