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Few words more quickly evoke decades-old video game franchises quite like “FIFA.” It ranks in the echelons of “Mario” and “Sonic,” “Doom” and “Half-Life,” “WoW” and “Madden.” But EA Sports seems ready, willing even, to change the name of its best-selling series. 

EA Sports Group General Manager Cam Weber released a statement on Thursday talking about the “future of football.” In it, he made a not-so-humble brag about early sales numbers for FIFA 22 before trying to give lip service to fans about improving the game series. 

Then he dropped this little bombshell.

U.S. Soccer really knows how to piss off its fanbase. Whether it’s repeatedly denying equal pay requests from USWNT players or failing to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, it speaks to the beauty of the beautiful game that Americans still support their national teams as fervently as they do. 

But that’s not going to stop U.S. soccer fans from putting the federation on blast for an odd fundraising push. The USMNT posted an article on Twitter asking for donations for the youth national teams on Wednesday. The responses were both hilarious and predictable.

GUANGZHOU, China - Work on a China Evergrande Group project in the southern city of Guangzhou to build one of the world's largest soccer stadiums is proceeding "as normal,” the company told Reuters on Monday, despite the real estate giant's cash woes.

Evergrande owes $305 billion in debt and has run short of cash, rattling global markets. It missed a payment deadline on a dollar bond last week.

Construction on the Guangzhou FC Soccer stadium, which was set to cost around $1.86 billion, began in April last year and had been due to finish by 2022.

The dust has settled on the biggest transfer of the 2021 summer window, when Lionel Messi — the six-time world men’s player of the year — finally left Barcelona and joined Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer. Despite being 34, the Messi PSG contract money speaks to his continued standing as world’s best footballer.

MANCHESTER, England - FIFA says it has fan backing for the much-criticized plan to shift to a biennial World Cup after releasing a summary of the results of an opinion survey of supporters.

The proposals, which have been outlined by FIFA's head of Global Football Development, former Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger, have been met with widespread opposition from within the game.

Cristiano Ronaldo finalized his transfer from Juventus to Manchester United on the final day of the 2021 summer transfer window, bringing an end to a three-year spell with the Old Lady and returning him to Old Trafford, where Ronaldo spent six superlative seasons between 2003 and 2009. The Cristiano Ronaldo Manchester United contract salary, despite now being 36 years of age, speaks to how prolific and valuable the forward still remains at the highest level.  

MANCHESTER, England - FIFA's proposals for the World Cup to be held every two years, rather than the traditional four-year gap, have been met with strong opposition from European soccer body UEFA and major leagues, the following is a Q&A on the issues:

WHAT IS FIFA DOING?

The 2021 summer transfer window is going to go down as the craziest one yet. The transfer gods had one more trick up their sleeve, and it was in the form of a Cristiano Ronaldo transfer back to Manchester United. 

The transfer fee for the 36-year-old was $17.7 million with an additional $9.4 million in add-ons. Just a little bit less than his $128 million transfer from Real Madrid to Juventus in 2018.

Here was the reaction from Twitter to the news.