Fridays election of a new FIFA President may have been the second-most important thing to happen at FIFA's extraordinary congress. Before Gianni Infantino's election as Sepp Blatter's replacement, delegates vited to enact much-needed FIFA reforms.
With these reforms, FIFA is at least paying lip service to moving away from the rampant corruption that has inhabited it pretty much forever.
FIFA's Extraordinary Congress Friday to decide who will replace Sepp Blatter has elected Gianni Infantino, of Switzerland, as the new FIFA president.
FIFA election, 2nd-ballot results:
Gianni Infantino 115
Sheikh Salman 88
Prince Ali 4
Jerome Champagne 0It's over.
— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) February 26, 2016
Tokyo Sexwale is not going to win the FIFA presidential election. This is the case for a variety of reasons, mostly because he's barely even campaigning and even his own continent has pledged its support for someone else.
But we would not be doing our civic duty as an esteemed media organization if we did not interrupt what we're sure would have been a very fine and productive day with our ill-informed and quite honestly pointless thoughts on the FIFA election.
The stage is set for the biggest international tournament in the United States since the 1994 World Cup finals. The 2016 Copa America Centenario promises Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi, James Rodriguez and another chance for both Mexico and the United States to disrupt the accepted international footballing hierarchy. This is your ultimate guide to the ultimate tournament of the Americas, the 2016 Copa America Centenario.
*All times indicated are Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)
You may remember Wendell Lira, the Brazilian lower-leagues player who achieved international stardom for doing this:
Lira won the FIFA Puskas Award, given annually to the scorer of the sickest goal of the year, but it turns out his best talent with a soccer ball may not actually be kicking it, but making virtual players kick it with an Xbox controller.
The situation at the former and possibly current, who the hell knows at this point, wretched hive of scum and vilainy that runs the soccer affairs for the whole world that we call "FIFA" has devolved to the point that the organization is now eating it own young,
In the last 10 years, no three figures have been more powerful in soccer than Sepp Blatter, Michel Platini and Jerome Valcke. If the ethics committe get their way, those three will not figure into the next 10 years.
In case you missed it – which, if you are on this website there is little chance of that – Lionel Messi was voted the 2015 FIFA Ballon d'Or winner Monday, his fifth time winning the award.
The Ballon d'Or is chosen by the national team coaches and captains of every FIFA nation, plus selected media members. In a shocking instance of not being an uber-secretive corrupt sh*thole, FIFA has published the ballot of each voter.
Because this is international soccer, weird stuff happened with those ballots. We took a look at the worst of the lot.
Messi won his fifth Ballon d'Or Monday, but his victory may have been overshadowed by the real star of the show, a photo of Cristiano Ronaldo greeting Messi's girlfriend, Antonella Roccuzzo, with Messi looking on awkwardly and Neymar looking like he's about to hop out of his seat and punch Ronaldo in the face.
Lionel Messi is your 2015 FIFA Ballon d'Or winner. Oh, come on, who did you think it was going to be?
Carli Lloyd has won the award for FIFA Women’s World Player Of The Year 2015.
The Houston Dash and USWNT midfielder won the 2015 Women’s World Cup with the United States. She scored an absolutely stunning hat trick in the first half of the final against Japan; it was one of the most dominant displays in a final a player has ever put forth.
Lloyd beat out the likes of finalists Aya Miyama of Japan and Celia Sasic of Germany.
“This has been a dream of mine,” Lloyd said as she accepted the award. Lloyd was visibly emotional as she said her acceptance speech.