China has big plans for 2017. The Chinese Football Association gathered in Beijing to go over financial details in hopes of transforming the country into a soccer powerhouse. President Xi Jinping is the country’s number one soccer fan and intends to have China perform in future World Cups, an achievement they've only managed once.
Real Madrid’s unbeaten streak was finally ended by Sevilla after the two played each other three times in just 11 days.
Keep scrolling for pictures and information about each footballers Instagram. Follow The18 for more lists:
Real Madrid’s hopes of winning the treble suffered a blow as Celta Vigo scored an improbable 2-1 victory in the Copa del Rey quarterfinal first leg at the Santiago Bernabeu. Real will now look to overturn the deficit on January 25 at the Balaidos in Galicia.
Zinedine Zidane has seen his total number of losses as Real Madrid manager double in the space of three days, although that speaks more for his remarkable success at the helm than it does any sort of crisis in the Spanish capital.
Three days after Real Madrid heroically set the Spanish unbeaten streak record by scoring at the death against Sevilla in the Copa del Rey, Sevilla returned the favor in La Liga action on Sunday.
One of the most beautiful things about soccer, particularly from an American perspective, is the absence of being bombarded by advertisements for a duration as long as the game itself. But when commercials are done right, they can become synonymous with the event and sometimes even more memorable.
Here are five commercials that made us laugh, marvel and feel inspired over the course of the last year.
What, you were expecting someone else?
Cristiano Ronaldo has won FIFA's 2016 Men's Player of the Year Award, as expected, beating out finalists Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann.
Congratulations, @Cristiano Ronaldo!
Winner of #TheBest FIFA Men's Player 2016 pic.twitter.com/6kNMWROFce
The FIFA FIFPro World XI, which doesn't matter but people pretend to care about anyway, was announced at the FIFA Awards Gala, which doesn't matter but people pretend to care about anyway, today.
It was, as it is every year, basically Barcelona, Real Madrid and Manuel Neuer.
Well, and Dani Alves, who played the first part of this year with Barcelona and the second part with Juventus. Here's the full squad:
Goalkeeper
Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich/Germany)
Defenders
Dani Alves (Juventus/Brazil)