Informational/Did You Know

How Cigarettes Have Been Stubbed Out Of Professional Football

When Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Marco Verratti was caught smoking while on vacation in Ibiza, the same alarm bells were ringing in everyone’s heads. As a professional footballer, it’s unhealthy, unprofessional and detrimental to both your career and your club. 

As we all know, smoking is detrimental to footballers in every way imaginable, but it’s incredible to see how the perception of this habit has rapidly changed over the last three or four decades in the professional game.

The Best Clubs And Most Competitive Places For Youth Soccer In America

Phoenix is strongly making its case as the best place for youth soccer in the United States. Although one should take many factors into consideration when evaluating a metro area for its ability to develop players, it's clear that the level of competition in and around the Phoenix area is as strong as any other place in the U.S.

The Grueling Process Behind Becoming A World Cup Referee

They don’t get the credit the footballers do for their performance each game, but referees have to be just as prepared physically and mentally as those players they’re chasing all around the field.

It’s a varied and strenuous training process. The best refs have to be fitter than a world-class midfielder, have to possess an acute awareness for the type of teams, players and tactics they’ll be observing, and they need to be ready to handle all that might be thrown at them psychologically when it comes to high stakes and other maddening elements.

Serie A Is Crying Out For A Player Like Christian Vieri To End Juve's Reign

Following their sixth straight Serie A title, it’s difficult to imagine the Italian top flight playing out any differently this upcoming season. Former Italian international and Inter Milan legend Christian Vieri admitted he thought as much when speaking with Corriere dello Sport on Monday.

25 Crazy Football Facts That Will Shock Your Socks Off

Football is shocking. It’s so shocking that people have been known to literally lose their minds while doing football. I don’t have to prove that statement to you, it’s just a publicly acknowledged fact. Here are 25 football things that’ll have you looking like Phil Jones defending a lofted through ball by the time you’ve finished reading.

25 Crazy Football Facts That'll Shock Your Socks Off

#1. Thomas Muller is only 27 years old. The six-time Bundesliga winner and 85-time German international is really just getting started.

10 Amazing Things That Happened In Soccer In 1997

The year 1997 saw many changes in the world. Bill Clinton was sworn in for a second term, the Teletubbies debuted in England and NASA landed its first space probe on Mars

The year was big in the soccer world too.

Here are 10 amazing things that happened in soccer in 1997. 

Black Vests Explained: The Amazing Tech Inside The Training Tools

With preseason underway across the Premier League, you're going to see a lot of photos of players training with their now accustomary black vests on. A few years ago, these garments were an absolute rarity, and, apart from some sophomoric comments about male players wearing sports bras (how dare you), it was generally assumed that they measured heart rate and yada yada yada.

8 Regions Account For More Than Half Of The USMNT Player Pool

During the World Cup next summer, United States supporters across the nation will attend watch parties in droves, frequent bars adorned in red, white and blue and flood sporting goods stores to buy new jerseys.

There's no denying that World Cup Fever is a nationwide phenomenon every four years, but the players responsible for the frenzy do not necessarily come from all corners of the country.

In order to get a better idea of what areas of the U.S. develop the best soccer talent, we looked at where current and past members of the USMNT spent the majoirty of their childhood.

Notoriously Dumb FIFA Rankings Actually Nail Iceland’s Ascendancy

When it comes to the notoriously ill-advised FIFA World Ranking system, there’s generally a lot to laugh at. Nations are cruelly punished by virtue of not playing (the United States, unbeaten since November of 2016, drops 12 places to 35th) while others largely benefit by playing lesser sides in meaningful competition (Poland is up to sixth after waxing Romania in World Cup qualifying).

When Canada Won The Gold Cup By Winning A Coin Toss And Upsetting Mexico

In 15 previous editions of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the outlandishly large trophy has been lifted by either Mexico or the United States on 14 occasions. The only other nation to have triumphed at the event isn’t Central American power Costa Rica, nor is it previous tournament guests Brazil or Colombia. In 2000, the Gold Cup was won by the world's 85th-ranked side — Canada.

The Canadians made a historic run to the final, frequently playing in a Los Angeles Coliseum that was at about 3 percent capacity, beginning with the successful navigation of group play via a coin toss.

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