Over the course of the last four years, Sadio Mané has become world-renowned while shining for Liverpool. He’s now a two-time PFA Team of the Year selection, a Premier League Golden Boot recipient, the 2019 African Footballer of the Year and a UEFA Champions League winner.
If you ask Lionel Messi who the best player on the planet was last year, he’ll tell you it was Mané.
After appearing at its first Women’s World Cup in 20 years and advancing to the quarterfinals, Italy has further established itself as a growing power in the women’s game by winning its first six qualifiers on the road to Euro 2021 (likely becoming Euro 2022).
Christian Pulisic might just be the most scrutinized U.S. soccer player of all time. Having moved to Borussia Dortmund at age 16, his career has been well documented and closely followed by American fans eager for a soccer savior.
But how well do you actually know the 21-year-old Chelsea winger? Here are 10 Christian Pulisic facts you might not know.
Pulisic’s middle name comes from his grandfather, Mate Pulišić, who was born in Croatia.
After swapping England's South Coast for Hamburg, Leo Östigard and Viktor Gyökeres have become vital to St. Pauli. Arriving at the Millentor within one week of each other, the two Brighton loanees have gained invaluable experience in Germany's second division.
Since arriving in the Premier League for a modest fee of just under $9 million from French side Caen, N'Golo Kanté has demonstrated his commitment to the cause by winning a trophy every single year he’s graced English shores.
It was that miraculous Premier League title with Leicester City in 2016, another league title with Chelsea in 2017, the FA Cup in 2018 (followed by the World Cup that summer) and finally the Europa League crown in 2019.
Players often play at the highest level for several years and then slip away into the lower leagues, away from the public eye, and disappear under a shroud of irrelevancy. See if you can guess which player this is from the clues given.
Clue 1: This midfielder started his career in Brazil. When he played for Cruzeiro, he was known as the “Blue Kenyan” because of his incredible stamina.
After a long time away from home, Mark Uth is thriving again in Cologne.
In the summer of 2018, Uth moved to Schalke from Hoffenheim, where a series of injuries saw him unable to maintain any sort of form. FC Köln manager Markus Gisdol, who worked with Uth for six months at Hoffenheim, decided to bring him to 15th-placed Köln on loan in January. Since his return to his boyhood club, no Schalke player has scored as many goals or provided as many assists as Uth (four apiece).
One year ago, Italian midfielder Gaetano Castrovilli was playing for Cremonese in Serie B with a transfer market value of just under $2 million. Fast forward to the present day and Inter is reportedly ready to offer Fiorentina $44 million for the 23-year-old.
Wisconsin native Andrija Novakovich is in the midst of an impressive run of form at the moment in Italy's Serie B. When it became apparent that his future was not at Championship side Reading, where he had spent five years, Novakovich shunned apparent interest from Germany's VfL Bochum and Dutch side PEC Zwolle for a deadline-day move to Frosinone in September.
Being able to wear the U.S. crest and represent your country playing the sport you love is an honor and the opportunity of a lifetime. The U.S. U-20 women’s national team is currently competing in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, at the CONCACAF Women’s U-20 Championship with a spot at the 2020 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup on the line.