Hypothetical XI #6: Multinational football

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When creating a line-up of the best players world football currently has to offer, international squads and club sides just can’t cut it. Greg Johnson takes a look at the possibility of a multi-national football hypothetical XI…

National squads have always represented a “best of” selection of club football, yet the teams at the top of the game’s elite domestic leagues can also be considered as greatest hits line-ups made up of international stars. Clubs and countries cherry pick players from limited groups, narrowed down either by nationality or availability, contract or price. Continue reading

Hypothetical XI #5 – The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

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Christopher Lash provides a look at a team composed of members from the old Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth…

I realise that by even starting this piece I have tumbled headlong into the world of football geekdom but I suppose there are worse things to fall into. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was an enormous realm whose star shone brightly from the mid-16th century to the end of the 18th century. Approximately twice the size of modern Spain, the Commonwealth at one point stretched across the territories of eight modern states in Central and Eastern Europe.

It was a state that was characterised by high levels of political participation, the so-called ‘Noble republic’ with an elected monarchy. The Commonwealth was also renowned for its religious tolerance.  Here Roman, Armenian and Greek Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Eastern Orthodox believers and Muslims lived side by side, an island of relative harmony at a time when Europe was tearing itself apart in a series of fierce religious wars. Continue reading

Hypothetical XI #4 – Papal States

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Philippa Booth brings the Papal XI…

Pope Francis is a fan of CA San Lorenzo in Buenos Aires, so now he has relocated, it seemed only fair to put together a Hypothetical XI for him. Squad selection and eligibility issues mean that the Vatican City national team isn’t very good, and Francis deserves better.

The Papal States were a band of territories across the middle of what we now know as Italy, under the sovereign rule of the Papacy, and constituting the temporal, rather than spiritual, power of the office. Thank you Wikipedia. Continue reading

Hypothetical XI #3 – The Viking XI

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Josh Millar and Freddie Harding from Midfield Generals put forward their ‘Viking XI’ of Scandinavian players…

It’s a known fact that the scariest thing in the world is a big bastard with a beard running towards you before attempting to maim you with an axe. So why not put a team of them together and make them play football? Granted a lot of these players aren’t actually that nasty. But we think that there’s enough talent in this side to give some teams a spanking. Continue reading

Hypothetical XI #2 – The British Commonwealth

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In our second installment of the Hypothetical XIs series, Pete Starr concocts a Commonwealth side with a few surprises…

At its height the British Empire was the largest ever accumulated, encompassing almost a quarter of the earth’s total area and about 1/5 of the world’s population. We had fingers in pies in every continent on the ruddy planet and when people started to get a bit eggy about the whole thing we created a nice friendly Commonwealth. Continue reading

Hypothetical XI #1 – Central America

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In the first part of a new series on Hypothetical XIs, Mike McGrew asks what if the United Provinces of Central America were still around together…

The short-lived United Provinces of Central America existed for about two decades in the middle of the 19th century. It comprised the countries of Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Costa Rica. Who would start for a reconstituted UPCA?  Continue reading