It's over — we can forget about gala award ceremonies and social media infighting for another year: Lionel Messi, at the age of 32, has captured a record sixth Ballon d’Or. That is, of course, one more than Cristiano Ronaldo, who finished third behind Virgil van Dijk. Sadio Mané finished fourth.
Ronaldo did not make an appearance at the ceremony.
Less than 24 hours after capturing the Copa Libertadores in Peru thanks to two late goals from Gabriel Barbosa, Flamengo returned home to a riotous Rio de Janeiro on Sunday to celebrate a first South American title in 38 years.
Argentina’s 1-0 friendly victory over Brazil on Friday — thanks to Lionel Messi’s goal in the 13th minute — created quite the conversation on Twitter. From Messi telling Brazil manager Tite to shut up after he believed Messi should’ve been given a yellow card to penalty misses from both Gabriel Jesus and Messi, it was quite an entertaining match.
It’s happening with increasing swiftness: Spain’s golden generation is tiki-takaing out of existence. The latest to announce his retirement from the game is 37-year-old striker David Villa, who’ll call it quits in either December or January (depending on if Vissel Kobe can reach the final of the Emperor’s Cup).
Villa was a monster for Valencia, Barcelona, Sporting Gijón, Zaragoza and New York City FC, as well as the Spanish national team — although injury conspired against him for some of his generation’s finest moments.
Well, we did not expect this. The U.S. Champions League TV rights went up for bidding recently and, according to Sports Business Journal, CBS has pulled off a surprising coup.
As first scooped by John Ourand, CBS won the English-language U.S. Champions League TV rights for the 2021-22 season through the 2023-24 season. Univision, meanwhile, held on to the Spanish-language rights for a second cycle.
Is Megan Rapinoe running for office?
That was the question on many minds of many during and after the Women’s World Cup, in which Megan Rapinoe headlined the USWNT’s triumph in France.
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.
Colorado native Lindsey Horan recently shared her story about how she started her journey to achieve her dreams with The Players’ Tribune. Horan had her goals set from a young age, when she dreamed of being the best football player in the world. Her mindset remains the same today, except now she’s living out her dream.
Longtime Chelsea and Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Čech has signed with ice hockey club Guildford Phoenix of the NIHL. Čech recently signed on for a developmental role in the Chelsea system, and he's since confirmed that the new goaltender gig does not interfere with his ongoing work at Cobham.
**PETR CECH SIGNS WITH THE PHOENIX**
The ex professional footballer will begin his ice hockey career this Sunday when he makes his debut for the Phoenix!
The England national team has collectively agreed it will leave any match if any player is subject to racial abuse from fans.
The Three Lions' next two matches will be in the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, where the team has previously suffered from abuse.
Manager Gareth Southgate called a meeting Monday night with all English players to discuss the possibility of another racial attack.
Players have sometime taken matters into their own hands and left the pitch in the midst of a match.