Sportswriter for The Times and Sunday Times. Football, features, Europe, Friday column. French and German speaker.https://bsky.app/profile/jamesgheerbrant.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/jamesgheerbrant.bsky.social/post/3mog63h664k2qMarking Pelé, team bonding in war-torn Vietnam, stubbing your toe when your nation’s first ever World Cup goal beckons. An alternative, international history of the World Cup, told through the 48 different stories of 48 men whose lives converge there: https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/world-cup/article/48-countries-48-players-world-cup-through-eyes-of-men-who-played-in-it-0ztv97bg016 Jun 2026 15:58 +0000at://did:plc:e25klg7fo6a4rbewabv2s7ko/app.bsky.feed.post/3mog63h664k2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/jamesgheerbrant.bsky.social/post/3mnxcf64elk2hA few months ago, I embarked on a quest to speak to 48 World Cup footballers past and present: one from each nation at this year's finals. It was a mission, and a joy. This is what it means, through the decades and across the planet, to play at the World Cup: https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/world-cup/article/48-countries-48-players-world-cup-through-eyes-of-men-who-played-in-it-0ztv97bg010 Jun 2026 18:05 +0000at://did:plc:e25klg7fo6a4rbewabv2s7ko/app.bsky.feed.post/3mnxcf64elk2hhttps://bsky.app/profile/jamesgheerbrant.bsky.social/post/3mlgj7v37u22dSantos FC gave us Brazil's two greatest scorers. But whereas Pelé was gospel, Neymar is content. Parties, posts, poker, Bolsonaro...as he awaits Ancelotti's World Cup call, is Neymar a symbol of decadence and wasted talent, or a misunderstood modern icon? https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/world-cup/article/neymar-world-cup-2026-brazil-future-3thrv6lfm09 May 2026 15:02 +0000at://did:plc:e25klg7fo6a4rbewabv2s7ko/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlgj7v37u22dhttps://bsky.app/profile/jamesgheerbrant.bsky.social/post/3mldptyqais2hBack at Santos, cradle of Pelé, as Brazil's record scorer: it should be a fairytale. Yet Neymar stands for avarice and 'happiness squandered'; a possible hero, lost. As the World Cup squad looms, will he get one last chance to reclaim his story? Special report from 🇧🇷 https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/world-cup/article/neymar-world-cup-2026-brazil-future-3thrv6lfm08 May 2026 12:22 +0000at://did:plc:e25klg7fo6a4rbewabv2s7ko/app.bsky.feed.post/3mldptyqais2hhttps://bsky.app/profile/jamesgheerbrant.bsky.social/post/3mldptyqais2hBack at Santos, cradle of Pelé, as Brazil's record scorer: it should be a fairytale. Yet Neymar stands for avarice and 'happiness squandered'; a possible hero, lost. As the World Cup squad looms, will he get one last chance to reclaim his story? Special report from 🇧🇷 https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/world-cup/article/neymar-world-cup-2026-brazil-future-3thrv6lfm08 May 2026 12:22 +0000at://did:plc:e25klg7fo6a4rbewabv2s7ko/app.bsky.feed.post/3mldptyqais2hhttps://bsky.app/profile/jamesgheerbrant.bsky.social/post/3m3wlpgxtic2iGraham Potter is returning to Swedish football just as it sees itself at a profound fork in the road, between old & new, collectivism & individualism. Can he navigate that, while rediscovering the daring to be different which defined his own success there? Column: https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/article/graham-potter-sweden-world-cup-west-ham-jvgpqhj0k24 Oct 2025 09:46 +0000at://did:plc:e25klg7fo6a4rbewabv2s7ko/app.bsky.feed.post/3m3wlpgxtic2ihttps://bsky.app/profile/jamesgheerbrant.bsky.social/post/3m3cxujvulc22One of the big sports moments of 2026 could be the fall of the men's mile record. With a new generation