France

It’s easy to get cynical about the Brasil Global Tour sponsored by Chevrolet, which is simply adspeak for the series of globetrotting friendlies that the Seleção contests in between Copa Américas, World Cups and World Cup qualifying. 

In the preposterously bloated football calendar, nobody likes a meaningless friendly. But what’s Brazil supposed to do during the international break with no qualifying stage for the 2020 Copa América and with 2022 World Cup qualifying matches not beginning until March of 2021?

The 39th season of Survivor premiered on Wednesday night — yes, Jeff Probst is still forcing people to eat bugs after nearly two decades. The original reality/survival gameshow can teach important lessons that can be useful in life and even in the soccer world. Chiefly: Trust no one.

Kasper Dolberg has learned this the hard way after his $75K watch was stolen, with a teammate at French club Nice having become the top suspect in the theft. 

Although she finished eighth in The Best FIFA Women’s Player 2019 voting, Lyon attacker Ada Hegerberg was omitted from the first-ever FIFPro Women’s World11 due to the inclusion of Marta in attack. With all due respect to Marta’s legacy, the 33-year-old playmaker didn’t warrant her place after scoring five goals and providing zero assists in 12 appearances for the NWSL’s worst team before a disappointing World Cup that included zero goals from open play and zero assists in three games.

Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov has officially announced his retirement at 38 years old with a video and written statement, which he posted on Instagram.

Berbatov was very candid in the statement, saying that he did try to find a team to play for last year, but it didn’t happen. He finished his soccer career at Indian league side Kerala Blasters last year and has been a pundit ever since.

With this week's Champions League matchups done and dusted, you might be tempted to think European football is finished until the weekend. Well think again! The Europa League kicks of today and there are a ton of matches worth getting excited about. Here are the 10 I'm most excited about, and my corresponding predictions for each match.

Europa League Predictions 2019-20

Basel vs. Krasnodar

An excellent Ángel Di María brace spearheaded PSG to a 3-0 victory over Real Madrid on Wednesday night, giving belief to Parisians that this is finally their year. On the other side of things, Zinedine Zidane’s greatest nightmare came to fruition as he was forced to watch James Rodríguez and Gareth Bale attempt to orchestrate an attack that finished with zero shots on goal.  

Neymar returned to PSG for the first time this season on Saturday after a long injury layoff and nearly endless transfer drama. The Parisian fans jeered him relentlessly and viciously, angry he tried to leave. The response was an unbelievable Neymar bicycle kick in the 92nd minute to give PSG a 1-0 win over Strasbourg.

MLS youth academy coaching is about to get a serious revamp along with a fourth iteration of the visionary partnership between MLS and the French Football Federation (FFF).

Count Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo among the legion of Parisians happy Neymar did not bolt the French capital to return to Spain this summer. But she’s not content with Neymar sticking with Paris Saint-Germain — she wants the big-eared trophy.

Ahead of the 2019-20 season, French football instituted new laws calling for referees to stop matches if anti-gay messages come from the stands, a response to increased homophobia in Ligue 1 and 2. High-profile matches such as Nice-Marseille and PSG-Metz have already been halted for this reason.

In his ignorance, French Football Federation president Noël Le Graët has shown why the rule is so necessary.