Digging Deep

Who was the best Brazilian footballer of all time? Easy - Pelé. Argentina? Maradona or Messi. Portugal? Ronaldo. But who was the greatest Jewish footballer ever? That's a question to send even the most historically literate football nerds into an uncharacteristic silence. And yet, before the Holocaust, Jewish talent was at the very heart of European football. Jews were among the superstar players who drew tens of thousands to stadiums - as well as the visionary coaches revolutionising tactics, t