Human Interest

It's been 97 days since Russian forces stormed into Ukraine with a siege of Chernihiv, efforts to capture Kyiv, an assault on Kharkiv and the opening of a southern front. 

Soccer, football, calcio, whatever you call it, it is one of the most uniting sports on the planet. That was as evident as ever on Wednesday before the World Cup qualifying game between Scotland and Ukraine. As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues, there was an extraordinary moment of solidarity before the game. Watch as Scotland fans sing Ukraine’s national anthem.

Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp dedicated Saturday's Champions League final against Real Madrid in Paris to the people of Ukraine, expressing support for the country against Russia's invasion.

The game, a rematch of the 2018 final, had been scheduled for St Petersburg's Gazprom Arena but was shifted to the Stade de France after Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of its neighbor.

"I am happy that the game is here for thousands of reasons," Klopp told reporters. The war is still going on and we have to think about that." 

For years, N.C. Courage attendance numbers were some of the best in the NWSL. In 2022, no one wants to go see the Courage play, even when it’s the Challenge Cup final. 

The reasons are pretty obvious. Well, they’re obvious to everyone but the owners, it seems.

For the last few years (discounting the pandemic season of 2020), North Carolina has averaged more than 5,000 fans per game, always in the top half of the NWSL attendance rankings. It wasn’t hard to see why: The Courage won three NWSL Shields and two NWSL Championships from 2017-19. 

After two long years without the U.S. Open Cup because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was the game that made us fall in love with this glorious competition all over again.     

Third-division Union Omaha — contesting just its second-ever Open Cup match — travelled to 60,000-seat Soldier Field on April 19 to take on four-time champion Chicago Fire and twice came from a goal down, including an equalizer in the 122nd-minute, to prevail in a penalty shootout.

Clint Dempsey was tenacious as a footballer. He combined the typical American trait of indefatigability with verve and style going forward. Dempsey was unique as an American footballer, arguably the greatest offensive player the U.S. men’s national team has ever seen. 

Amnesty International and a coalition of human rights organizations, unions and football fan groups are asking FIFA to produce $440 million in remediation to the hundreds of thousands of migrant workers who have suffered human rights abuses during preparations for the Qatar World Cup.