World Cup Wonderland

FIFA World Cup The finest players in the world sometimes don’t quite manage to produce their best on the biggest stage of all. Others seem fired up by the global attention, playing in ways they never could for their club. Here are 25 of the tournament greats...

World Cup 1986 Lineker won the Golden Boot at Mexico 86 with six goals for England. FourFourTwo went through the photo album with him...

World Cup Wonderland It's just a number, right? Barney Lane on the dozen old-timers who'll be looking to prove they still have plenty to offer in Russia this summer

World Cup 1986 It's been 16 years since Scotland graced a major international tournament, but there was a time the Tartan Army were regular globe-trotters. Yet even in those relative glory days, things didn't always go to plan. Sam Rowe explains...

World Cup 1982 Platini, Socrates and Zoff all rocked Spain in '82 - but who was the No.1 performer? Jonathan Wilson runs through the stars that made the tournament so memorable

Back of the Net Low scoring, cynicism, red cards and endless penalty shootouts mean Italia '90 is considered by most people to be the worst World Cup ever. Which just goes to show that most people are idiots...

World Cup 1998 It all ended in tears for the Scots – as it usually does – but before that there was Brazil, a Burley goal... and lots of blond

England As England jet off to Russia for their imminent Repino arrival, Richard Edwards regales the Three Lions' previous World Cup hideouts

World Cup 1982 The best, worst and most shocking matches of the 1982 World Cup...

FIFA World Cup Whoever eventually misses out on Russia 2018, they’ll have to go some way to match these jaw-dropping omissions