It’s storybook time with East Bengal FC.
Supporters for East Bengal, which competes in India’s I-League, unveiled a unique, record-setting tifo before its home match with Real Kashmir on Wednesday at the Kalyani Stadium. The tifo featured a book of sorts, with six pages venerating the club’s accomplishments.
Founded 99 years ago, East Bengal has no shortage of history. The East Bengal tifo on Wednesday leaned into that.
The 2019 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup kicked off today in Luque, Paraguay, and we’re going to be all about it over the next 10 days.
There’s nothing like it — the way you can make a little tee for your free kick before smashing it off a sand dune to leave the keeper wrong-footed; the sight of a goalie slowly juggling it up the beach with one knee while looking the supreme image of concentrated paranoia and anxiety; the civil engineering majors giving it hell; the sound of “What’s Luv?” by Fat Joe and Ashanti blaring out the speakers.
While the U.S. was sent packing after the group stage following its worst-ever showing at a FIFA U-17 World Cup, Mexico is through to the quarterfinals following a 2-0 victory over Japan in Gama, Brazil, on Wednesday. If you were already a little disappointed with U.S. Soccer following the dismal showing, you’ll be pleased to know that Mexico’s success is even further damnation of our bumbling federation.
For a country that’s madly in love with the game, the football tournaments at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics will be sources of exorbitant amounts of pride and pressure for the host nation of Japan.
The women’s team treated the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup as something of a trial by fire for a squad that featured 14 players aged 23 and under, including young midfield maestro Yui Hasegawa. That side advanced to the Round of 16 before losing to eventual finalist the Netherlands.
If you’ve got 15 minutes to spare during today's commute or lunch break (you know what, it’s a Monday, just watch it at your desk), you should spend it watching this short film entitled “Nefta Football Club” by Yves Piat.
It’s got everything: comedy, suspense, soccer and a brilliant ending. The film was released back in 2018 but it’s just come out on Vimeo. To date, it’s scored nearly 50 prestigious film awards, including a silver medal at the Manhattan Short festival and the Best Comedy prize at Aspen Shortsfest.
The discussion from social media and various news sources over the past couple weeks has been high praise for a group of female soccer players from Jordan’s Shabab Al-Ordon Club.
In the middle of a recent match, the Jordan club sportingly defended its opponent from the Amman Club and kicked the ball away when that player suddenly had stopped playing because her hijab was falling off.
FIFA has once again chosen money over human rights. And FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s indifference is infuriating.
China will host the revamped, 24-team Club World Cup in 2021, FIFA announced Thursday, once again eschewing human rights in favor of handing coveted hosting rights to authoritarian governments.
It was historic, but amidst renewed tensions and the recent launching of some unidentified projectiles toward the Sea of Japan (as well as a forthcoming "Hog Apocalypse"), it wasn’t exactly euphoric. For the first time since a 1990 friendly, the men’s teams of North and South Korea faced off in Pyongyang.
One section of Azadi Stadium in Tehran burst with colors, enthusiasm, joy and revelry.
The rest of the stadium echoed, empty and still.
The first men’s soccer match attended by women in Iran in nearly four decades was a stark reminder of where fans have come from and where they still have to go.
Iran smashed Cambodia 14-0 in a World Cup qualifier on Thursday, but the match was of little significance compared to what happened in the stands at Azadi Stadium.
When the Hong Kong national team hosted Iran in a World Cup qualifier in September, fans of the home side showed support for Iranian women, who are still fighting for the right to attend soccer matches in their home country. Even amidst the region’s turmoil and unrest with massive protests staged against the Chinese government, the fans found room to empathize with their opponents.