A sports aficionado, especially in the world of soccer, knows the beautiful game tracks back at least 150 years. English fans argue that the game started in their home country, and at least the establishment of the modern game did arise there, but how was soccer invented and does the sport we call soccer (or football, chill out) really belong to England?
Late work in the visual arts, like those of Rembrandt, can often showcase an artist at their most profound. What’s revealed is the certainty of a master — the piece stands apart from the contemporary and proclaims its own thingness. With that being said, have a look at what Xavi’s aging right foot is up to.
It painted a stunning work in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on Tuesday during Al Sadd’s Asian Champions League group stage match against Pakhtakor.
In the sixth minute of the match, here’s the 39-year-old going top bins after ambling his way to the top of the box.
This summer, the International Champions Cup returns for the seventh straight year as the globe’s premier preseason competition.
In the early days of soccer, your number defined the position you played: number one was a goalkeeper, nine a striker, six a holding midfielder and three a left back. The number 11 was reserved for the left winger as the number was always the last on a lineup list.
In modern soccer, there’s a lot less emphasis on strict numerical positions, and there were some fantastic players who played on the left or elsewhere that made the number 11 their own.
Nike will provide the uniforms for 14 of the 24 competing nations at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France, and the sportswear giant unveiled them all during an incredible innovation event in Paris.
Much has been made over Qatar being awarded hosting rights for the 2022 World Cup. Whether you felt it was earned fairly or not (it wasn’t), at the time everyone agreed the 2022 host would be the worst ever in terms of footballing quality. Then again, maybe not based on the latest Qatar FIFA ranking.
For those who follow the Chinese Super League, this will come as little surprise. The rest of the footballing world, however, will be wondering who is Wu Lei after 40 million fans tuned in to watch his LaLiga debut with Espanyol on Sunday.
No one in the region seemed to want this to happen — even fewer (outside of Xavi) expected it — but Qatar is the best team in Asia.
With its fans banned from the host country due to diplomatic tensions in the Middle East, a tiny population and little footballing tradition prior to FIFA awarding the nation 2022 World Cup hosting rights, Qatar’s 3-1 victory over Japan in the AFC Asian Cup final capped an unlikely run to the Maroons’ first-ever major soccer championship.
And they did it in some style, with two incredible first-half goals.
And just like that, Marouane Fellaini has gone from indispensable Manchester United siege tower — a man who could’ve put rivals City in “big, big trouble” — to Shandong Luneng. We shouldn’t feel bad for the 31-year-old Belgian because he’s reportedly signed a contract worth $12.5 million per year after tax.
The AFC Asian Cup final is set. Japan, the winningest team in the history of the competition, will take on Qatar, trying to prove it can actually play the sport before hosting the 2022 World Cup. But Qatar making it through the AFC Asian Cup Semifinals did not come without controversy.
Qatar reached the AFC Asian Cup semifinals by edging South Korea in the Maroons’ first big upset of the tournament, although you could argue Qatar beating Saudi Arabia was a pretty big upset too.