Qatar

One of the greatest midfielders of his generation, Xavi has announced that he'll retire at the end of the season to pursue a coaching career. The maestro spent 17 years in Barcelona before moving to Al-Sadd in Qatar in 2015.

As a graduate of Barcelona’s famed La Masia academy, Xavi made his first team debut for Barcelona in 1998 at just 18 years of age. Playing at Barcelona for over 17 years, Xavi was an integral part of the midfield three, playing brilliant through balls and very rarely losing possession.

Goalkeeper Lewis Budinauckas made a penalty and then saved one moments later to send Rangers past AS Roma at the Al Kass International Cup, a U-17 club competition growing in prestige every year, on Friday in Doha, Qatar. 

The teams were tied 1-1 through regulation, sending the match immediately to a shootout. Tied 3-3 after the first five spot kicks, both teams traded goals in the first five rounds of sudden death, including both goalkeepers converting on the 10th attempt (both teams had been reduced to 10 men through the course of the match). 

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.

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.

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. 

Iceland and 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar played to a 2-2 friendly draw on Monday in Belgium, and the match was highlighted by an exchange of exquisite free kicks between the two nations.

In the third minute, Qatar captain Hassan Al-Haydos (currently number four all-time in goals for his country), hammered a free kick from an acute angle across the face of goal and just inside the far post — a despairing, sprawling Rúnar Rúnarsson could do nothing to keep it out.

Sepp Blatter’s former FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke received a ban appeal rejection on Friday, July 27. The 57-year-old was ordered by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to complete his 10-year suspension from all football activities. Additionally, the Frenchman is to pay an approximate fine of $100,500.