At the age of 32, David Silva has announced his retirement from international football after collecting 125 caps and scoring 35 goals for the Spanish national team. Silva was a member of the squads that won Euro 2008, the 2010 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2012. At Euro 2012, Silva started all six of Spain’s matches and scored the opening goal of the final against Italy.
Mbappé. Pogba. Griezmann. Giroud.
These are just some of the players who starred for France during its most recent World Cup victory, and they are now household names around the globe.
Mosaad Aldossary, the Saud Arabian better known as “Msdossary,” is the world’s best FIFA 18 player. Better yet, after a 4-0 aggregate victory in the grand final, Msdossary is taking home a quarter of a million dollars in FIFA eWorld Cup prize money.
Msdossary defeated Stefano Pinna (who goes by the unoriginal avatar of “StefanoPinna”) 2-0 in each leg of the final. Msdossary was the Xbox One champion while StefanoPinna won the PlayStation 4 division.
Croatia shocked most of the soccer world with its run to the World Cup final, although we here at The18 saw it coming. In order to prove that was no fluke, I'm doubling down on my bold World Cup predictions, this time four years in advance of the tournament instead of one. If you're wondering who the Croatia of the 2022 World Cup will be, you don't need to look any further than their neighbor (and historical rival) to the east.
To our British readers or anyone who happens to be on vacation over yonder, you might want to check your wallets for some Harry Kane money.
Alas, "it" did not come home, but football fans in the UK have something to be excited about claiming as their own. Micro-engraver Graham Short has snuck the face of England’s captain/World Cup hero on to six £5 notes, each worth a whopping £50,000 ($65,676), in honor of him winning of the World Cup Golden Boot.
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.
Qatar’s 2022 World Cup just can’t seem to stay away from controversy. First it was the allegations of bribery, then it was the deaths of workers building the stadiums (still an ongoing issue), and more recently it was the decision to host the 2022 World Cup during November and December.
What's clear in Ken Bensinger's "Red Card" book is that corruption was ubiquitous in soccer long before news of the FIFA scandal made headlines. That won't surprise many fans, but the details of how U.S. law enforcement broke open its case against FIFA and the extent of the organization's corruption are incredibly revealing.