There was but one major global international soccer tournament in 2021. For some reason, the coach who inspired an underdog victory in that competition wasn’t deemed worthy by FIFA to even be a finalist for the organization’s FIFA Best Coach of 2021 award. Not that we’re the least bit surprised; we’ve long learned to expect the worst from FIFA.
DOUALA - Largely empty stadiums could become a feature of this month's Africa Cup of Nations, which kicks off on Sunday, due mainly to Cameroon's paltry COVID-19 vaccination rate.
The host nation last month made full vaccination and a negative coronavirus test compulsory for spectators at Africa's premier soccer tournament.
With skepticism about the vaccines' safety and importance widespread, the country's inoculation levels are extremely low — though the lure of live soccer has convinced some fans to set their misgivings aside.
YAOUNDE - Gabon captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang tested positive for COVID-19 on arrival in Cameroon on Thursday, threatening his participation at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Aubemayang and teammate Mario Lemina returned positive results when tested on arrival at Yaounde’s airport, along with assistant coach Anicet Yala, the Gabon Football Federation said in a statement.
Carlos Cordeiro, the former U.S. Soccer Federation president who resigned in disgrace after overseeing some of the most deplorable arguments the USSF has ever put forward in a lawsuit, wants his old job back. Megan Rapinoe, for one, has made her opinion known on the matter.
Ricardo Pepi’s transfer to Augsburg in the winter transfer window means 44 percent of teams in the Bundesliga have an American in the ranks. How many Americans play in the Bundesliga those who don’t feel like doing math might ask?
Here’s the list of eight American players expected to get minutes in Germany’s top flight in 2022.
Despite pandemics and lawsuits, one constant for the U.S. women’s national team lately has been the SheBelieves Cup. Every year since 2016, the USWNT has hosted some of the best teams in the world in a four-team competition aimed at inspiring young women. Unfortunately, the 2022 SheBelieves Cup looks like it’ll be the least inspiring yet.
Giving his first interview since collapsing on the pitch after suffering sudden cardiac arrest during Denmark's Euro 2020 opener against Finland, Christian Eriksen outlined his dream over the next year: to represent his national team at the 2022 World Cup.
Scotland's Rangers FC reportedly are close to completing a loan deal for New York City FC standout James Sands.
According to The Athletic, it would be an 18-month loan with a purchase option for the 21-year-old defensive midfielder.
FC Dallas completed the transfer of striker Ricardo Pepi to FC Augsburg of the German Bundesliga on Monday.
Dallas received a reported $20 million fee, a club record that also makes the 18-year-old Pepi the most expensive outgoing homegrown player in MLS history.
Pepi, the 2021 MLS Young Player of the Year, signed a five-and-a-half-year contract at Augsburg that includes a club option to extend the deal until the summer of 2027.
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.