They call him ‘Mystic Mac’. A young Conor McGregor foresaw he would be helping to earn him megabucks as a pro sportsman. While the Irishman assumed that would be rippling nets on muddy fields, however, it’s actually within mixed martial arts octagons.

He’s been pushing boundaries ever since. He became the first man in history to hold two UFC titles simultaneously. His professional boxing debut, against Floyd Mayweather, is the second biggest-selling fight in history. Forbes listed McGregor as the 12th-highest-earning entertainer of 2018, while he's just come fifth on ESPN's World Frame 100.

'The Notorious', who attended the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ Final, billionaire strutted his way across a series of topics, including whether he could have made it as a footballer, Sir Alex Ferguson, Paul Pogba, Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

When it comes to expertise in Nordic football, few can match Lars Lagerback.

Having spent almost a decade at the helm of his native Sweden, taking them to the 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cups™, he then helped lead Iceland to their first ever major championship at UEFA EURO 2016. Sandwiched in between was a 2010 World Cup campaign with Nigeria.

Now the 70-year-old tactician is reviving the fortunes of Norway, having taken over in 2017. Topping their UEFA Nations League section has earned the Norwegians a long-awaited return to the spotlight as they prepare to start their EURO 2020 qualifying campaign with an imposing double-header against Spain and Sweden.

FIFA.com caught up with Lagerback to talk about his transformation of Norway - 2018 being their best year in terms of results since 1929 - as well as coaching philosophies and the challenge of facing his homeland.

Some trailblazers inspire a generation. There is no doubt that Patrizia Panico has moved thousands of youngsters to recreate her goals – more than a hundred of which she scored for her country’s national team – in playgrounds across her native Italy.

Now, she is blazing a fresh trail, as coach of the Italian men’s U-15 national side, one of very few women’s coaches working in an international set-up in the men’s game.

With Italy preparing to head to their first FIFA Women’s World Cup™ since USA 1999, FIFA.com sat down with Panico to cast her mind back to that tournament, where she – naturally - scored twice. We also looked ahead to Gli Azzurri’s chances at France 2019 and discussed her current role.

Just over a year ago, Phil Neville sat in a press conference to announce his first managerial role, and he was greeted by a packed room of journalists.

Scepticism was rife. Many tough questions asked. Among them: Why had Neville, with no history in the women’s game, taken one of the top jobs in the female iteration of the globe’s most popular sport?

A relaxed Neville has a determined steel in his eye when discussing this and other subjects at the English national teams’ superlative training centre in an idyllic English countryside setting.

Throughout an in-depth and wide-ranging chat, the former England and Manchester United man touches on those early doubts, lessons learned from his playing days and the thing that is dominating his mind at the moment: the FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019™.