Unseen photographs show how football united WW1 troops

A series of largely unseen photographs visualise the impact football had on the morale of troops from Allied forces during the First World War.

The images from the archives of the Imperial War Museum, which were discovered as part of a project by the Open University, show the sharing of a common pastime by troops of different nationalities between 1914 and 1918.

The release of the photographs comes at a time of commemorations for the 100 year anniversary of the first Christmas Truce football match in 1914.