Football without fans has hurt clubs throughout the footballing pyramid, but the pandemic has hit non-league sides especially hard. These clubs depend on ticket sales as a primary source of revenue, and with empty stadiums across England, many local teams have been pushed to the brink financially.
These semi-pro and amateur sides also provide a helpful reminder of what true football fandom entails.
31 years after beginning his managerial career as a player-coach, Sam Allardyce is back at the club where it all began: West Bromwich Albion. When he started at West Brom, Allardyce was the reserve team coach for a second division side, now he will be tasked with managing a team stuck in the depths of the Premier League relegation zone.
Much like the NBA sixth man who comes off the bench and drops straight buckets, Luis Muriel doesn't often find himself in the starting XI; but bring him off the bench in the second half and he can't help but score goals.
Muriel started just 10 Serie A matches last season yet was still Atalanta's joint-leading scorer. The Colombian striker scored 11 of his 18 goals after coming off the bench, averaging goal at an astonishing rate of once every 69 minutes.
The Millwall miscreants that call themselves fans made headlines over the weekend for booing the players who kneeled before kickoff ahead of the club's match against Derby County.
Their racist demonstration against the Black Lives Matter movement was a frustrating event that overshadowed the return of fans to English football grounds.
The display did not go unnoticed to players around the league.
Confusion and anger swirled in the Parc des Princes during Paris Saint-Germain’s vital Champions League clash with Istanbul Basaksehir on Tuesday. Viewers watching from home were left Googling and searching on Twitter "why was PSG game suspended?" after watching all of the players exit the field in the first half.
In the 16th minute, Basaksehir’s assistant coach Pierre Webo was shown a straight red card after an argument broke out on the sideline. As Webo was being sent off he could be heard questioning the fourth official on why he used the word “negro.”
Professional women’s soccer is returning to Kansas City for the first time since 2017 as the National Women’s Soccer League announced on Monday that Utah Royals FC is relocating to the City of Fountains.
League announces Kansas City will rejoin the NWSL in 2021.
Details below— NWSL (@NWSL) December 7, 2020
Montevideo’s Estadio Centenario has been declared a National Historic Monument.
The stadium was also recognized in 1983 by FIFA as the only Historical Monument of World Football.
It was built in 1930 to host the first FIFA World Cup and to mark the 100th anniversary of Uruguayan independence.
Not only did Uruguay win the 1930 World Cup there, they have won each of the 4 Copa Américas hosted at the stadium.
The stadium will continue to be preserved as a center for soccer culture in Uruguay.
English singer and 2012 X Factor winner, James Arthur, was banned from soccer gambling apps. Arthur told sources that he had some “massive wins”. The apps banned him after he won on numerous matches.
Joe Biden has defeated Donald Trump to become the 46th President of the United States. President-elect, Joe Biden, also happens to be a soccer fan.