Troughout his life, Hernández has been known as one thing: a soccer player. But last year, that identifier stopped being enough.

For Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe, the work is just getting started.

A year ago, he was one of the Premier League’s highest-paid players. Now, after angering China and refusing a pay cut, he has simply vanished.

It starts with something small, and you ignore it. I remember when Jrue and I first started dating, right after college, and one of the women on my club team made a passing comment about him. “Jrue is the whitest black guy I know.”

I remember when you were a little girl, you used to call yourself “peach-brown”. Peach represented your mother, brown represented your father, and together they made peach-brown, a perfect articulation at the time for what you were. The colors came from the crayons you matched to the skin of your parents, and although they were separate and didn’t mix together very well on paper, they were the best you had at the time. This silly little phrase represented what would become a lifelong struggle of coming into your own identity.

How Barcelona became the most successful—and most beloved—club in soccer.

A letter from the coronavirus quarantine.

A profile of Mo Isom, a former goalie on the LSU women’s soccer team now trying to kick for the football team.

The biggest stars in the world are pledging their brains. Young players are leaving the game with their destinies unfulfilled. The stories they tell spark fear and raise questions. And the science hasn’t even begun to provide answers.

The best women’s soccer team in the world fights for equal pay.

Meet the Edward Snowden of European soccer.

Deliberate isolation. Petty feuds. Constant turmoil. The Manchester United manager wouldn’t have it any other way.

Catching “the world’s most prolific criminal fixer of soccer matches.”

How the children of African immigrants came to control the destiny of teams in France and Belgium and what it says about European identity.

The Belgian forward’s journey to greatness.

Per Mertesacker walks away.

A profile of Chuck Blazer, “the man who built — and bilked — American soccer.”

Seven months ago, an underdog Brazilian soccer team boarded a plane to play the game of their lives. They never made it.

How Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian government has woven soccer into its grisly campaign of oppression.

Cyril the Swan was the mascot for a low-level soccer club in the UK. He was known for fighting with other mascots. And refs. And opposing coaches. He also saved the club’s financial fortunes. Then the nine-foot-tall bird became the prime suspect in a serious assault.

What it takes to defect from the military state of one of the world’s youngest countries.

The intricate dance between highly organized ultras fan organizations, the teams they support, and the mafia for control of the center of curva and the lucrative ticket-touting opportunities that come with it.

In the city of Rosario, some fans have evolved into a mafia with an illicit cash flow and a stable of hit men. A look inside their homicidal turf war.

How Sepp Blatter controlled soccer.

Billionaire Marcelo Claure wants to help David Beckham bring professional soccer to South Florida. He just doesn't want to talk about it.