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When Sepp Blatter, now enjoying an enforced retirement in his native Switzerland, looks back on his long and rather controversial career in football administration, he can perhaps point to the moment it all started to go wrong for both him and the organization with which he made his name. To that moment just over seven years ago, when he pulled the names of the winning hosts of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup finals out of envelopes on stage at FIFA's Zurich HQ. To his announcement in that moment to award the 2022 finals to tiny Qatar over the United...

Glenn has personally apologised to Jewish Leadership Council Comments came in relation to Pep Guardiola’s yellow ribbon Martin Glenn has apologised for offence he caused when referencing the Star of David as one of the symbols he believes breach laws banning religious and political imagery in football. The FA chief executive mentioned the Star of David in the same breath as the swastika and the former Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe, angering the Jewish community. FA chief adamant Pep Guardiola’s yellow ribbon is political symbol Read more Glenn was commenting about the yellow ribbon worn by Pep Guardiola in support of...

January 24 – Vietnam booked a place in the final of the AFC U-23 Championship against Uzbekistan defeating Qatar in the semi-finals on penalties. Akram Afif, who plies his trade at KAS Eupen in Belgium, opened the score for the Qataris from the penalty spot after Almoez Ali had been dragged down inside the penalty box. In the 69th minute Nguyen Quang Hai equalized after a blunder in Qatar’s defence. Bassam Al-Rawi and Ahmad Moein allowed Hai too much space. Qatar seemed to have won the game when Almoez Ali scored late on, but there was to be a twist...

The parallels to the political situation are beautiful, regardless of whether Catalonians are exactly the culture we love. Messi - small and humble, always smiling or concentrating, at one with life. Ronaldo - always whiny, petulant, feminine-metrosexual, narcissistic, rigid. If I ever have kids, may they be like Messi and not Ronaldo. Barcelona won this morning 3 - 0. Sweet!

The North American bid to stage the 2026 World Cup seems like a sure thing. From stadiums and infrastructure to commercial opportunities and organizational experience, the joint effort by the United States, Mexico and Canada appears to meet all the necessary requirements (and then some) to host soccer’s premier competition. The proposal would mesh more than a half-billion people from three countries that have put on 12 FIFA tournaments (men and women, senior and youth). With European and Asian countries ineligible to bid and South America waiting for 2030, the only challenger is Morocco, a country of similar size and...

LGBT fans will be warned about holding hands in public and other outward displays of affection when in Russia for the World Cup next summer. A cautionary guide will be produced by Fare – formerly Football Against Racism in Europe and now a pressure group that campaigns for equality in football – and dispersed to fans travelling to the tournament. Being gay is not illegal in Russia but the country has a law banning teaching about homosexuality in schools and there are numerous cases where gay people from foreign countries have been attacked because of their sexuality. Alexei Smertin named...

Italy's failure to reach a World Cup finals for the first time in 60 years was described as an "Apocalypse" by the nation's newspapers. Several long-serving players including Gianluigi Buffon, Daniele De Rossi, Giorgio Chiellini and Andrea Barzagli all announced they would retire from international duty after the 0-0 draw in Milan saw Sweden progress to next year's finals with a 1-0 aggregate win.

It may be the most magical place on Earth, but sports stars are not exempt from the law of the land at Disney World. Olympic medalist Alex Morgan discovered this the hard way earlier this month, when she and a few of her fellow professional soccer-playing friends were escorted from Epcot Center for being intoxicated and agressive on Oct. 1.

Twenty-eight years after the United States ended a four-decade World Cup absence with a stunning victory at Trinidad, the Americans' chances for the 2018 tournament in Russia ended on this island nation off the coast of Venezuela in even more astonishing fashion. Needing only a tie and confident of victory against the world's 99th-ranked team, the U.S. was eliminated from World Cup contention Tuesday night with a 2-1 loss to Trinidad and Tobago that ended a run of seven straight American appearances at soccer's showcase.

Twenty-eight years after the United States ended a four-decade World Cup absence with a stunning victory at Trinidad, the Americans' chances for the 2018 tournament in Russia ended on this island nation off the coast of Venezuela in even more astonishing fashion. Needing only a tie and confident of victory against the world's 99th-ranked team, the U.S. was eliminated from World Cup contention Tuesday night with a 2-1 loss to Trinidad and Tobago that ended a run of seven straight American appearances at soccer's showcase.

