FIFA

Argentine President Javier Milei fired a sports undersecretary who urged Lionel Messi to apologize for a racist song controversy.

The president of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the world’s largest global soccer organization, issued a message of condolence on Monday following the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.

Ex-Spanish FA president Luis Rubiales, who was accused of sexual assault for forcibly kissing a female player on the lips.

BERLIN (AP) — The German soccer federation and Adidas have stopped the sale of Germany jerseys with the number 44 because of a resemblance to the logo of the Nazi Party’s notorious SS paramilitary units.

The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) confirmed on Tuesday that the kingdom of Saudi Arabia would host the 2034 World Cup, outraging human rights activists who decried “sportswashing” by the country to improve its reputation despite abuse of its citizens.

The Spanish government has opened an inquiry into Spanish Soccer Federation President Luis Rubiales after he kissed Spanish female soccer star Jennifer Hermoso on the lips following the country’s World Cup victory.

The mother of the Spanish soccer federation president has started a hunger strike in a church in southern Spain in defense of her son, who is under fire for kissing a player during the recent Women’s World Cup awards ceremony.

FIFA suspended Spanish soccer federation president Luis Rubiales over kissing a player on the lips after the team won the World Cup.

The English Women’s World Cup team was branded as being too full of “blonde, blue eyed” players in the legacy media.

Spain won its first Women’s World Cup title, holding off England 1-0 on Sunday after Olga Carmona’s first-half goal.

Mathias Normann terminated his contract with the team and left Russia after a drone strike on buildings near the neighborhood where he lived.

FIFA, has denied Indonesia’s bid to host the Under-20 men’s World Cup due to the predominantly Muslim country’s attacks on Israel.

The National Women’s Soccer League thinks that the new version of the FIFA 23 video game portrays “people of color” offensively.

Reports circulating this week that Visit Saudi, the official tourism board of Saudi Arabia, would sponsor the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup prompted an eruption of outrage in the soccer world and a loud protest on Wednesday by host nations Australia and New Zealand that they were not involved in the approval process.

SAO PAULO (AP) — Pelé, the Brazilian king of soccer who won a record three World Cups and became one of the most commanding sports figures of the last century, died Thursday. He was 82.

The international soccer organization FIFA confirmed on Thursday that it had launched an investigation into Turkish celebrity chef Nusret Gökçe, popularly known as “Salt Bae.”

The international soccer organization FIFA denied a request from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to address viewers of Sunday’s World Cup final in Qatar, left-wing outlet CNN reported on Friday.

So many journalists have died at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar that the global soccer organization announced on Tuesday it had reserved areas in its media centers for condolence books to honor the dead.

FIFPRO responded with outrage upon learning that Iranian player Amir Nasr-Azadani faces a possible death sentence.

United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan visited Qatar on Monday, meeting with the nation’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani and congratulating the country on hosting the FIFA World Cup, the world’s most prestigious soccer tournament.

The international soccer organization FIFA claimed in a statement on Wednesday that it had intervened to prevent officials in Qatar from seizing “permitted items” from fans entering stadiums, a message interpreted to mean that fans will now be allowed to bring LGBT messages and anti-Iran banners into the games.

The head of a top Qatari government agency admitted this week to “between 400 and 500” worker deaths during the construction of facilities for the FIFA World Cup — a much larger figure than the 40 the Islamist regime had admitted to in the past.

Images of FIFA World Cup coverage on China’s state broadcaster appeared to remove crowd shots showing large groups of people gathering without wearing sanitary masks, multiple international outlets observed this weekend.

Former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair has told Britons not to criticise World Cup hosts Qatar too much, saying that the Arab nation frequently invests in the UK.

The country of Denmark has started to actively consider exiting FIFA alongside other nations over the ban on OneLove armbands at World Cup. 

The Mideast Islamist state of Qatar has faced years of criticism for its widely documented human rights abuses and accusations of bribery after FIFA awarded it the hosting rights to this year’s World Cup soccer tournament.

The Nation’s sports editor Dave Zirin said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Deadline” that the United States was dealing with “similar trends” towards LGBTQ people when discussing Qatar’s LGBTQ rights record, which included homosexuality being a crime.

In light of the Muslim nation’s ban on alcohol sales, except for the elites watching the games from the luxury suites, of course. Budweiser has decided to award a portion of the beer they had planned to sell to fans to the team who wins the World Cup.

Pro-regime publications in Iran excused the poor performance of its soccer team in its FIFA World Cup debut with multiple articles on Tuesday blaming the anti-Islamist protest movement that has rallied unabated for months for waging “psychological warfare” against the players.

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Discriminatory chants allegedly by Ecuador fans at the World Cup opening game led FIFA to open the first disciplinary case of the tournament on Tuesday.

The Germans lined up in the traditional formation before Wednesday’s game against Japan and each of the 11 players covered their mouth with their right hand.

LUSAIL, Qatar (AP) — Saudi Arabia scored one of the biggest World Cup upsets ever by beating Lionel Messi’s Argentina 2-1 on Tuesday.

Al-Qaeda and regional affiliate al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) both published messages this weekend condemning the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, accusing the Islamist nation of attracting “immoral people, homosexuals, sowers of corruption and atheism” to the Middle East.

England, Wales, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands and Switzerland have backed down on wearing LGBT armbands at the Qatar World Cup.

The end of beer sales at the World Cup is being felt as fans from Ecuador are making their displeasure at the lack of suds known.

Qatar and FIFA initially planned to allow beer sales in the World Cup stadiums but reneged on that decision.