Includes the punchline “sounds like someone’s about to become the FIFA Secretary of Homeland Security”. That peace prize has turned "FIFA" into an adjective meaning silly and of no value. www.youtube.com/watch?v=-A2x...

"HERE WE GO!": the lowdown on "football journalist" Fabrizio Romano sportingintelligence832.substack.com/p/here-we-go...

New for @josimarfootball.bsky.social. I wish to express thanks and my admiration to Zohreh Abdollahkhani, who found the courage and the strength to write this heart-rending piece, commissioned before Iran was attacked by the US and Israel. josimarfootball.com/2026/03/05/s...

A decade-long zone so flooded that some of the highlights had been forgotten.

Olympic Truce breached by the next Olympics host nation and holder of the FIFA peace prize.

At Crans-Montana, in World Cup ski race week that is why the Swiss resort should be famous. The mood is subdued and respectful of the community's trauma since the New Year's Day fire tragedy. The time for celebration should be the world championships next year. apnews.com/article/skii...

Maybe Britain is totally broken after all.

Separate from Senegal, some of Morocco’s conduct around a home Afcon final – from ball kids to asking CAF, FIFA to re-litigate a ref’s field of play decisions – isn't really worthy of a future World Cup co-host. apnews.com/article/afco...

Stunning photos from Minneapolis, including this one by John Locher for the Associated Press. www.theatlantic.com/photography/...

Donald Trump and the European football economy. The falling US dollar value early last year put a $55M foreign exchange loss into UEFA’s annual accounts. apnews.com/article/uefa...

UEFA confirms PSG’s 144.4M euros/$168M topped the Champions League prize money list in last season’s richer new format. 7 teams got 100M euros compared to 5 in the final season of 32-team, group-stage format. Also, a pay freeze last season for UEFA president Ceferin. apnews.com/article/uefa...

The Olympic women’s downhill on Sunday, Feb. 8 with 41-year-old Lindsey Vonn looks the must-see event, at least until a Canada-USA ice hockey medal game becomes a series of 20-player brawls. apnews.com/article/worl...

Checking the Winter Olympics schedule to see what might bring Donald Trump to Italy, and there is men’s ice hockey on the middle Saturday, Valentine’s Day…

Enough to buy AC Milan again just for fun?

Coaches who were fired from their jobs this season - Mourinho, Solskjaer, Ten Hag, Amorim.

If FIFA listened to real world fans in the first place then this damage limitation would not have been needed. It still remains a fraction of the hundreds of thousands of $21 tickets pledged by the co-host FAs when bidding years ago. apnews.com/article/fifa...

Something worked today. A massive climbdown by FIFA and now there will be some $60 tickets for every game, including the World Cup final, for the most loyal fans of the teams playing in those games.

Who can say in which order McTominay, Tierney and McLean will go 1-2-3 in next year's Puskas Award voting? Until then... www.fifa.com/en/the-best-...

FIFA hosting in Qatar all member federations now on these many newly created committees about a year before the next presidential election campaign. Also an ideal chance to raise the subject of World Cup ticket prices.

One week after the World Cup draw, now the teams' most loyal fans have been hit with their ticket price list, and FIFA has united the world in outrage. Some achievement.

Lindsey Vonn is a truly amazing athlete. apnews.com/article/skii...

Russia making real progress in sports politics without making any concessions in real world politics. apnews.com/article/ioc-...

On Egypt-Iran anger at Seattle for having to play during PrideFest, also in Seattle 2 days earlier is Qatar and that game can be vs. Wales. Rainbow-tinged karma for 2022? Also having Pride festivals each June - Madrid and Lisbon. So, more of this at 2030 World Cup. apnews.com/article/worl...

Ahead of World Cup draw, recall when the FAs in US, Canada, Mexico bid in 2018 their aim/promise was to sell 7% of tickets – about 5,000 in each stadium – in lowest category priced at $21 in group stage. For the final, $128. FIFA did it differently.

Recall that the White House task force leader Andrew Guiliani already called it the MAGA-FIFA World Cup.

A college freshman trying to fly from Boston to Texas to surprise her family for Thanksgiving was deported to Honduras in violation of a court order.

If FIFA has been unable to get a visa to enter the US for a member of its own competitions organizing committee, it doesn't bode well for fans at the World Cup. apnews.com/article/iran...

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro began serving his 27-year prison sentence for leading a coup attempt designed to keep him in office after losing the 2022 presidential elections.

It’s such an obviously egregious and unprecedented ruling that FIFA gave Ronaldo…

This is quite a verdict from FIFA. An astonishing 12 days in the life of Cristiano Ronaldo. apnews.com/article/worl...

All these years coming to FIFA HQ in Zurich and first time in the cemetery next door to see James Joyce. Give the man some respect.

VARs from Poland. The scourge of Newcastle, Bayern Munich and now Scotland.

Strong FIFA Peace Prize vibes.

Amazing how other Portugal players score hat tricks when Ronaldo is dropped/banned from World Cup games. Probably just coincidence.

ICYMI, North Korea retained the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup title. Also won two U-20 WWC titles in the past decade. It's a heartwarming tale.

Congratulations Gianni Infantino for making FIFA a late night punchline again “It’s going to be hilarious when they give it to Obama again.” youtu.be/91i0FxWCCSM?...

The FIFA president who in Qatar was all “today I feel like a migrant worker” has long gone.

Can confirm @robharrisreports.bsky.social predicted exactly this weeks ago.

Champions League finals staying in Europe until at least 2029. UEFA says it's back to Munich in ’28 then in ’29 to Wembley or Camp Nou (if finished by then). If it’s ever going to New York – the speculation story that refuses to die - then 2030 now the next available. apnews.com/article/uefa...

A rare bump in the road for a Saudi-backed, -funded, -hosted, -owned sports event. Shooter games always looked a challenge for IOC's Olympic values. apnews.com/article/ioc-...

A story that does no one in European football any credit. Wander even got on the board at European Club Association when klaxons were sounding from great reporting by @josimarfootball.bsky.social

Why was he there? 🤷‍♂️ Story about another strange Gianni moment, bromance and power. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/14/w...

If this doesn't end the serious ambition Indonesia has had to host a Summer Olympics, it certainly should. apnews.com/article/indo...

Mo Salah scores twice, Egypt beat Djibouti 3-0 and qualify for the 2026 World Cup in north America, where they surely will be one of the most interesting stories.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted “no one has died” as a result of U.S. foreign aid cuts. In Myanmar, the grieving father of a 2-year-old boy who died after their food rations were cut calls such claims a lie.

As the ECA becomes EFC (sorry, Everton), a look at how the influential European Club Association came to be, what it achieved and where it might head as the very influential European Football Clubs apnews.com/article/euro...

Note the hierarchy in play here...

"Those taking part in the so-called 'Gen Z protests' decry what they see as widespread corruption... the flow of billions in investment toward preparation for the 2030 World Cup, while many schools and hospitals lack funds and remain in a dire state." apnews.com/article/moro...