Jose Maria Marin, the former president of Brazil’s soccer federation, was sentenced to four years in prison by a federal court on Wednesday in New York, marking the first sentencing of a soccer official in relation to the United States’ FIFA corruption investigation.
It seems everyone wants to leave Ohio these days. Whether it’s LeBron James leaving for Los Angeles or Urban Meyer facing trouble at Ohio State, sports in the Buckeye State are having a rough go of it recently. So Wednesday’s vote down in Austin, Texas, just piles on the bad news for fans of the Columbus Crew.
The cost of watching soccer in the U.S. keeps rising. ESPN announced it would make ESPN+ the exclusive home of the FA Cup in the U.S. on Wednesday, adding to the growing list of soccer subscription services fans must pay for in order to watch soccer, most of which used to come with a basic cable subscription.
FIFA has finally taken corruption out of the beautiful game.
According to an Associated Press report, the word “corruption” doesn’t appear anywhere in FIFA’s new code of ethics governing officials and players. And that’s not the only shady new practice the AP revealed.
For the price of $5 per month or $50 per year, ESPN+ was already a no-brainer for those who watch MLS, the USL, the UEFA Nations League and lower league English football. However, the broadcast package has significantly upped its offerings with this bit of news: ESPN+ will now stream 340 Italian Serie A matches over the course of the season as part of an exclusive, multi-year agreement in the United States.
This news flew under the radar for many fans, but if you didn’t hear, Aston Villa now has the third richest owners in all of English football. Yes, the Championship side that finished dead last in the 2015-16 Premier League season is now absolutely loaded. But how did this all come about?
We all love new technology and want to know when flying cars and robot servants will arrive like in the Jetsons. But it’s easy to overlook the incremental changes in technology happening right in front of us, right now. The recent Budweiser World Cup campaign gave soccer fans a glimpse into a future where the packaging of everyday objects — beer in this case — could revolutionize how we interact with brands, the world around us and each other.
It’s especially important to soak in the final two games of the 2018 World Cup this summer, since soccer fans will have to wait an extra six months before the 2022 World Cup begins. Due to Qatar’s brutally hot temperatures during the summer, the tournament will run from November 21 until December 18.
The 28-day timeframe is four days fewer than Russia 2018. That means there will be more games each day and less recovery time for teams.
Brazilian soccer players are like American basketball players — no matter where in the world there’s a professional soccer team, there’s likely to be a Brazilian playing for it. Brazil players salaries range from the lowest leagues to the highest-paid players in the world.
The best of the thousands of professional Brazilian soccer players make up the Seleção, and the 23 players chosen to represent Brazil’s World Cup team. All are well compensated by their professional clubs, but not all Brazil players salaries are created equally on the 2018 squad.
We previously compared the TV viewership, revenue and prize money of the World Cup and the Super Bowl, and the World Cup had the clear advantage across the board. Although a closer contest, the World Cup vs Champions League analysis yields a similar result. The World Cup can't be topped.