fifa Page 7 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

In more optimistic stadium news, England races to host Euro 2020 fans (in 2021)
While the NFL begins to lick its chops about having full capacities for the 2021 season, and MLB try to find every break and crack they can to start getting fans in from Opening Day, across the pond they’re planning for big returns too....

It only takes Juventus a minute to give up the dumbest goal
It hasn’t been a vintage season for Juventus, who look like they might surrender the Serie A title for the first time in 10 years. Their pursuit of the Champions League the past few years has moved beyond obsession, which led them to pay $120 million for Christiano Ronaldo a few years ago. That has ...

US Men’s Soccer Team Can Screw Up World Cup Qualifying in a Whole New Way This Time
If you can believe it, World Cup Qualifying in CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football) was supposed to have started already. However, with FIFA canceling the spring, summer, and September international windows due to COVID-19, the North American region ...

FIFA Calls For 'Common Sense' Without Addressing Soccer's Ugly Racist Past and Present
It’s a bit overwhelming when you consider the scale of protests against police brutality and institutional and societal racism across the globe we’re seeing. There have been massive demonstrations in London, Brussels, Rome, Paris, Tokyo, New Zealand Ghana, South Africa,, and many other places....

Quarantine Video Game Club: Ducking FIFA Licensing Fees With 1989's 'Goal!'
Like a lot of millennial Americans, the first real exposure I had to soccer was the 1994 World Cup. But it wasn’t until four years later that I really got into the sport....

The North Korea-South Korea World Cup Qualifier Was Played In A Silent, Violent Haze
On Tuesday, North Korea hosted South Korea in the two countries’ first-ever competitive match in Pyongyang against one another. However, there were no reports on the game from inside the 50,000-seat Kim Il-sung stadium until Thursday. That’s because North Korea held the match under a media blackout,...

Tammy Abraham Says England Will Walk Off The Field If Subjected To Racism
Despite, or perhaps due to, FIFA’s ongoing and futile efforts to curb racism in soccer, England’s national team has decided to walk off the field during its upcoming Euro 2020 qualifying matches if they face racist abuse from opposing fans. That’s according to Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham, who said...

Israeli Government Bans Palestinian Soccer Players From Traveling To West Bank For Tournament Final
The FIFA Palestine Cup is meant to crown the best club team in Palestine each year, with the final pitting the holders of the Gaza Cup against the West Bank Cup champions. This season, however, the final of the tournament has been cancelled due to interference from the Israeli government. As reporte...

FIFA's The Best Awards Are The Worst
In what universe is Marcelo still one of the best defenders in the world? Not in this one, or any other where performances on the field or even the amorphous “club success” criteria apply. The only place where Marcelo could be considered a starter in a world’s best XI is one where nothing matters to...

FIFA Releases Meaningless Statement Condemning Iran's Ban On Women In Soccer Stadiums
An Iranian woman recently died from from self-inflicted burns after she was arrested for trying to attend a soccer match in the country, and her death has brought renewed scrutiny to Iran’s law that bans women from entering soccer stadiums. FIFA, an organization always eager to do the bare minimum i...

Hong Kong Soccer Fans Turn Their Backs And Boo Chinese National Anthem
Fans at Hong Kong Stadium turned their backs on the Chinese national anthem prior to a World Cup qualifying match against Iran on Tuesday, bringing the long-running pro-democracy protests to the sporting world, per the Associated Press. The fans not only turned their backs, but also held up signs wi...

Iranian Woman Dies From Self-Inflicted Burns After Arrest For Attending Soccer Match<i></i>
Sahar Khodayari, a 30-year-old Iranian woman, has died after she self-immolated outside of a courtroom where she was being tried for attempting to enter a soccer match disguised as a man. Khodayari was arrested in March as she tried to attend a match featuring her favorite team, Esteghlal. She was ...

Brazilian Referee Becomes Second Ref This Month To Stop Match Due To Homophobic Chants
While FIFA’s recent disciplinary code changes meant to address racist abuse from supporters in the stands, the updated rules have already been called to action this month to combat homophobia, first in France and now in Brazil....

FIFA Is Screwing Up The Women's World Cup
On Wednesday, FIFA approved the expansion of the 2023 Women’s World Cup from 24 teams to 32, ignoring concerns about match quality and financial investment in an attempt to capitalize on the growing popularity of women’s soccer. It’s a very FIFA move, as no entity is better at taking a good idea and...

Here Are Some Potential Locations For FIFA's New Headquarters
According to a report from the New York Times, soccer federation and bribe repository FIFA is considering moving away from its longtime headquarters in Switzerland and setting up shop elsewhere. The Times speculates that potential host countries could potentially engage in an Amazon-style competitio...

FIFA Puts A New, Useless Coat Of Paint On Its Anti-Racism Rules
FIFA announced changes to its disciplinary code on Friday, and the biggest tweak is a new addition to referee power that, in theory, could do much to help curb some of the racist abuse from supporters. Unfortunately, this is FIFA, where the theory almost never comes through in practice....

The Women's World Cup Has A Refereeing Problem
Despite what our lovely commentariat might believe, we here at Deadspin do not have a quota of anti-VAR posts to hit. If it feels that way during the Women’s World Cup, it’s only because FIFA, through the kind of casually negligent behavior that typifies its treatment of the women’s game, has put it...

VAR Has One Job, And It's Failing Miserably At It
The most common complaint against VAR—or any form of video review in sports—in one of aesthetics. If referees insist on stopping the game for several minutes to double check every key play, the thinking goes, all the drama and intensity and emotion of the biggest moments will be lost, and the celebr...

Verizon Media Group CEO Praises Yahoo Sports' Important Coverage, Like This Syndicated Wire Story
Verizon Media Group CEO K. Guru Gowrappan began his memo to staff today by praising Yahoo Sports for writing a story on the theme of the Women’s World Cup: equity. It was a nice thought, but Yahoo Sports didn’t even write that story....

The End Of Argentina-Scotland Was A Fucking Mess
Scotland just had to defend a 3-0 lead over the final 20 minutes of their match on Wednesday against Argentina in order to make it to the knockout stage of the World Cup. They couldn’t do it, and as a result will exit their first World Cup after just three games....