In October 2019, Bulgaria national team manager Krasimir Balakov stated that he believed England had a bigger racism problem in soccer than Bulgaria did.
"In the Bulgarian championship, we have a lot of players of different ethnicities and skin color," Balakov said, "I don't think that we have this big problem like, for example, England do."
Fox Soccer is giving fewer and fewer shits about the quality of content it puts out. On Tuesday, FS2 broadcast the entire first half of a Bundesliga match with the commentary audio off by few seconds. Set aside for a moment the fact Fox chose to broadcast a talk show on FS1 while relegating actual live sports to FS2, Tuesday’s audio glitch marks yet another example of Fox not caring one bit about the beautiful game.
After the decision passed to cancel the League 1 and 2 seasons of English football, Coventry City was declared League 1 champion and will return to the Championship for the first time in eight years. Sky Blues supporters rejoiced at the news, including the club’s biggest supporter from Kampala, Uganda.
American basketball great Shaquille O'Neal may not able to travel across the pond to support his favourite soccer club Northampton Town but his face will be in the stands during their League Two playoffs.
Although coronavirus guidelines mean matches will be played without spectators, Northampton are looking to fill the stadium with cardboard cut-outs of fans when they face Cheltenham Town in the first leg of the semi-final on June 18.
Remember playing soccer (or any sport) video games in the late 90s and early 2000s? The graphics weren’t all that great, but we loved them anyway. Almost every resource in the game’s software was put toward making the action on the pitch great, so the crowds and stadiums received little, if any, attention.
As LaLiga returned to action on Thursday after nearly three months because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, the broadcast seemed to make a weird homage to those old video games folks like me grew up playing.
Football fans will go to the most ridiculous lengths to support their teams. The supporters are a crucial aspect to “the beautiful game,” which is why playing in front of no fans is so odd. Polish side Slask Wroclaw thought it was playing without anyone watching, until one lone fan rose above the wall of the stadium. This super fan is No. 5 on this list of the most dedicated football fans.
Śląsk Wrocław - miłość na całe życie
LaLiga will use virtual images of stands in television broadcasts with added “fan audio,” produced by the makers of the FIFA video game, when it returns to action on Thursday.
Domestic broadcasters in Spain will offer their viewers the choice of a “natural” broadcast of games played behind closed doors with no fans but the international audience will receive only the enhanced broadcasts with added audio and graphics.
BUCHAREST — A Universitatea Cluj fan was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison for trying to kill a police officer during a Romanian first division relegation playoff match last year.
Vidrean Ovidiu Traian was found guilty of attempted murder after he hit the policeman over the head with a seat, leaving him unconscious and covered in blood, during the game in June against AFC Hermannstadt at the Cluj Arena.
The incident took place amid clashes between Universitatea supporters and police with fans throwing seats, stones and other objects at the officers.
With fans barred from entering stadiums due to the impact of coronavirus, Danish league leaders FC Midtjylland took an imaginative approach to their return to action with a 'drive-in' broadcast for supporters.
The club installed giant screens in the parking lot of their MCH Arena to allow fans to watch matches from the their cars from the more than 2,000 available spaces.
MOSCOW — Russia's Sports Minister said on Friday he welcomed a decision by the authorities to allow spectators into stadiums when matches in the country's top professional soccer league resume next month.
The Russian Premier League halted matches in mid-March because of the COVID-19 crisis and is set to resume action on June 21.
"It's important that the soccer championship resumes in the presence of spectators, even though small in number," Russian news agencies quoted Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin as saying.