With Issue 24 now being sent out to homes across the world, we thought we’d give you an exclusive look inside the 116 pages that we’ve been putting together over the last few months.
As you may already know, readers are able to choose from five different covers featuring football superheroes at an early point of their career, all illustrated by Osvaldo Casanova. We knew we wanted to do something ambitious, and attempting to crystallise a specific chapter of some of our favourite players is the route we’ve taken, and a route we know you’re going to enjoy.
So, you’ve got Erling Haaland at Dortmund told by the people draped in yellow and black who saw him explode, there’s Lionel Messi slaloming through La Masia via the eyes of the man who made sure Barcelona signed him, there’s the story of Diego Maradona at Argentinos Juniors through his very first scouting report, there's the 2004 version of Wayne Rooney alongside the 2004 version of Roy, and there’s Ronaldo's breakthrough season at Cruzeiro.
Need more convincing? Here’s 10 other reasons why you should buy MUNDIAL Issue 24…
1. 100 YEARS OF FOOTBALL MANAGER
Romelu Lukaku a six-time Champions League winning manager with PSG? Eric Lamela a Balon d’Or winner? Ivory Coast winning the 2098 World Cup? If you’ve ever played Football Manager, you’ll know how addictive it is to try to take your team to glory while letting it take over your whole life in the process. Twitter king and dear friend Jonny Sharples played a century (100 YEARS!) of Football Manager as manager of Dinamo Dresden, Brighton Hove Albion, Hearts, and Celtic, and in Issue 24 reveals everything that happened along the way. Harry Kane, by the way? Oh, you’ll want to see what happens to Harry Kane.
Click here to get your copy of MUNDIAL
2. WE SPOKE TO THE MAN WHO SIGNED MESSI
Lionel Messi has completed football in the last month, adding the World Cup to a trophy cabinet heaving with every piece of silverware that football can offer. But everyone starts somewhere, and for A Boy Called Lionel written by James Bird, we visited Barcelona to meet Carles Rexach, the man who found Messi in the first place and, after organising for him to play against a team full of the older kids at La Masia, told the club they had to sign him. We also visited Hector Bellerin’s apartment in Barcelona to talk about what it was like to watch him from the years below, and hung out with group of fans who went to watch him play for the youth teams every Sunday.
Click here to get your copy of MUNDIAL
3. THE TATTOOS OF BOCA JUNIORS
You’ve always wanted to go and watch Boca Juniors, haven’t you? Streets swarming with people yelling “DALE BOCAA!”, the lingering smell of grills, the bumping beats of Cumbia, blue and yellow everywhere. In Issue 24, we asked Bomboneras’ Pancho Monti to let take us on a tour of a Boca Juniors matchday via the collage of tattoos on show.
Click here to get your copy of MUNDIAL
4. THE OLDEST CLUB (THAT USED TO BE) IN THE ENGLISH FOOTBALL LEAGUE
Dan uses the word globules in the intro to this piece on Notts County, and we think that’s good enough for the entry fee alone. The Magpies were formed in 1862 and have, until the 2018/19 season, been able to lay claim to being the oldest football team in the English football league. Now? They’re in the National League, fifth tier, and Dan headed to Nottingham on a rainy November evening to find out what was going on to try and get the club back to where they belong.
Click here to get your copy of MUNDIAL
5. THE STORY OF THIS CLAPTON ULTRAS STICKER
Simple. It’s a shiny sticker featuring Ian Malcolm from Jurassic Park brandishing a flare with the words ‘Clapton Ultras’ in the Jurassic Park font underneath. It’s from our friend’s ‘nonsense box’. Read the piece, and you might be able to work out who that friend is.
Click here to get your copy of MUNDIAL
6. THE DESCRIPTION OF HAALAND’S GOAL AGAINST PSG
Remember that goal that Haaland scored against PSG in February 2020? Remember the noise it made? That clang of metal? We travelled to Dortmund to speak to the community leaders, iconic writers, and every day fans who watched Erling as he went supernova, and Owen Blackhurst has carved out a story that, sure, shows how emphatic and exciting Erling was at Dortmund, but also analyses why he might never have a mural there when so many others do. It’s a very modern love story. Oh, and, watching football at Dortmund? Sensational. Just go.
