The international break is coming up, and depending on how your club team is going this season, it could be either a major help or a major hindrance. But fear not, fellow fans, because UEFA has decided to make the international breaks a little more interesting.
The UEFA Nations League is the latest big creation by the boffins at UEFA, and it is aimed at making international friendlies actually mean something.
Have you ever noticed how a lot of internet articles love to ask a ton of questions in a single paragraph? For example a story on the UEFA Nations League will have a single paragraph with things like: What is the UEFA Nations League? What is the UEFA Nations League schedule? How does the UEFA Nations League work? Where can I find a UEFA Nations League guide?
Cristiano Ronaldo’s life is harder than you may think. There are days his six pack abs do not show off very well or a fan takes a bad selfie of him. Sometimes he does not even score for two or three games.
But this? Not winning what would have been a 98th trophy? Not having to clear space in your cabinet for another award. Now that, that, is really tough.
San Jose Earthquakes central defender Guram Kashia was honored with the inaugural UEFA #EqualGame Award on Wednesday for his public stand for the LGBTQ community while with Dutch club SBV Vitesse last season.
Kashia, 31, wore a rainbow captain’s armband with Vitesse along with other captains in the Dutch top division. Unlike most of his fellow captains, Kashia faced harsh criticism, threats and abuse back home in his native Georgia. Nonetheless, he took a stand for equality, despite calls for him to step down from the national team.
It's hard to imagine narrowing the shortlist from a field that also included the likes of Kylian Mbappé, Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann, but a jury comprised of coaches and journalists have spoken and named their top three: Today, UEFA announced that one of Luka Modrić, Cristiano Ronaldo or Mohamed Salah will be named the 2018 UEFA Player of the Year, an award given to the best footballer “irrespective of nationality, playing for a club within the territory of a UEFA member association during the past season” for their “performances in all competition — domestic, continental and interna
In what can only be described as absolutely nuts, Zenit Saint Petersburg defeated Belarusian side Dinamo Minsk 8-1 to win 8-5 on aggregate in its Europa League qualifying match, constituting the biggest Europa League comeback in 33 years. Dinamo Minsk had won the first leg 4-0 at its home ground, Traktor Stadium.
Latest scores:
AS Trencin 4-0 FeyenoordDinamo Minsk 4-0 Zenit St Petersburg
Do not read on if you, like myself, are still coping with last week’s announcement that David Silva and Gerard Pique are calling it quits with the Spanish national team. International football, it seems, may soon be suffering another casualty, though perhaps we have a couple years to prepare for this one.
As a neutral, I’m a big fan of this back and forth between Jurgen Klopp and Sergio Ramos. I hope it continues forever. After Klopp labeled Ramos “ruthless” and “brutal” a couple weeks ago during Liverpool’s preseason tour, Ramos duly responded by saying: “He will be wanting to explain not winning the final, but it’s not the first that he has lost. Some of us have been operating at a very high level for many years — I’m not sure he can say the same.”
FIFPro, the global footballers' union, released an official statement urging the need for a longer football offseason on Monday. The union’s worries concern 15 players who played in the 2018 Russia World Cup only to start their UEFA competitions two to four weeks later — urging the need for longer breaks.
Sepp Blatter’s former FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke received a ban appeal rejection on Friday, July 27. The 57-year-old was ordered by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to complete his 10-year suspension from all football activities. Additionally, the Frenchman is to pay an approximate fine of $100,500.