The General Football Thread

[Fulham Broadway 17,299]

So the model was Urus. An SUV.  Still goes like shit off a shovel though

[YorkshireBlue 3,264]

2 minutes ago, Fulham Broadway said:

So the model was Urus. An SUV.  Still goes like shit off a shovel though

Just been reading he just had minor surgery and the doctors advised him not to fly home, so he was driving to catch a ferry so he could be back in Liverpool by Monday for pre season training. 

[Duppy Conqueror 1,526]

Really sad news..Spanish roads like most in the med,i wouldnt drive on.first time i was in Spain was during the '82 World cup.went on a coach trip between games, going up a winding mountain road,traumatized for life.

[Fulham Broadway 17,299]

19 minutes ago, Duppy Conqueror said:

Really sad news..Spanish roads like most in the med,i wouldnt drive on.first time i was in Spain was during the '82 World cup.went on a coach trip between games, going up a winding mountain road,traumatized for life.

That road from Santander into France and the Pyrenees is sketchy as fuck. Had some scary times driving up to Northern France.

[Vesper 30,079]

8 hours ago, Fulham Broadway said:

So the model was Urus. An SUV.  Still goes like shit off a shovel though

[Fulham Broadway 17,299]

8 hours ago, Vesper said:

0-60 in less than 3 seconds, 800bhp, insane performance 

[KEVINAA 129]

Partey of arsenal charged

 

[Special Juan 28,088]

Just typifies Arsenal, allowed him to play knowing what he did the dirty cunt

[LAM09 7,043]

2 minutes ago, Special Juan said:

Just typifies Arsenal, allowed him to play knowing what he did the dirty cunt

They wanted to renew his contract as well. Sickening. 

Edited July 4 by LAM09

[Fulham Broadway 17,299]

Innocent until guilty - but if you had a player suspected of FIVE rapes and other sexual assaults any club with any morals or standards would suspend them. 

That isnt Arsenal apparently, rape apologists.

[Laylabelle 9,534]

On 03/07/2025 at 17:19, YorkshireBlue said:

Just been reading he just had minor surgery and the doctors advised him not to fly home, so he was driving to catch a ferry so he could be back in Liverpool by Monday for pre season training. 

That makes it worse! His poor mum as well to lose both children. Horrific.

 

[Vesper 30,079]

FIFA dropping anti-racism messages a ‘human rights risk’ for 2026 World Cup, say rights groups

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6473509/2025/07/04/fifa-racism-discrimination-world-cup/

FIFA’s decision to drop messages explicitly challenging racism and discrimination at the Club World Cup “signals a human rights risk” for next year’s men’s World Cup finals in the United States, according to a coalition of 15 human rights groups.

The Athletic reported on June 16 that no videos, signage or marketing assets referencing anti-racism and anti-discrimination slogans would be displayed in U.S. venues hosting the FIFA Club World Cup, despite such promotional content being developed ahead of the tournament.

The Dignity 2026 Coalition — via Human Rights Watch, a founding member — said FIFA, world football’s governing body, should publish the reasons for doing so and should reinstate the messaging for the rest of the tournament, as well as for next summer’s World Cup.

FIFA did display the messaging on Wednesday, June 18, to mark International Day for Countering Hate Speech, but that has not been replicated throughout the competition.

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Earlier this week, supporters at Monterrey’s Club World Cup last-16 game against Borussia Dortmund were warned by FIFA that the game could be suspended after homophobic chants were heard repeatedly during the second half. The match finished before any further action was taken.

There have not been any announcements from FIFA within stadiums explaining the organisation’s anti-racism protocols or its “universal anti-racism gesture” which was rolled out in September last year and was supposed to be applied to all competitions.

The lack of messaging stands in contrast to recent FIFA-run tournaments when messages were displayed on in-stadium screens and across social media, such as at the 2023 Women’s World Cup held in Australia and New Zealand and the 2022 men’s World Cup in Qatar.

The Dignity 2026 coalition contains 15 national-level human rights groups, labour unions and worker networks, along with fans, athletes’ organisations and migrant rights groups, which represent the interests of affected communities around next summer’s men’s World Cup.

 

(Alex Grimm/Getty Images)

FIFA’s decision not to carry such messaging for this summer’s tournament has been described as an “inexplicable and inexcusable step backward” by Minky Worden, director of global initiatives at Human Rights Watch.

Bailey Brown, president of the leading North American alliance of fan groups the Independent Supporters Council, said FIFA were risking “normalising discrimination and undermining the progress made in soccer in recent years” by scaling back on their messaging.

“FIFA’s retreat from basic anti-discrimination commitments sends a chilling message that discrimination will be tolerated,” said Andrea Florence, executive director of the Sport & Rights Alliance.

FIFA’s decision was criticised as “a shocking setback for efforts to end homophobia and transphobia in sport” by Hudson Taylor, executive director of Athlete Ally, which fights for equal access, opportunity, and experience in sports.

FIFA was asked to “clarify the reasons for this sudden reversal and to reaffirm its commitment to human rights, anti-racism, and equality,” by Jamal R. Watkins, senior vice president of strategy and advancement at the NAACP, an American civil rights organization for African Americans.

