44 h. ago Football Daily | Infantino awaits his ‘big bang’ as Club World Cup refuses to slide away

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now!Like Dr John Hammond and his scientists in Jurassic Park, Gianni Infantino and his fawning Fifa lickspittles have spent recent years so preoccupied with whether or not they could, that they didn’t stop to think if they should. The upshot is that a preposterously lucrative tournament described by its creator as “a big bang” has been crowbarred into an already jam-packed calendar. And the largesse of its in-no-way unethically sourced prize-money for those participating now threatens to destroy several already under-threat footballing ecosystems around the world.I want to talk about my mate. My buddy. The bloke I loved and will miss like crazy. I could talk about him as a player for hours, but none of that feels like it matters right now. It’s the man. The person. He was such a good guy. The best. So genuine. Just normal and real. Full of love for the people he cared about. Full of fun. He was the most British foreign player I’ve ever ...

Sport

3 d. ago Fifa urged to stand up against Donald Trump’s immigration policies ahead of 2026 World Cup

An open letter to Fifa president Gianni Infantino is begging for the governing body to protect fans

Politics

1 week ago Cristiano Ronaldo 'to sign new contract' after awkward transfer tease falls flat

Cristiano Ronaldo is close to extending his contract with Al Nassr despite the forward claiming his "chapter is over" and FIFA boss Gianni Infantino hinting he could be on the move

Events

1 week ago New Zealanders hail Auckland City as "heroic" and "remarkable" after famous draw with Boca Juniors

It might not have been the shot heard around the world but it was a goal that reverbrated 8,000 miles away when Auckland City FC held Boca Juniors to a 1-1 draw at the FIFA Club World Cup

Politics

1 week 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

2 w. ago Cult of celebrity feels like a fundamental tension at the heart of the game

The individual walk-ons at Club World Cup underline Fifa’s failure to understand that football is a team sport – just ask PSGIt is in the details that the truest picture emerges. Quite aside from the endless politicking, the forever-war with Uefa, the consorting with autocrats and the intriguing broadcast rights and partnership deals, there has been, not a new, but growing sense during the Club World Cup that Fifa doesn’t really get football. There is something cargo-cultish about it, creating outcomes without engaging in processes.Perhaps that is inevitable with Gianni Infantino’s style of leadership; like all populists, he is big on vision and short on practical reality. It was there in the expansion of the World Cup to 48 teams. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Fifa’s embrace of cult of celebrity reveals a fundamental tension at the heart of the game | Jonathan Wilson

The individual walk-ons at Club World Cup underline Fifa’s failure to understand that football is a team sport – just ask PSGIt is in the details that the truest picture emerges. Quite aside from the endless politicking, the forever-war with Uefa, the consorting with autocrats and the intriguing broadcast rights and partnership deals, there has been, not a new, but growing sense during the Club World Cup that Fifa doesn’t really get football. There is something cargo-cultish about it, creating outcomes without engaging in processes.Perhaps that is inevitable with Gianni Infantino’s style of leadership; like all populists, he is big on vision and short on practical reality. It was there in the expansion of the World Cup to 48 teams. Continue reading...

Sport

2 w. 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

2 w. ago FIFA's Club World Cup branded a 'disaster' with just over 3,000 fans in attendance at 25,500

Chelsea's opening match against Los Angeles FC, played at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, was more than three-quarters empty with just 22,000 fans inside the 75,000-capacity venue.

Events

2 w. 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

2 w. 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

2 w. 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

3 w. 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

3 w. ago Can Lionel Messi and Inter Miami really spring a surprise at the Club World Cup?

The Club World Cup will take Inter Miami from start-up to the global stage

Politics

3 w. ago Borrowed culture and a plasticine burger – welcome to the Club World Cup and almost

Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami play in Saturday’s opener but people still look blank when asked about Fifa’s $1bn eventFire up the marching band. Rouse the majorettes from their state of indifference. Put out more flags. Put out some flags. Put out a flag. Er is anyone actually there? IShowSpeed? Can you hear me Pitbull? Welcome to the almost-World Cup, an almost-real almost-event that will perhaps, with a favourable wind, now begin to feel like almost-football.­This week Gianni Infantino described Fifa’s regeared tournament as football’s Big Bang, referencing the moment of ignition from which all the matter in the universe was dispersed out of a previously cold and indifferent void. And to be fair, Infantino was half-right. So far we have the void. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. 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

3 w. 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

3 w. 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

3 w. ago Football transfer rumours: Gittens to Chelsea before first deadline closes?

This stuff is just looking for somethingThe summer’s first transfer window will close on Tuesday night at 7pm UK time ahead of the Fifa Club World Cup so watch out for some last-minute jobs to fill up squads for Gianni Infantino’s folly. Will Manchester City get Rayan Cherki signed in time? Chelsea are after a keeper in Milan’s Mike Maignan and want to add Jamie Gittens of Borussia Dortmund to their winger collection. Both deals may go to the wire.When Bournemouth were flying high in mid-winter there was a fun game to play. Less fun if you were a Cherries fan, of course, but the game was to fit their unearthed gems with the clubs they would end up at. Dean Huijsen to Real Madrid was unexpected but then again Illia Zabarnyi to PSG, actual European champions, may well trump that. The club are prepared to sell, at the right price, but have demanded a £59m fee for the Ukrainian. Continue reading...

Sport

3 w. ago Nothing will change – Cristiano Ronaldo intends to remain at Al Nassr

There had been speculation the five-time Ballon d’Or winner could join a club competing in this summer’s Club World Cup on a short-term deal.

Politics