Click here to get your copy of MUNDIAL
7. THE MOST CHAOTIC FOOTBALL TEAMS OF ALL TIME
One big list of football teams who were carnage-personified, who had managers, players, and fans that could turn on the chaos factor on a whim. And yes, Bielsa, the chaos man in chief, has a bunch of teams in there.
Click here to get your copy of MUNDIAL
8. THE DIEGO MARADONA SCOUTING REPORT
Ever wondered what it must have been like to watch a 15-year-old Diego Maradona? For the Maradona section of the ‘Portraits of the Artist as a Young Man’ cover story, Michael Gibbons exclusively uncovers the first ever scouting report done on Diego, and uses it to explain how everything you know about Diego can relate to it. "Extraordinary, effective and just dribbling. Excellent power. Extraordinary courage. Extraordinary efficiency. Very good shot"… and that’s just the start.
Click here to get your copy of MUNDIAL
9. LET’S ALL GO TO ICELAND
In every issue, we produce a travel feature that hopefully makes you want to go somewhere different to watch football. Tallinn, Bari, Belfast, Vietnam, Bergen. This time, it’s the turn of Iceland, Reykjavik, and everything that an island full of angry water, billowing geysers, and football has to offer. We’d jump on a flight now.
Click here to get your copy of MUNDIAL
10. THE CLUB MUNDIAL CARD YOU RECEIVE IF YOU SUBSCRIBE
Look, you’ve come this far, so you must be at least a little bit interested in what MUNDIAL has to offer. The new subscription service, Club MUNDIAL, gets you every magazine delivered through your door throughout the year for a 23% discount on each individual magasine. If you’re in the UK, that’s just £10 every three months. Alongside the magazine, you get discounts on loads of brilliant brands, exclusive access to events, and this *very* cool Club MUNDIAL membership card to show off to your friends. What’s not to love?
Click here to get your copy of MUNDIAL
As you may already know, readers are able to choose from five different covers featuring football superheroes at an early point of their career, all illustrated by Osvaldo Casanova. We knew we wanted to do something ambitious, and attempting to crystallise a specific chapter of some of our favourite players is the route we’ve taken, and a route we know you’re going to enjoy.
So, you’ve got Erling Haaland at Dortmund told by the people draped in yellow and black who saw him explode, there’s Lionel Messi slaloming through La Masia via the eyes of the man who made sure Barcelona signed him, there’s the story of Diego Maradona at Argentinos Juniors through his very first scouting report, there's the 2004 version of Wayne Rooney alongside the 2004 version of Roy, and there’s Ronaldo's breakthrough season at Cruzeiro.
Need more convincing? Here’s 10 other reasons why you should buy MUNDIAL Issue 24…
1. 100 YEARS OF FOOTBALL MANAGER
Romelu Lukaku a six-time Champions League winning manager with PSG? Eric Lamela a Balon d’Or winner? Ivory Coast winning the 2098 World Cup? If you’ve ever played Football Manager, you’ll know how addictive it is to try to take your team to glory while letting it take over your whole life in the process. Twitter king and dear friend Jonny Sharples played a century (100 YEARS!) of Football Manager as manager of Dinamo Dresden, Brighton Hove Albion, Hearts, and Celtic, and in Issue 24 reveals everything that happened along the way. Harry Kane, by the way? Oh, you’ll want to see what happens to Harry Kane.
Click here to get your copy of MUNDIAL
2. WE SPOKE TO THE MAN WHO SIGNED MESSI
Lionel Messi has completed football in the last month, adding the World Cup to a trophy cabinet heaving with every piece of silverware that football can offer. But everyone starts somewhere, and for A Boy Called Lionel written by James Bird, we visited Barcelona to meet Carles Rexach, the man who found Messi in the first place and, after organising for him to play against a team full of the older kids at La Masia, told the club they had to sign him. We also visited Hector Bellerin’s apartment in Barcelona to talk about what it was like to watch him from the years below, and hung out with group of fans who went to watch him play for the youth teams every Sunday.
