Rory Smith

Brahim Diaz receives the Golden Boot from FIFA President Gianni Infantino during presentation at the end of the Africa Cup of Nations (CAN) final between Senegal and Morocco at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat (2026)

"If you don't want it, I know a guy in America who'll take it."

I think I prefaced it by pointing out I didn’t speak Flemish...

Funnily enough, the original inspiration for the story were Aberdeen. The club were…not especially keen to help.

They’re all part of a pattern, I think. People crave live experiences in general now - festivals, concerts, comedy, whatever - because so many aspects of our culture now happen online. That’s especially true in football, where the active fan has been replaced by a remote consumer.

Swedish Soccer Prioritized Fans Over Finances. Now, Business Is Booming. (Published 2023)

But the best example is maybe Sweden, where a decade ago the clubs and the league made a conscious effort to focus on football as something you watch live, not something you consume remotely. I also wrote about that a while ago. www.nytimes.com/2023/11/19/w...

How a Small-Time Soccer Team Draws a Crowd: With Its Activism (Published 2024)

I don’t think what’s happening in Scotland is coincidence. If you look at smaller leagues across Europe, something similar is happening. This piece on Bohemians for the NYT touched on it from an Irish perspective. www.nytimes.com/2024/03/02/w...

‘It is an identity’: The march of the Scottish ultras | The Observer

This is a story I’ve been wanting to write for ages. It’s about how a generation of fans have brought the ultra movement to Scotland, and what that says about fandom, connection and friendship in a world where so much of life is digital observer.co.uk/news/sport/a...

The Unknowable Superstar 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Rory Smith Judge Bellingham's contentious England career and the end of PSR.

I am terrible at actively promoting my work these days, but I am determined to find a way to be better. So let's start with this, a column for @meninblazers.bsky.social on Jude Bellingham

the-correspondent-rory-smith-newsletter.beehiiv.com/p/jude-belli...

Don’t believe your eyes – inside Real Madrid’s world of a... Is the club’s TV channel harmless propaganda, or something more sinister?

Because he’s a proper journalist, @shteyngart.bsky.social twice spent a week watching Russian state TV to get a sense of how media constructs our reality.

I did the same, on a budget and various other professional commitments, with Real Madrid TV. It was weird.

observer.co.uk/news/sport/a...

It is an...ongoing process. Bear with me!

The joy of qualifying belongs to the few, not the powerful The Faroe Islands prove that while qualifying may be imperfect, it remains the beating heart of international football

I know everyone hates the international break, and that qualifiers seem like a procession of pointless games with an obvious conclusion. But that is only the view from the world's major nations. And football isn't just for the major nations. (Even if it feels like it) observer.co.uk/news/sport/a...

This is one of many great questions

This is fair. There is, regrettably, a lot more of the M62 than that.

You should be able to read all of it. Martin has done little to suggest he should stay. But I think there's a bigger issue of how quickly the fans turn as soon as the spectre of not overtaking Celtic appears.

Russell Martin caught in ferocity of Old Firm’s unhealthy... Rangers manager’s methods need time but that is one thing that Glasgow’s derby pressure never allows

A test for whether Bluesky is a healthier environment than Twitter: I broke my own self-imposed rule and wrote about football in Glasgow. I think the toxicity of the Old Firm/Glasgow derby is holding BOTH clubs back. I say this with love. observer.co.uk/news/sport/a...

The Champions League league phase is underway and Matchday 1 concludes tonight. But does is the new format conducive to more exciting games? @jonawils.bsky.social explains:

Libero: Libero 053: The Things That Matter As The Champions League Returns The Champions League is back. Or more specifically, the league phase, which starts with matchday one spread over the course of this week.On today’s episode, Jack Pitt-Brooke, James Horncastle and...

New Libero

Welcome back to the Champions League! Can anyone challenge PSG this year?

@jonawils.bsky.social
@jameshorncastle.bsky.social
@jackpittbrooke.bsky.social

pod.fo/e/32b5f5

The Correspondent Newsletter has FLOWN 📫

This week, @rorysmith.bsky.social touches on:

🤔 The PL's 20 most interesting players
💙 A Grealish for the Labubu generation
🌳 The English top-flight's wildest owner
🤍 Why Spurs fans might miss Daniel Levy

READ IT HERE: mibcourage.co/4gkf9b3

The Correspondent w/ Rory Smith A look at the places, history, humanity, and flavors that make football that most interesting of obsessions.

And if you like it, feel free to sign up to receive it straight to your inbox every week -- FOR FREE -- so that I don't have to remind you on here the-correspondent-rory-smith-newsletter.beehiiv.com

The Triumph of Transfer Culture 📊 Rory Smith on the 24/7 game happening off the pitch.

This week's @meninblazers.bsky.social newsletter tries to explore how transfer culture got bigger than actual football, and what that means for how we interact with players, how we watch the game, and who we are as fans.

the-correspondent-rory-smith-newsletter.beehiiv.com/p/transfer-w...

No, just at the mercy of word counts. I have lots more stuff to say about it, but limited space in which to say it.

The myth and mystery of Indy Kaila: the X account that ‘w... For 13 years an anonymous social media account has posted transfer gossip to the delight – and despair – of fans

I’d been fascinated by a mystery all summer. It was an itch I had to scratch. A question burning in my brain.

Was…was Indy Kaila now a legitimate news source?

An investigation into the man/men/myth legend who has dominated this transfer (gossip) window. observer.co.uk/news/sport/a...

The Correspondent w/ Rory Smith A look at the places, history, humanity, and flavors that make football that most interesting of obsessions.

As of today, I am back in the newslettering game, thanks to the lovely people at Men In Blazers. If you -- yes, you -- want to read the first one, and get a free map, then you should enter your email and no other personal details here. the-correspondent-rory-smith-newsletter.beehiiv.com/subscribe

It was not, but that sounds good. The book in question is Evil Genius, by Kurt Andersen, which isn't about PE and football but is (in part) about PE more generally. Sorry if that wasn't made clear. It's worth reading, though.

OK, yeah, that makes sense. But as things stand now surely the only team even vaguely economically capable of competing with Celtic long-term is Rangers. As good as Aberdeen, Hibs and Dundee Utd were at times last year

Libero: Libero 033: Can We Not Just Be More Like Wimbledon? On today’s episode Jack Pitt-Brooke, James Horncastle and Rory Smith discuss the Club World Cup, where James saw the start of the tournament, with Rory now in New York to see its climax. They as...

And the second is about what that means for all of the other sports, and for football itself. I wouldn’t normally say this about something I’m involved with but I think they’re really interesting conversations. pod.fo/e/2f80e6

We’ve now done two @liberopodcast.bsky.social episodes on whether football has grown too big for its own good. The first is mainly about why it is that one sport grew so much, so fast, in the 1990s. pod.fo/e/2f5917

“At best a middling journalist” is, in all fairness, a great line

You didn’t say an article from me. I didn’t cover that game for work, but a quick google of my name and Newcastle will give you a fair idea. I have no idea why you think my view is shaped by who I support and your view is not. This is now a pointless conversation, though, so have a good day.

Newcastle’s Carabao Cup win: part feelgood story, part PR triumph for dictator state ambition | Barney Ronay Newcastle United’s historic trophy is euphoric for fans and a significant victory for Saudi Arabia. Both things can be true

Not wanting countries to own clubs is a Liverpool fan trope? And here you go: www.theguardian.com/football/202...