Without warning, the Iranian Football Federation made 3,500 tickets for Iran’s World Cup qualifier against Cambodia on Thursday available to women, essentially permitting women to attend a men’s soccer match for the first time in 40 years.
Through social media, women found out about the tickets anyway, and within minutes they were all gone, Reuters reported Friday.
ESPN announced this week it had obtained the U.S. English-language Bundesliga TV rights, starting in the 2020-21 season.
It’s been nearly three years since the LaMia Flight 2933 disaster claimed the lives of 71 people, including 19 members of the Chapecoense soccer team. Of the six surviving passengers of the flight, three were Chapecoense players: goalkeeper Jakson Follmann, center back Neto and left back Alan Ruschel.
Yesterday, fans of Moroccan side Raja Club Athletic showed the world that soccer is more than watching two teams duke it out on the field. Supporters came in droves to the home of fellow fan Mohammed Fahd Aldrafip, who has been unable to attend matches due to the severity of his cancer. The fans proceeded to sing through all the team's chants with Aldrafip conducting the whole event from a balcony above. Here’s a video of the event:
Vinícius Jr’s transition to Real Madrid has by no means been easy. The young Brazilian joined Madrid from Fluminense for $50 million in 2017, making him the second-most expensive transfer from Brazil behind only Neymar. Unlike Neymar, Vinícius Jr has not found immediate success in LaLiga.
Vinicius, while showing incredible dribbling ability and ball control, has lacked the final product of his Brazilian compatriot, scoring just one goal in LaLiga in his first season at Real Madrid compared to Neymar’s nine goals.
There may have been some big Carabao Cup headlines Tuesday, like Tottenham losing to a team three leagues lower than it and Arsenal’s youngsters thrashing Nottingham Forest, but there was an entirely different kind of story that grabbed my attention. An intoxicated Portsmouth fan was caught on video attempting to fight a police horse after the Pompey side lost to Southampton 4-0 and was knocked out of the Carabao Cup.
Here’s the video:
Tuttosport officially narrowed its Golden Boy (best young player under 21) shortlist to 40 candidates, and before the list gets any smaller I thought it’d be fun to rank the candidates who I believe will end up in the top 10.
Tim Sherwood said something this weekend that really made my blood boil.
The former Tottenham manager turned pundit provided some post-match commentary on Arsenal’s 3-2 comeback victory against Aston Villa on Sunday, and while most of what came out his mouth was typical drivel about “wanting it more” and “grit,” Sherwood had a pretty unique take on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s decision to let Nicolas Pépé take a penalty kick:
New Zealand opened its 2019 Rugby World Cup campaign with a 23-13 victory over South Africa on Saturday in Yokohama, Japan, and it's easy to see why the All Blacks are favorites to win the tournament for a third straight time.
I’m not talking about their play out there — I didn’t wake up at 4:45 a.m. to watch it — I’m talking about their first haka. I’m no rugby expert but I don’t think anyone is going to beat these guys. I’m looking at the schedule now and next up is Canada on Oct. 2. Send all your thoughts and prayers to Canada.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino has just publicly announced that Iran’s ban on women attending soccer matches is “unacceptable” and must be lifted.
The comments come in response to the tragic death of Sahar Khodayari, an Iranian woman who set herself on fire in protest after she was arrested for attempting to attend a soccer match in Tehran.