in pursuit of that goal, I went in search of the soul of this mythic event, which spans continents and decades, but also resides in a glorious but dwindling club: https://www.thetimes.com/sport/athletics/article/mile-world-record-nnzhzsgk516 Oct 2025 14:30 +0000at://did:plc:e25klg7fo6a4rbewabv2s7ko/app.bsky.feed.post/3m3cxujvulc22https://bsky.app/profile/jamesgheerbrant.bsky.social/post/3lzqf6wbao22kWith 35 scored in 2 & ¾ years, penalties have become Harry Kane's daily bread, but each one leaves a trail of crumbs. Can he stay ahead of the keepers in an era when penalties are an information war? And could his single-kick mastery be a bridge to another sport? https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/article/harry-kane-master-penalties-nfl-bayern-munich-england-w5ctq8tkp26 Sep 2025 11:43 +0000at://did:plc:e25klg7fo6a4rbewabv2s7ko/app.bsky.feed.post/3lzqf6wbao22khttps://bsky.app/profile/jamesgheerbrant.bsky.social/post/3lzqf6wbao22kWith 35 scored in 2 & ¾ years, penalties have become Harry Kane's daily bread, but each one leaves a trail of crumbs. Can he stay ahead of the keepers in an era when penalties are an information war? And could his single-kick mastery be a bridge to another sport? https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/article/harry-kane-master-penalties-nfl-bayern-munich-england-w5ctq8tkp26 Sep 2025 11:43 +0000at://did:plc:e25klg7fo6a4rbewabv2s7ko/app.bsky.feed.post/3lzqf6wbao22khttps://bsky.app/profile/jamesgheerbrant.bsky.social/post/3lz6pwwqb5k2jSince the Premier League went to 38 games in 1995, there have been 8 instances of a team both scoring & conceding 60+ goals; 7 have come in the last 3 seasons. I wrote about how managers who invite fire with fire have come to outnumber the managers who hero the zero: https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/article/ange-ball-postecoglou-scott-parker-nottingham-forest-burnley-premier-league-7n5s8fbwr19 Sep 2025 11:07 +0000at://did:plc:e25klg7fo6a4rbewabv2s7ko/app.bsky.feed.post/3lz6pwwqb5k2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/jamesgheerbrant.bsky.social/post/3lyn42hyx4s2pFew careers are more carefully plotted than Xabi Alonso's. Few are more impulsively adventurous than Roberto de Zerbi's. Ahead of their first meeting in the CL on Tuesday, column on two of the finest coaches of their generation, and their fundamental differences: https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/article/xabi-alonso-roberto-de-zerbi-champions-league-real-madrid-marseille-6tz73jdxw12 Sep 2025 10:56 +0000at://did:plc:e25klg7fo6a4rbewabv2s7ko/app.bsky.feed.post/3lyn42hyx4s2phttps://bsky.app/profile/jamesgheerbrant.bsky.social/post/3lxmccm3asc2hIn England we tend to see half-time interviews etc as part of an unwanted Americanisation, but is football, as the the Lens midfielder Adrien Thomasson eloquently argued, too mistrustful of any opening-up, & not mindful enough of the TV audience? This week's column: https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/article/premier-league-half-time-interviews-have-purpose-but-risk-making-footballs-mystique-less-sexy-wbshdls6c30 Aug 2025 09:50 +0000at://did:plc:e25klg7fo6a4rbewabv2s7ko/app.bsky.feed.post/3lxmccm3asc2hhttps://bsky.app/profile/jamesgheerbrant.bsky.social/post/3lwyjabmu322gThis week's column is on Tomas Soucek, West Ham's robot lawnmower, who I think might be the most unique footballer in the Premier League: https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/article/tomas-soucek-unique-player-premier-league-5lf2xfz7322 Aug 2025 13:01 +0000at://did:plc:e25klg7fo6a4rbewabv2s7ko/app.bsky.feed.post/3lwyjabmu322ghttps://bsky.app/profile/jamesgheerbrant.bsky.social/post/3lwha5tb4ok2bNo England men's player has ever started