Aymeric Laporte, Manchester City's shiny new center back, spent his formative years in the youth setup of Sporting Union Agen, a club in the French eighth division. Agen were about to go into administration when Laporte's January move from Athletic Bilbao to Manchester City saved the club.
FIFA is an addictive game. After every match of digital football you want to play just one more. If you lose, you don’t want to end on a sour note. If you win, you want to keep that hot streak going. It’s a testament to how fun the game is that you want to keep playing. But, as one Redditor recently highlighted, there’s another aspect of FIFA that is dangerously addictive: the FIFA microtransactions.
LAFC, the newest MLS expansion team, makes its debut this year. The club is still working on sorting out a number of variables from finalizing its roster to completing construction of its stadium. But a new LAFC YouTubeTV deal announced Wednesday means the club now has a shirt sponsor and a local broadcaster. But the local English-language broadcasts won’t be free.
For most sports in the United States, transfer fees are a foreign idea. Athletes in basketball and American football move as free agents or in trades, but rarely are they outright sold for a lump sum. While Major League Soccer maintains some of these cultural ideals, transfer fees are still commonplace. The most expensive MLS transfer fees highlight some of the league’s most ambitious clubs.
Arsene Wenger, the Professor with an economics degree, is dipping Arsenal’s pocket book into the crypto-currency markets. The club reached an agreement Wednesday with California-based CashBet, which will thus be allowed to advertise at Emirates Stadium. Now Gunners fans can watch ads for fake money while cheering for fake trophies. The Arsenal crypto-currency deal might just be the most Arsenal thing ever.
There’s a lot of Arsenal transfer window chatter going around this month — a little more than usual. The Gunners are struggling in league play, were knocked out of the FA Cup and their two best players have contracts ending in a few months.
But when it comes to all the rumors and speculation, five words are all you need to know about Arsenal in the transfer window: Arsene Wenger is still manager.
Owning your own home is a great way to build wealth. Any smart money person will tell you this. Instead of paying someone else's mortgage while renting, home ownership allows individuals to build equity in their dwellings, turning a living situation into an investment. Home ownership is one of the easiest pathways to wealth and financial stability, but many people either can't afford a down payment for a mortgage or neglect home ownership altogether out of ignorance.
Bayer Leverkusen manager Heiko Herrlich has been hit with a fine approaching $14,500 after taking a comedy tumble during his side’s DFB-Pokal match against Borussia Monchengladbach on December 20. Bayer would win the game 1-0, but Herrlich apologized after the match for his hysterics following Denis Zakaria’s near-impingement on his personal space.
“That was stupid,” said Herrlich. “I’d like to apologize.”
It’d been clear for a couple days now, but a formal press conference at the Country Music Hall of Fame confirmed Nashville as one of two expansion franchises that could begin play as early as 2020 in Major League Soccer. With Los Angeles FC set to join the league in 2018 as the 23rd club, Nashville is now MLS’s 24th side and the third team in the Southeastern United States (Atlanta and Orlando being the other two).