FIFA Did A Bunch Of Shady Shit This Week

There is a lot of corruption going on in the world, but not at FIFA, no siree. Since numerous top officials were arrested two years ago, and longtime president Sepp Blatter was ousted and replaced by the much chiller Gianni Infantino, one might assume that FIFA now takes corruption and ethics seriously and that things…

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FIFA Opens Investigation Into Paul Pogba's Transfer To Manchester United

According to reports, FIFA has decided to investigate last summer’s record-breaking transfer of Paul Pogba from Juventus to Manchester United. It’s not clear which aspect of the deal piqued FIFA’s suspicions, but presumably it has something to do with recent reports about the transfer and Pogba’s contractual terms.

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Ten Years Ago, Dead Or Alive Launched The Careers Of The Highest-Paid Women Pro Gamers

Vanessa Arteaga had been playing fighting games since she was a child, long before she became one of the highest-paid women in competitive gaming history—but her tens of thousands in winnings still pale in comparison to the millions that her male peers have made in competitive gaming in the years since.

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Woman Who Doesn’t Know Who Won Most Recent Women’s World Cup Elected To FIFA Council

Mahfuza Akhter Kiron of Bangladesh was elected to FIFA’s Asian Football Council today, occupying one of six places on the council that are specifically reserved for a woman. She defeated Australia’s Moya Dodd, an outspoken advocate of including more women in soccer’s governing bodies, 27 votes to 17.

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FIFA's Four-Match Suspension Of Lionel Messi Overturned On Appeal

A little over a month ago, some snitches in the Chile soccer federation ratted out Lionel Messi for saying some mildly harsh words to a referee after an international match. FIFA suspended Messi for four matches in response, endangering Argentina’s chances to qualify for the World Cup and threatening to deprive all…

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FIFA Anti-Corruption Committee Member Admits To Taking Nearly $1 Million In Bribes

Richard Lai, the president of the Guam Football Association and a member of FIFA’s corruption-fighting audit and compliance committee, pleaded guilty yesterday in U.S. federal court to fraud charges arising from his admission to taking almost $1 million in bribes. Lest you were wondering if FIFA is still FIFA.

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Esports Will Become A Medal Event At The 2022 Asian Games

Competitive video games will become a medal sport for the first time ever at the 2022 Asian Games, the Olympic Council of Asia announced. They will appear as a demonstration event at the 2018 edition of the next Asian Games, held in Indonesia, as part of the run-up to esports’ official inclusion as a medal sport in…

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FIFA Suspends Lionel Messi Four Matches For Yelling At Referee

FIFA handed Lionel Messi a four-match suspension from international play today in response to an incident after last week’s Argentina-Chile match when Messi was seen insulting a referee. With only five matches left in a World Cup Qualifying process in which Argentina have struggled, there is a very real possibility…

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Ireland's Seamus Coleman Gets His Leg Snapped By Welsh Defender In World Cup Qualifier 

Ireland defender Seamus Coleman was stretchered off the field during a World Cup qualifying match against Wales today, after a flying tackle by Welsh defender Neil Taylor appeared to snap his leg. Taylor was immediately issued a red card.

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Neymar Beat Uruguay's Keeper With A Devilish Little Chip Shot

In a World Cup qualifying match tonight, Neymar scored a very cheeky goal to put Brazil up 3-1 against Uruguay. When the ball leaves his foot, it looks like he might have skied it, but it dips under the crossbar, landing just over the line. (Take care to note Miranda’s assist on this goal, too.)

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What FIFA And The Cameroon National Team Are Doing To Joël Matip Is A Travesty

Sepp Blatter may have been ousted from the corrupt and labyrinthine bureaucracy he constructed out of the billions of dollars that FIFA funnels in from the world’s love of soccer, but lest you worry that the organization isn’t as perplexingly, exasperatingly stupid as before, we have the case of Liverpool, the…

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The Spy Who Compiled The Golden Showers Dossier Helped Bring Down Sepp Blatter

A day after Donald Trump held a press conference to decry Buzzfeed’s reporting, spout nonsensically about how he doesn’t do treason, and claim that he wouldn’t take part in a golden shower party because he’s a germaphobe, the Wall Street Journal has reported the identity of the British spy who helped compile the…

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The World Cup Is Probably Expanding To 48 Teams, But That Might Be Okay

The docket at the FIFA governing council’s meeting tomorrow morning in Zurich includes the following items: “Approval of the Media and Marketing Regulations for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Bahamas 2017”; “Monitoring Committee Israel-Palestine”; as well as “Format of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.”

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Real Madrid's Transfer Ban Reduced To One Window

Real Madrid’s appeal of a FIFA-imposed two-window transfer ban for violations in the signing of foreign youth players has been successful, as the Court of Arbitration for Sport today reduced that initial penalty to a single window, citing errors in FIFA’s investigation as justification for why they reduced the sanction.

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