Our tenth issue is a celebration of soccer’s sacred number and the grass-stained deities who have worn it across the decades.

Some of our best writers recall what made their favorite No. 10s so special. Along with the usual suspects (see the cover, an homage to Titian’s Bacchus and Ariadne by Michelle Devereux), we round out the pantheon with many other fantasistas who contributed to the myth and mystery of the No. 10 shirt. 

Also in this issue:

• What to say next time you hear someone say “What if the America’s best athletes played soccer?”
• We spend a day and a night with David Villa as he plots his next career move
• Russia’s benign oligarch, the owner of FC Krasnodar
• Jürgen Klopp brings the gegenpress to Anfield
• Abby Wambach’s last match
• What’s holding back the U.S. youth development system?
• Photo essay: English football before the Premier League
• The maverick designers who are reimagining the identities of clubs big, small, and fictitious
• The many issues facing Russia ahead of the 2018 World Cup
• The last amateur team to win the U.S. Open Cup
• Lots of little funny things that will make you laugh, we promise
• A lot more