6 h. ago Chelsea star agrees with FIFA president Gianni Infantino over Club World Cup controversy

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has claimed that the players "love" the revamped Club World Cup and Chelsea star Pedro Neto seems to agree with that assessment

Politics

3 d. ago Baffled Juventus players hit out at 'weird' White House meeting with Donald Trump after president launched tirade on trans athletes and Iran

The bizarre interaction occurred at the Oval Office - with FIFA president Gianni Infantino also present - and no explanation has been given as to why the gathering took place.

Politics

5 d. ago David Squires on gimmicks and surprise guests as the Club World Cup kicks off

Our cartoonist looks back at the opening games and empty seats as Gianni Infantino’s vanity project finally beganBuy a copy of David’s cartoons in our Print ShopDavid’s new book, Chaos in the Box: buy it now Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago No kings, few fans: USA’s year of World Cups gets off to a flat start

Fifa’s much-hyped Club World Cup and Concacaf’s Gold Cup opened to crowds far short of what organizers might have hopedSign up for Soccer with Jonathan Wilson hereThat the two events should coincide was so perfect as to almost feel heavy-handed. Donald Trump’s comically underattended military parade lurched through Washington DC at the exact same time on Saturday as the overwrought opening ceremony unspooled for Fifa’s beleaguered Club World Cup, in a definitely-not-full Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.Trump’s jingoistic birthday bust contrasted painfully with the multimillion-strong turnout at the “No Kings” anti-Trump rallies that gathered all over the country. The Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, meanwhile – or “Johnny”, as Trump pronounces the name of one of his favorite allies in the sports world – had promised the opening match of the swollen tournament he forced down the soccer world’s throat would be sold out. Instead, attendance between Inter Miami and Al Ahly, a fitting 0-0 st...

Politics

7 d. ago Auckland City shut down Kane .. and concede 10 against Bayern at Club World Cup

German champions have 31 shots during routNew Zealand part-timers suffer through tough afternoonThe good news for Auckland City was that they stopped Harry Kane scoring on Sunday afternoon in Cincinnati. The bad news was that his Bayern Munich teammates were a little more prolific, scoring 10 between them in the opening match of their Club World Cup campaign.If Gianni Infantino, the Fifa president, was hoping his expanded Club World Cup – now containing 32 teams, playing across four weeks in 11 US cities – would showcase the depth of talent in global football, this was not a good example. The statistics were excruciating: the German champions had 31 shots – 17 of them on target – to Auckland’s one, and enjoyed 72% of possession. Continue reading...

Politics

8 d. ago The Club World Cup is a grubby, contrived vanity project of Gianni Infantino that was neither needed nor asked for

RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: There are some nice angles to FIFA's Club World Cup . Here's one: Auckland City. Here's another: their goalkeeper. That would be a guy named Conor Tracey.

Politics

9 d. ago Football Daily | ‘Suited and booted’? Club World Cup lands in a furnace of political tension

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now!After years of existing only as a fever dream inside the shiny, spacious cranium of Fifa’s greatest showman, Gianni Infantino, the first edition of an expanded, summertime Club World Cup that nobody asked for is finally here. Infantino’s most ambitious vanity project to date is about to collide with reality, and as students of the Swiss school of football farce, we’re excited. It’s not so much a question of what will go wrong over the next 30 sun-baked days in an increasingly dystopian USA USA USA, but what might actually go right. Saturday’s opener pitches Egyptian giants Al-Ahly (who qualified by winning the 2021 African Big Cup) against MLS middleweights Inter Miami (who qualified by having Lionel Messi in their team) at the 65,000-capacity Hard Rock Stadium. Fifa has denied reports that fewer than 20,000 tickets have been sold for the game in Miami, but the tournament’s dynamic pricing model is trending in one direction: from $3...

Politics

9 d. ago Gianni Infantino arrives at his moment but football’s response is coming

As the ‘King of Soccer’ launches his Club World Cup alongside Donald Trump, opponents to the Fifa president are wondering whether he has pushed his power too far, writes Miguel Delaney

Sport

1 week ago How Infantino used Trump and the Club World Cup to open up football’s next cash cow

Fifa’s new tournament has been divisive and Miguel Delaney outlines how it could reshape football’s future and where the power ultimately lies

Politics

1 week ago How Infantino embraced Trump and the Club World Cup as a political football

Fifa’s new tournament has been divisive and Miguel Delaney outlines how it could reshape football’s future and where the power ultimately lies

Politics

1 week ago Why Cristiano Ronaldo's Club World Cup refusal is still a victory for Gianni Infantino

FIFA's president says the Club World Cup is the pinnacle of the game but absence of Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the two defining players of the past 25 years, is now being framed as a major blow

Politics

1 week ago David Squires on Infantino’s Club World Cup buildup in the land of Trump

Our cartoonist looks ahead to Fifa’s $1bn bonanza hosted amid unrest in the United StatesBuy a copy of a cartoon in our Print ShopDavid’s new book, Chaos in the Box: buy it now Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Cristiano Ronaldo REJECTS transfer offers as rivals fail with Club World Cup plan

Cristiano Ronaldo has confirmed that he will not be at the Club World Cup, despite comments from FIFA president Gianni Infantino last month suggesting he would be

Events

3 w. ago Cristiano Ronaldo sends cryptic message over next club after Al Nassr’s season ends

FIFA president Gianni Infantino claimed ‘discussions’ were happening over a move which would allow Ronaldo to feature in the Club World Cup this summer

Politics

4 w. ago Gianni Infantino claims Cristiano Ronaldo could play in Club World Cup

The FIFA president says there are ‘discussions’ over a move for the 40-year-old whose Al Nassr contract is due to expire this summer.

Politics