at six straight major tournaments. Kyle Walker is potentially one good season away from that feat; but last season he seemed in terminal decline. Can Scott Parker, the man he came on for on his England debut, get him there? https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/article/kyle-walker-is-most-successful-english-player-this-century-but-unloved-7szn8smdz15 Aug 2025 16:03 +0000at://did:plc:e25klg7fo6a4rbewabv2s7ko/app.bsky.feed.post/3lwha5tb4ok2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/jamesgheerbrant.bsky.social/post/3lqzl4h73kk2nMaybe never in the great Hadron collider of fate have elite sport & quantum physics smashed together...until now. I loved talking to F1's new star Isack Hadjar & his scientist dad Yassine about how the lessons of a life devoted to the subatomic can build a champion: https://www.thetimes.com/sport/formula-one/article/isack-hadjar-son-of-quantum-physicist-with-equations-on-his-f1-helmet-pfjgqpfml07 Jun 2025 14:36 +0000at://did:plc:e25klg7fo6a4rbewabv2s7ko/app.bsky.feed.post/3lqzl4h73kk2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/jamesgheerbrant.bsky.social/post/3lqxf5emiak2nIsack Hadjar has been F1's revelation of the season. His dad Yassine is a quantum physicist. Their story runs through Algeria and academia, manga and Pixar, Isaac Newton and Schrödinger's equation. They told me about a plan for stardom rooted in the rigour of study: https://www.thetimes.com/sport/formula-one/article/isack-hadjar-son-of-quantum-physicist-with-equations-on-his-f1-helmet-pfjgqpfml06 Jun 2025 17:44 +0000at://did:plc:e25klg7fo6a4rbewabv2s7ko/app.bsky.feed.post/3lqxf5emiak2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/jamesgheerbrant.bsky.social/post/3lptd2gkoo22tScott McTominay was the ultimate 'Ask Me Anything' footballer. He built a fine Man Utd career on following instruction. Now he's on the brink of a Scudetto: no longer a player in listening mode, but one who has relearnt how to get lost in the game. This wk's column: https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/article/joyful-scott-mctominay-a-title-chaser-made-and-discarded-by-united-f08hq0zrz23 May 2025 09:30 +0000at://did:plc:e25klg7fo6a4rbewabv2s7ko/app.bsky.feed.post/3lptd2gkoo22thttps://bsky.app/profile/jamesgheerbrant.bsky.social/post/3lpbjc5jd4k2tI can't recall a final that's offered such a contrast in tone, messaging & narrative energy as Ange's pugnacious optimism vs Amorim's ascetic adherence to the truth. Rarely has one game felt so much like a referendum on how to be the public face of a club. Column: https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/article/will-postecoglous-positivity-or-amorims-realism-win-in-bilbao-d359fpj9v16 May 2025 07:34 +0000at://did:plc:e25klg7fo6a4rbewabv2s7ko/app.bsky.feed.post/3lpbjc5jd4k2thttps://bsky.app/profile/jamesgheerbrant.bsky.social/post/3loq3fg244l23Mikel Arteta has built a v good, highly methodical team. They win through control; when they don't, it's things outwith their control: a weird red, an odd ball, a keeper on 🔥. Are they too easily destabilised by the inherent randomness of football?This week's column: https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/article/mikel-arteta-must-make-his-players-tougher-not-give-them-excuses-0ttftzc6m09 May 2025 09:10 +0000at://did:plc:e25klg7fo6a4rbewabv2s7ko/app.bsky.feed.post/3loq3fg244l23https://bsky.app/profile/jamesgheerbrant.bsky.social/post/3lo7aj6ebdd23Jürgen Klopp always understood that football is a business of stories. How does his own story end? This week’s column: https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/article/klopp-liverpool-red-bull-prlmzl9gr02 May 2025 16:26 +0000at://did:plc:e25klg7fo6a4rbewabv2s7ko/app.bsky.feed.post/3lo7aj6ebdd23