Who is Henri Saivet? The average football fan would be forgiven for not knowing who this all-but-forgotten footballer is. The more eagle-eyed viewer however might remember the name and his story, particularly his time in Newcastle.

A Premier League and International footballer purchased for a reported £5 million in 2016? Why doesn’t everyone remember Henri Saivet?

How can it be that the world’s largest island has a footballing history and culture that next to nobody knows anything about? Greenland, unlike the name suggests, is not very green, in fact, the island is snow-covered and consistently exists with extremely cold weather conditions.

Brunei Darussalam, ask your friends, colleagues and acquaintances and see how many of them know anything about this tiny nation. Many probably couldn’t even point it out to you on a map or would even recognise the flag of the nation, so how is this oil-rich country with strong religious ties so unknown to many?

Football, an art form played on grass, is a display of sporting excellence respected and enjoyed around the world, a sport which anyone can love. As a writer from the United Kingdom, I see football through an almost romantic lens.

I see the good areas of the game, we all have our favourite teams and players, we discuss with friends and have a laugh at each other’s expense when results go against our own or our friend’s team.

What if it wasn’t just laughs, if it resulted in more than that, unpleasant verbal interactions, physical altercations, violence and in some cases death?

Serbia, a footballing nation renowned for hooliganism and die-hard fans, you would have seen Champions League and Europa League games on the screen from the country and the first thing you would see is, more than likely, pyrotechnics and a hostile crowd.

Often described as the most dangerous place to travel for an away fan, Serbian football has a dark secret hidden away. This is the story of how a warlord dictated the league system and won.

The Shetland Islands, an archipelago belonging to Scotland and north of the mainland, is a place with a rich historical past more associated with the Nords than the Scots and populated with people who would much rather identify themselves as Shetlanders over Scottish.

A group of islands with an estimated population of 23,000, long cold winters and short warm summers, but what is the story behind the football on the islands?

The 2026 World Cup is now only two years away and already in some regions of the globe qualification for the tournament has begun, Africa, Asian and South America (Conmebol) have played numerous games with the usual suspects leading the way in most stages.

The likes of Argentina, Egypt and Japan currently sitting top of their respective groups. With this tournament to be like no other, the format expanding from 32 teams up to 48, but what does this mean?

What is the most impressive rise of a football team climbing through their respective nations league system? A quick answer would be that of Luton Town currently playing in the Premier League having been sat in the non-league system as recently as the 13/14 season, or perhaps AFC Bournemouth also playing in the Premier League who in 2009 were playing in League 2.

Both respectively excellent climbs through the divisions, but are they really that impressive? What if there was a team that had climbed up from the 4th tier of football in their nation, up to the top league? Stopping to pursue a European football opportunity whilst in the third tier?

Who were the great talents that plied their trade in Italian football over the last 20-30 years? A lot of arguments will be made for the likes of Francesco Totti, Paulo Maldini, Pavel Nedved, Ronaldo Nazario, the list goes on.

How about those talents that never quite made it because of outside factors, the big name that springs to mind here is Adriano. If one was to sit down for an hour and rattle off names from this era a list of world-beaters can be made.

What if we look away from the top teams in Italy and instead cast our eyes to the lower half of Serie A and below? A small percentage of people may have heard this name, and one look on YouTube a discovery of talent may surprise many; this is the story of Davide Moscardelli.

We’ve all heard of David against Goliath, well this story focuses on David’s younger brother and how he accepted a challenge to compete with the rest of the European Continent. This is the story of Klaksvíkar Ítróttarfelag (KÍ). A small Faroese fishing town with a passion for football and a desire to mix it with the best Europe has to offer.

Norway, is famous for the Northern Lights, the beautiful coastlines, or perhaps the cold weather. Whatever the case you will know something about this Scandinavian country.

What might become of interest to some people, though, is the football league and how two teams playing out from within the Arctic Circle are leading a charge to the top of the Eliteserien and setting their eyes on European football and glory.

t’s the year 2008, football continues its growth throughout the world, the money is starting to become astronomical, and the stories are of minnows fighting giants but none could have predicted what was occurring in Eastern Europe.

The year of Robinho to Manchester City, Berbatov to the red side of Manchester, Spain winning the 2008 European Championship and little Havant and Waterlooville taking the lead twice in an FA Cup game against Liverpool. The story that takes the interest of this writer though is of an unknown quantity coming out of Moldovan football. A teenage ‘Sensation’ going by the name Masal Bugduv.

Sat in the local watering hole on a Saturday evening watching the 5:30 pm kick-off with your friends, reminiscing over some obscure footballers bringing with them the happy memories of times gone by. The likes of Adel Taraabt, Hatem Ben Arfa and the one-season wonder Michu, are all skilful players and almost untouchable on their day.

Suddenly somebody mentions that name, ‘Rory Delap’, and abruptly there’s a chill in the air, the fear of facing one of those long, flat, direct throws into your team’s penalty area filling you with despair and angst. Nobody knew what was about to unfold.

This got me thinking, do my friends know about the man with the world record throw in football? I mention the name and I am greeted with looks of confusion. Nobody had heard of Alireza Beiranvand.