November 2021
I have a new job! I’m a staff writer at ESPN, where I’m covering ... soccer. Unfortunately, the newsletter and podcast have mostly ceased operations for the foreseeable future. However, you can still subscribe to the newsletter, where I’ll be sending out occasional updates about the progress of my book and what I’ve written for ESPN.
October 2021
I’m writing a book about the rise of analytics in the soccer world for Abrams Press. It’ll be out in the fall of 2022. Over the past ... [checks notes, looks out window, picks up magnifying glass, looks at notes again] ... two years since I’ve posted an update, I’ve also written a bunch for G.Q. and FiveThirtyEight. Click those links to check out those archives.
November 2019
Sorry for the lull. Since I last wrote, I’ve become a weekly columnist for ESPN, where I write mainly about European soccer but occasionally dabble in the American game, too. My most recent column is about all of the things that Lionel Messi, the best soccer player in the world, can’t do. I also started a podcast called Infinite Football. Here’s the description: “The true beauty of the beautiful game is that no one really knows that much about it. Ryan O'Hanlon (that’s me!) attempts to demystify the world's most popular sport through conversations with various experts and novices alike.”
April 2019
Hakim Ziyech is the heat-check god of European soccer. I wrote about him for FiveThirtyEight.
February 2019
No Grass in the Clouds is going pro. I launched subscriber-only content for my newsletter. It’s $7 per month or $70 for a full year. Really excited about this!
January 2019
“Not using all of your subs” is soccer’s version of “not going for it on fourth down”. I wrote about stubborn managers for ESPN.
January 2019
A 20-year-old American soccer player was purchased for tens of millions of dollars by a successful and wealthy soccer team owned by a Russian oligarch. I wrote about it for Slate.
December 2018
I wrote about the looming possibility that all of the richest soccer teams in the world might break away from their own domestic leagues and form a pan-European SUPER LEAGUE for Slate.
December 2018
I started a twice-a-week newsletter — free to subscribe, for now! It’s called “No Grass in the Clouds”, and it’s filled with analytics-adjacent analysis and drive-by fashion criticism for anyone who’s remotely soccer-curious. Subscribe here.
November 2018
I wrote about Timothy Weah for the Guardian. His dad is the president of Liberia; he represents everything that American soccer has ever wanted. Also, he’s 18 years old.