Human Interest

LIMBE, Cameroon - Droves of armored vehicles are patrolling the streets of Limbe in Cameroon's conflict-torn South West Region ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) soccer finals starting on Jan. 9 that separatist militants have vowed to disrupt.

Cameroon is hosting the tournament in six cities, but security is potentially most at threat in Limbe, a city on the tropical Atlantic coast whose surrounding region has been rocked by armed attacks since war broke out in 2017.

Sierra Leone are hoping to prove competitive and lay the foundation for future qualification as they compete at this month’s Africa Cup of Nations finals for the first time in a quarter century, coach John Keister said.

Having last qualified for the 1996 edition in South Africa in only their second appearance at the finals, the west African country returns hoping to become a more regular participant, according to their Manchester-born coach.

Paris Saint-Germain forward Lionel Messi and three other players have tested positive for COVID-19, the French Ligue 1 club said on Sunday.

Argentina international Messi joined PSG from boyhood club Barcelona in August and the 34-year-old has scored six goals in 16 games in all competitions for the Parisian side.

HONG KONG — Chinese authorities have banned footballers from getting tattoos and instructed national team players who have been inked to remove or cover them up to set a "good example for society."

A growing number of high-profile Chinese players have been sporting tattoos, including international defender Zhang Linpeng, who has previously been told to cover up while appearing for both the national team and club side Guangzhou FC.

If you would like to learn how to alienate a club’s fanbase, perhaps irrevocably, you would struggle to find a better case study than the NWSL’s N.C. Courage this week. On Sunday, the club announced the signing of a player, Jaelene Daniels, antithetical to the vast majority of the team’s and league’s fans. After two full days of silence, the club put out a shockingly meek “apology” late Wednesday night, only further upsetting the once devoted fanbase. 

In October of 2020, after a devastating summer for a country unwilling to reverse centuries of systemic white supremacy, Imani Dorsey and dozens of other Black women playing in the NWSL creating the Black Women’s Player Collective, aimed at advancing opportunities for Black girls in sports and beyond. On Wednesday, the U.S. Soccer Federation honored Dorsey, one of the BWPC’s founding board members, with the inaugural Social Impact Award.

On Sunday afternoon, the N.C. Courage announced they had signed a one-year deal with retired fullback Jaelene Daniels, formerly known as Jaelene Hinkle. Now NWSL fans across the country — especially in North Carolina — are furious over the signing. On the other side of the continent, the Portland Thorns angered their fans for drafting a player with a history of horribly racist, homophobic and transphobic behavior on Twitter. 

This is not how the NWSL wanted to end what has already been a shit year for the league. 

LONDON, England - Leicester City's Premier League game against Tottenham Hotspur on Thursday and Manchester United's home clash with Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday have been postponed as rising COVID-19 cases threaten to play havoc with the season.

Thursday's announcements from the Premier League mean five games have been lost in the past week, although the league says it plans to continue with the current fixture schedule.

As a society, we’re pretty bad about allowing those in the public eye the opportunity to grow as humans, whether it’s a comedian telling an inappropriate joke 10 years ago or a politician’s evolving ideology. Too often public perception is rooted in the idea that you are who you are and you cannot change. 

With that in mind, I think we should praise Bayern Munich and Germany midfielder Joshua Kimmich for recognizing he was wrong and wishing he had done better.