Human Interest

Barcelona hosted Chapecoense at Camp Nou in the Joan Gamper Cup in a celebration of the Brazilian club, which was devastated by plane crash in November that killed 71 of the 77 passengers, including most of the squad and staff. An emotional first kick from survivors Jakson Follmann and Neto had some holding back tears but when the match began, there was no holding back Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and the Catalans in a 5-0 victory for Barcelona on Monday.

July 8th marks a tragic date that Ajax will not soon forget. It was on this day that 20-year-old Abdelhak “Appie” Nouri collapsed during a friendly against Werder Bremen due to cardiac arrhythmia. Tragically, the young footballer suffered severe and permanent brain damage as a result. As of July 25th, Appie is no longer in an induced coma and is able to breathe on his own again.

On the pitch, Appie was named the 2016-17 Eerste Player of the Year as a member of Jong Ajax (the second team), and he was expected to make an impact this year in the Eredivisie with the first team.

Former Chapecoense goalkeeper Jackson Follmann, one of three players to survive the LaMia Flight 2933 disaster, shared an Instagram video on Monday celebrating a remarkable milestone in his recovery process. Follmann had his right leg amputated because of the accident, but he’s now running again with the use of a prosthetic.

If you needed further proof that Zlatan is royalty, or if you just wanted to see a picture of Zlatan with a giant banknote with his face on it, today is your lucky day.

He still doesn't have a team to play on, but Zlatan's Instagram remains as amazing as ever.

While debate has raged on in the States about the pay gap between men’s and women’s soccer teams, those across the pond just moved the needle on the issue in a big way.

Lewes FC, an English club based in East Sussex, announced on Wednesday that they will offer the same playing budget to their teams regardless of gender as part of their “Equality FC” campaign. This is the first time such a measure has been implemented for a semi-pro or pro team. 

Picture it: you're playing some kind of first person video game. You're almost done. The last level is situated in an industrial complex, but you're not sure what kind. The end of the level is through a big garage door. The final boss lies in wait. This is it. This is the moment. You push the button to open the door. A whooshing sound, then the door begins to creak open. Steam pours out of the opening. You strain your eyes to get a glimpse of what you're about to face. Finally, it comes into focus.

LOOK OUT IT'S ZLATAN!

Last Saturday, 30 women hailing from six different continents summited Mount Kilimanjaro before descending to play a 90-minute, 11-a-side match at 18,799 feet, setting a world record for highest altitude in a competitive football match. The event was setup by the Equal Playing Field initiative, a movement aiming to raise awareness towards the systematic inequality that women’s sport is challenged with and to empower aspiring athletes to challenge the social norms for girls in sport.

Ahh summer. Warm sunshine, no school, beaches, vacations, international B teams competing for second-rate trophies and, of course, weddings.

It’s wedding season in the soccer world and trophy husbands are being tied down by women left and right. 

Lionel Messi is tying the knot (and eating empanadas) on Friday, so a couple English Premier League stars got hitched this past weekend so as not to be overshadowed by he-who-overshadows-everything in soccer.

Kristen Hamilton couldn’t believe it: less than three minutes into her first career start in the NWSL, the high press of the NC Courage paid off when teammate Sam Mewis played her in to slot past the keeper.

Then, 10 minutes later, she doubled her team’s advantage as the ball fell to her feet after a scramble in the box and she made no mistake slamming it home for her second career goal.

“I almost don’t have words to describe it because it’s so different than what I’m used to,” Hamilton told The18.com this week.