After five Africa Cup of Nations tournaments in eight years, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to wait an unreasonably long time for the next AFCON competition.
Algeria lifted the title in 2019 with Riyad Mahrez, Ismaël Bennacer and Raïs M'Bolhi shining for the Desert Foxes, but the follow-up tournament in Cameroon — originally slated for June and July of 2021 — has since been pushed back to January of 2022.
With the 2021 Copa América approaching (it's September?), we can finally start to dream about the return of international play with its accompanying displays of passion, history and fantasy.
Few sides stir the imagination like two-time Copa winner Chile, with stalwarts like Alexis Sánchez, Arturo Vidal, Gary Medel and Eduardo Vargas encapsulating an approach that can kill you in all manner of ways — just ask Messi.
Kylian Mbappé and PSG will take part in their first Champions League final on Sunday, a highly anticipated clash with Bayern Munich. The two teams have by far been the best in Europe this season, with one loss between them in the entire competition. The two teams have plenty in common, from their connections to Barcelona’s failures to their shared domestic hegemony.
I’d like to turn you on to a couple things: (1) Red Star FC (not to be confused with Red Star Belgrade) — a 123-year-old club (France’s second-oldest) in Paris that currently plays in the third division and essentially stands in direct opposition to everything PSG. Red Star is unapologetically anti-corporate, rooted in social activism and deeply connected with the working class.
Given that Liverpool just won its first Premier League title ever and first league championship in 30 years, Reds fans were going to gobble up whatever new jersey the club released for the next season. Maybe with that in mind, the 2020-21 Liverpool home kit was unveiled on Saturday.
Continuing with its celebration of the intersection of art and football, adidas has revealed the first-ever artist collaboration on the legendary Predator boots after handing over the keys to London-based illustrator Reuben Dangoor.
The viral Instagram artist is really damn good…
Given the club’s unique blaugrana colors, Barcelona has sported some of the most iconic jerseys in world football. The release of the home Barcelona kit 2020-21 on Tuesday was an attempt to tap into some of those legendary shirts. An attempt.
After a 2019 that saw Mexico post a record of 16 wins and one defeat to Lautaro Martínez, El Tri is approaching 2020 guided by the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” proverb with regards to its home jersey.
Of course, we’re halfway through 2020 and Mexico’s national plans for the year — including the Nations League Finals, Men’s Olympic Qualifying Championship and Kirin Challenge Cup — have all been pushed back to 2021.
Goalkeepers hating new footballs is a tradition unlike any other, so prepare for an outpouring of grief come the start of the 2020-21 Premier League season as Nike debuts its new Flight ball.
According to the geezers inside the Nike Lab, the Flight ball utilizes four panel construction — as opposed to the traditional 12-panel ball — which helps create a 30% truer flight than its predecessor (the Merlin).
When your internal calendar is largely synced with the footballing one, it’s difficult to wrap your head around the fact that we’re now approaching mid-June. In the fantasy world before COVID-19, we’d see Euro 2020 begin on Friday; in the actual COVID-19 world, we’ll see the Premier League return Wednesday with a pair of fixtures that were originally scheduled for March 11.