Category: Soccer
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FIFA Folded in Three Days. The Fight Over World Cup Money Is Just Beginning
The boycott threat killed Gianni Infantino’s private-investment plan. FIFA’s apology and crisis meeting showed why the president—and the system behind him—survived.
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FIFA Wants to Sell a Stake in the Business Behind the World Cup. Here’s What That Means
A proposed US$4.2 billion investment would give outside shareholders a long-term claim on FIFA’s commercial operations while promising far larger payments to its 211 member associations.
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Iran Played the World Cup in the Country That Bombed It
Iran qualified in March 2025. The US killed its supreme leader in February. FIFA sent the team to Inglewood anyway, and it played under escort.
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Iraq Qualifies for the World Cup for the First Time in Forty Years
Iraq qualified for the 2026 World Cup with a 2-1 win over Bolivia — forty years after their last appearance, through war, closed airspace, and a system designed to keep them out.
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Iran Women’s Soccer Team and the War Behind the Story
Iran women’s soccer team members were stranded in Australia mid-tournament when the US-Israeli war on Iran made returning home impossible.
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Whitecaps Make History With First MLS Cup Berth
Vancouver’s 3–1 win over San Diego FC sends them to their first MLS Cup final, setting up a December showdown with Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami at Chase Stadium.
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Haiti’s Triumph: From Vertières to the World Stage
On the anniversary of Vertières, Haiti’s 2026 World Cup qualification reclaims a history of resistance, uniting the nation and reshaping how the world sees it.
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How Football Ultras Became a Pipeline From Stands to War
Football ultras became a military pipeline when terrace networks converted loyalty, logistics and controlled violence into wartime organization.
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The Belarusian Athletes Who Stopped Saying Everything’s Fine
Belarus athletes protest: hundreds signed against Lukashenko in 2020, and the IOC found their own Olympic committee had failed to protect them.
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The Number That Kept Nicaraguan Football Playing
Nicaragua football coronavirus: the league played on because officials cited four cases. Doctors and monitors were counting a different country.
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Belarus Played On Because Stopping Meant Weakness
Belarus football coronavirus: the Vysshaya Liga became the last league on earth because Lukashenko decided that stopping it would look like losing control. By the second week of April 2020, the Vysshaya Liga was one of two professional football leagues still playing anywhere on the planet. The Champions League was suspended. The Euros were postponed.…
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