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In its statement to The Athletic last month, FIFA did not explain why they have reduced their in-tournament messaging for this competition in the United States, if competing clubs had been consulted on the matter or if the slogans would return for the 2026 men’s World Cup, which will be held across the U.S., Mexico and Canada.

A FIFA spokesperson said: “FIFA has a firm, zero-tolerance stance against all forms of discrimination and racism. This commitment was recently reinforced through the unanimous approval by the FIFA Council of the revised FIFA Disciplinary Code, which introduces new measures to fight racist abuse — including increased minimum bans for racist incidents and enhanced financial penalties as duly informed to the 75th FIFA Congress in Asuncion in May 2025.”

FIFA also said its three-step anti-discrimination procedure is in effect should incidents occur, while adding that a social media protection service is available to players and match officials, which helps hide abuse from their social media channels.

[NikkiCFC 8,286]

 

[nyikolajevics 2,689]

10 hours ago, Special Juan said:

Just typifies Arsenal, allowed him to play knowing what he did the dirty cunt

So, timeline should be like:

1. Arsenal buys him for big money in 2020-

2. He commits these crimes in 2021 and 2022(as for the charges)

3. Investigation ongoing

4. Three days after his contract expires, he gets officially charged with his name going on public. Arsenal communicates "he is not our player anymore, we cannot comment"

Wonder if it's coincidental. Met police politely took their time to investigate so he can fulfill his contract and Arsenal didn't have to face PR-nightmare.

[Johnnyeye 7,501]

Still in shock about what happened to Diogo Jota and his brother, such a big tragedy, horrible way to go. Jota just got married with the love of his live, he was in delight and had the world at his feet both professionally and personally, but in a split moment it’s all taken away from him, now his wife and 3 children have to live without him. I can’t even imagine what the parents of Diogo and Andre are going trough, there are not enough words to describe this, this is simply gut wrenching and heartbreaking💔

Many condolences to his family and friends. May both brothers rest in peace.

😢❤️🙏🕊️

[Laylabelle 9,534]

Seen Liverpool are going to pay his contract in full 

[Vesper 30,079]

8 hours ago, Laylabelle said:

Seen Liverpool are going to pay his contract in full 

ultra rare class move from the scouse vermin

although I wager they will have taken out insurance on all their players long ago

[Vesper 30,079]

FIFA opens New York office in U.S. president’s Trump Tower

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6479639/2025/07/08/fifa-trump-tower-new-york-club-world-cup/

FIFA’s close relationship with Donald Trump is about to become even closer as the U.S. president is set to become its landlord, with world football’s governing body opening a New York office in Trump Tower.

FIFA boss Gianni Infantino has spent the last year forging ever stronger links with Trump, visiting the White House and the president’s Florida base Mar-a-Lago on numerous occasions, as well as accompanying him on a recent tour of the Gulf, a trip Infantino prioritised over FIFA’s annual congress in Paraguay in May.

That decision drew sharp criticism from European football chiefs. Infantino, however, believes he must have a good relationship with the leader of the nation that is hosting the current Club World Cup and most of next year’s men’s World Cup, as well as being football’s largest growth market.

And the 55-year-old Swiss football administrator would point to the inclusion of $625million of security funding for the World Cup in Trump’s “big, beautiful” budget bill as proof that his approach is working.

Infantino was at an event at Trump Tower on Monday to launch a five-day exhibition of the Club World Cup trophy when he announced that FIFA would be moving in.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DL1TtxoI-Jo/

With Trump’s son Eric stood beside him, Infantino said: “FIFA (is) a global organisation (and) to be global, you have to be local, you have to be everywhere.

“We have to be in New York – not just for the FIFA Club World Cup this year and the FIFA World Cup next year – we have to be in New York as well when it comes to where our offices are based.

“So, today, we are opening an office of New York here in Trump Tower. Thank you, Eric, thank you to everyone. Thanks, of course, to President Trump as well, who is a big fan of soccer.”

While some will greet this news with a shrug and point out that Trump Tower is as good a site as any for a base in the city which is hosting your organisation’s most important events, others will be less impressed.

Infantino’s critics, of which there are many, will note that FIFA has only just opened a huge office in Miami, where it has moved most of its legal department, and also has a significant presence in Toronto, where there is an office of staff working on next summer’s tournament.

In fact, having only needed one base in Zurich for most of its 121-year history, Infantino has been opening offices around the globe for a decade, including an expensive operation in Paris that he has already started to wind down.

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There are also unhappy institutional memories of Trump Tower itself, as it was the home of the late Chuck Blazer, the U.S. football administrator whose testimony as a government informant brought down Infantino’s predecessor Sepp Blatter a decade ago and almost destroyed FIFA.

Blazer, in fact, had two apartments in the 58-story skyscraper, one for him, one for his cats. And he was not the only disgraced member of the old regime to reside there, as Brazilian football chief Jose Maria Marin was kept there under house arrest for his part in the FIFA corruption scandal.

And then there is the wider and thornier issue of the increasingly blurred lines between Trump the president and Trump the businessman, as many will point to this as yet another example of the president’s family using his political position for their own commercial benefit.

Even if the Trumps are giving FIFA the space for a reduced rate or even for no charge at all, having FIFA as a tenant is a marketing coup.

(Photo: Ira L. Black – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)