A group of American-based soccer players, including the USWNT and Orlando Pride’s Alex Morgan, were escorted out of Disney World’s EPCOT last Sunday for being impaired and verbally aggressive, according to an Orange County Sheriff’s incident report.

The biggest soccer stars in the world are known by one name: Pele. Ronaldo. Messi. The United States has never produced that kind of world-class talent, but a 19-year-old from Hershey, Pennsylvania, is poised to change that. Christian Pulisic is not only the youngest player on the U.S. National Team, he may just be the best American to ever play the game. This week, Pulisic will play with Team USA as it tries to qualify for the World Cup. For the last two years, he's been playing professionally with one of the most revered clubs in Europe. We spent time...

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - European soccer players should copy American footballers by “taking a knee” during national anthems to protest against racism, former World Cup winner Lilian Thuram said on Friday. In a gesture initiated last season by then-San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, several NFL players have routinely knelt on one knee during the playing of the American anthem. It is intended to call attention to what the protesting players see as a pattern of racism in the treatment of African-Americans by U.S. police. “I would love it if soccer players did it (took a knee),” Thuram told Reuters. ”I...

DONALD TRUMP'S son could be following the family tradition by writing his own headlines soon. Youngster Barron has just penned a deal to join MLS side D.C. United's Under-12 team. The 11-year-old is the president's only child with First Lady Melania Trump. And he has surprise ambitions to become the next Christian Pulisic, USA's star player, after joining D.C. United's roster. Paulo Maurer of MLSSoccer.com revealed the news on twitter with a screenshot of the Under-12 side. Alongside the image he wrote: Guys, @travismclark just txted me and this is not a joke: Barron Trump is playing at RFK tomorrow....

Dear John: When will the US understand that the universal sport of soccer cannot exist in our country? It is a poor man’s sport where no equipment is needed, only a ball and a field in which to kick it. It cannot survive in the US for three reasons: Boring, boring, boring. The most excitement is among the spectators who burn or stampede the stadiums or kill the goalie or referee — which is where the term “fan” was derived: “Fanatic.”

No es como comienza, sino como termina. "It is not how it begins, but how it ends." That's the rallying cry broadcast to their fans and the wider world by FENAFUTH, the Honduran soccer federation, this week via its Twitter account, ahead of a simply enormous World Cup qualifying clash with the United States that figures to have a huge influence on which of the two nations will reach Russia 2018. This is the very definition of a "six-pointer," a match that both sides need to win, but neither can afford to lose. Los Catrachos and their yanqui visitors sit...

The strange and fascinating world of the British spy known as ‘Chris Whatsit’ was unravelling yesterday. Christopher Steele was once MI6’s top spy on Russian affairs and lived in the shadows until being unmasked as the alleged author of the ‘dirty dossier’ on Donald Trump. He was dubbed ‘Chris Whatsit’ by his late wife on their first date because she could not remember his name – but he revelled in being a man of mystery. Now the 52-year-old is hoping to return to anonymity after fleeing his £1.5million home in Surrey, telling his neighbour to look after his three cats....

In late July, the Justice Department refused a request from the Senate Judiciary Committee — a bipartisan, joint request from Chairman Charles Grassley and Ranking Democrat Dianne Feinstein — to make two top FBI officials available for an interview in the committee's investigation of the Trump dossier and other matters related to the Trump-Russia affair. Citing the Mueller special prosecutor investigation, Justice stated "confidentiality" and the "sensitivity of information relating to pending matters" made it impossible for the two officials, Carl Ghattas and James Rybicki, to talk to the Senate committee that oversees the FBI. Grassley and Feinstein are still...

NEPTUNE-- A tweet from players for St. John Vianney's girls' soccer team posted on the eve a game with Neptune was seen by some parents as a veiled derogatory reference to Neptune's student body, a large percentage of which is black and Hispanic, app.com reported.

RUSH: Do you remember way, way back, we still during commercial breaks where people are on hold play the parodies of the group we started back in the early nineties called Keep Our Own Kids Safe, KOOKS, on the dangers of soccer. Well, guess who’s just discovered this and has turned this into a serious fundraising cause? Stephanopoulos’ wife. BREAK TRANSCRIPT RUSH: But just to show you what I mean when I tell you cutting edge societal evolution. Grab audio sound bite number 23. This is George Stephanopoulos’ wife. Ali Wentworth is her name. She was on the Explorer Channel...