Click here to get your copy of MUNDIAL
3. THE TATTOOS OF BOCA JUNIORS
You’ve always wanted to go and watch Boca Juniors, haven’t you? Streets swarming with people yelling “DALE BOCAA!”, the lingering smell of grills, the bumping beats of Cumbia, blue and yellow everywhere. In Issue 24, we asked Bomboneras’ Pancho Monti to let take us on a tour of a Boca Juniors matchday via the collage of tattoos on show.
Click here to get your copy of MUNDIAL
4. THE OLDEST CLUB (THAT USED TO BE) IN THE ENGLISH FOOTBALL LEAGUE
Dan uses the word globules in the intro to this piece on Notts County, and we think that’s good enough for the entry fee alone. The Magpies were formed in 1862 and have, until the 2018/19 season, been able to lay claim to being the oldest football team in the English football league. Now? They’re in the National League, fifth tier, and Dan headed to Nottingham on a rainy November evening to find out what was going on to try and get the club back to where they belong.
Click here to get your copy of MUNDIAL
5. THE STORY OF THIS CLAPTON ULTRAS STICKER
Simple. It’s a shiny sticker featuring Ian Malcolm from Jurassic Park brandishing a flare with the words ‘Clapton Ultras’ in the Jurassic Park font underneath. It’s from our friend’s ‘nonsense box’. Read the piece, and you might be able to work out who that friend is.
Click here to get your copy of MUNDIAL
6. THE DESCRIPTION OF HAALAND’S GOAL AGAINST PSG
Remember that goal that Haaland scored against PSG in February 2020? Remember the noise it made? That clang of metal? We travelled to Dortmund to speak to the community leaders, iconic writers, and every day fans who watched Erling as he went supernova, and Owen Blackhurst has carved out a story that, sure, shows how emphatic and exciting Erling was at Dortmund, but also analyses why he might never have a mural there when so many others do. It’s a very modern love story. Oh, and, watching football at Dortmund? Sensational. Just go.
Click here to get your copy of MUNDIAL
7. THE MOST CHAOTIC FOOTBALL TEAMS OF ALL TIME
One big list of football teams who were carnage-personified, who had managers, players, and fans that could turn on the chaos factor on a whim. And yes, Bielsa, the chaos man in chief, has a bunch of teams in there.
Click here to get your copy of MUNDIAL
8. THE DIEGO MARADONA SCOUTING REPORT
Ever wondered what it must have been like to watch a 15-year-old Diego Maradona? For the Maradona section of the ‘Portraits of the Artist as a Young Man’ cover story, Michael Gibbons exclusively uncovers the first ever scouting report done on Diego, and uses it to explain how everything you know about Diego can relate to it. "Extraordinary, effective and just dribbling. Excellent power. Extraordinary courage. Extraordinary efficiency. Very good shot"… and that’s just the start.
Click here to get your copy of MUNDIAL
9. LET’S ALL GO TO ICELAND
In every issue, we produce a travel feature that hopefully makes you want to go somewhere different to watch football. Tallinn, Bari, Belfast, Vietnam, Bergen. This time, it’s the turn of Iceland, Reykjavik, and everything that an island full of angry water, billowing geysers, and football has to offer. We’d jump on a flight now.
Click here to get your copy of MUNDIAL
10. THE CLUB MUNDIAL CARD YOU RECEIVE IF YOU SUBSCRIBE
Look, you’ve come this far, so you must be at least a little bit interested in what MUNDIAL has to offer. The new subscription service, Club MUNDIAL, gets you every magazine delivered through your door throughout the year for a 23% discount on each individual magasine. If you’re in the UK, that’s just £10 every three months. Alongside the magazine, you get discounts on loads of brilliant brands, exclusive access to events, and this *very* cool Club MUNDIAL membership card to show off to your friends. What’s not to love?
Click here to get your copy of MUNDIAL
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