How Morocco became a burgeoning football superpower

With its clay terraces, the ochre-coloured Stade El Harti in Marrakech’s bustling Gueliz district is a venue that neatly demonstrates the transformation in Moroccan football over the past decade. Until 2010, it was the 10,000-capacity home to Kawkab Athletique Club de Marrakech, a middle-ranking side who could not wait to move to a 45,000-seater stadium … Read more

Mykhailo Mudryk doping test ‘a dagger to the heart of Ukrainian football’

It was only six months into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine when, on a balmy September evening in eastern Germany, I came across Mykhailo Mudryk shortly after midnight. This was September 2022 and Mudryk was by then an emerging talent for the Ukrainian champions, Shakhtar Donetsk. He scored and was the team’s major attacking threat in … Read more