In our latest historically charged hypothetical XI, Bantr‘s Ben Davies compiles a team to represent the length and breadth of the ancient empires of Persia…

The Persians certainly know how to knock an empire together. First kicked off around 600 BC by King Cyrus, no relation to Miley, the somewhat ambitious dominion became the biggest empire the world had ever seen. Before Alexander The Great rolled into town in 330 AD, their dominance at one point spanned from Egypt to India and pretty much every piece of land in-between.

Last time we personally checked in with the Persians was at the cinema in 2006 AD when their momentous army got their backsides handed to them by 300 greased up body builders. In a desperate bid to display bouncebackability, we’ve composed a Persian XI to win back the respect of Gerard Butler and the masses.

Our side consists of 11 players born and bred in land once governed by the Persians and now defined by modern day nations. From Pakistan to Armenia, Kuwait to Israel, our selection policy has mainly comprised of Ancient border research that Indiana Jones would be proud of.

The result is quite the cosmopolitan crew and includes personnel familiar, undiscovered and on the brink of making it big. Continue reading →