Art can be created from anything and about anything. So how can it connect with football? Think of the 2026 world cup away jersey of the Belgian team, which is inspired by the artist René Magritte. It’s not only connected through the jersey and its design, but also through murals and paintings. There are murals depicting iconic moments and players around the stadiums, as well as paintings of those moments. It connects two different worlds: the precise art world and the football world. Art can also make you feel closer to your club, even if you’re miles away.
This is also the case for a group of Pakistani miniature artists. Sonia and Asif Ahmed are die-hard Liverpool fans who have created a Liverpool pictorial history comprising nine paintings. This is their way of showing their love and passion for the club. We had the opportunity to ask Asif Ahmed, one of the artists, some questions to learn more about their working methods and sources of inspiration.
- Can you introduce yourself and your initiative?
- What is your personal relation to football? How, when and why did you yourself fall in love with this game?
- Which creative or artistic practices have inspired you? Please (if possible) share some examples.
- What is currently your work with this initiative?
- Where do you hope the work is going? What is needed to reach more people?
- Why do you think football and imagination work so well together?
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Can you introduce yourself and your initiative?
We are an architect and a miniature painter united by a lifelong devotion to Liverpool Football Club. This series of nine paintings traces the club’s origins, emblematic changes, triumphs, and tragedies through a visual language that blends architectural composition with delicate, narrative detail. Each piece is a chapter: a study of identity, memory, and the rituals that bind fans across distance and time. Together these works are both homage and personal archive — a shared history rendered in color, line, and texture.
What is your personal relation to football? How, when and why did you yourself fall in love with this game?
I grew up where cricket was the dominant sport, but I fell in love with football as soon as I could kick a ball. I started playing at school when I was five or six and kept improving until I earned a place at the national U16 trials. I passed those trials, but in my region football wasn’t seen as a viable profession, so I turned my focus to studies. Even so, the game never left me.
Since I was eight I’ve been a devoted Liverpool fan. Back then it was difficult to find news or watch matches where I lived, yet I managed to follow the club through whatever channels I could. That effort and loyalty taught me what passion really means: it’s not only about success on the field but about the way the game shapes your moods, your friendships, and your sense of purpose. Football remains my definition of love and passion.
Which creative or artistic practices have inspired you? Please (if possible) share some examples.
Rooted in the imperial ateliers of the Mughal courts and informed by contemporary reworkings of the miniature tradition, this series of nine paintings maps Liverpool Football Club’s history through a language of meticulous craft and layered narrative. Using wasli supports, squirrel-hair brushwork, and natural pigments alongside architectural composition and intimate portraiture, we translate stadium rituals, emblematic moments, and collective memory into small-scale tableaux. Each panel is both archive and devotion: a study of identity where the iconography of a football club meets the Ornament, Pattern, and Humanism of Mughal painting.
What is currently your work with this initiative?
We have created nine miniature paintings that depict the history of Liverpool FC — the first time this rare, detailed, and time‑intensive style has been applied to football imagery. Our aim is to honor the craft of Mughal miniature painting while bringing it into dialogue with contemporary sporting culture. This project is both homage and innovation, and we plan to expand it to other footballing themes in the future.
Where do you hope the work is going? What is needed to reach more people?
This is the first time Mughal miniature painting has been used to depict football history. Our nine‑panel Liverpool FC series is both a revival of a rare craft and a new category of sports art. We aim to exhibit these works to audiences who value both heritage and football culture, and to expand the series to other footballing themes.
Why do you think football and imagination work so well together?
As Bill Shankly once said “Football is not a matter of life and death its much more than that ” For us Football itself is the definition of passion and commitment to the very last moment so for me if commitment is strong than you can imagine to achieve any glory its just like the struggles and triumphs of life. Football is not just a sport it’s a canvas. Imagination turns a simple game into art, culture, and identity.
The art technique used is called Mughal painting. This detailed, small-scale art form was used in India between the 16th and 19th centuries. Like Ahmed and Asif, artists used squirrel-hair brushes and natural pigments. It was used for book illustrations or single portraits.
The LFC Miniature Project is a new way to connect art and football. It allows people to express their love for football by using their talents such as art. Despite being miles away from the club, participants express their love for it through their heritage. It’s an example of what could happen if sport, art, and heritage came together more often.
Thinking Points
Educators working with young people to study football as a culture can use this article to explore the following questions:
- Which forms of artistic expression do you find of your favorite football club?
- Why are artistic forms so fitting for football?
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Check out more about Asif’s miniature art work on his Instagram page.
Photo Gallery
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