The Iranian national team, which will play its first match at the #2026WorldCup, had taken to the field with school bags to commemorate the 175 children who lost their lives in a school bombed by the United States in the city of Minab during its final warm-up match.
FIFA is proposing that the opening match of their upcoming under-15s football festival should be Palestine against Israel. (via The NYT)
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The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (#EZLN), through its spokesperson Subcomandante Marcos, published a striking letter regarding the #2026WorldCup.
In the text titled “Love and Heartbreak According to Football,” Marcos criticizes the fact that the world's attention is focused on the World Cup while more than 135,000 people remain disappeared in Mexico, mothers continue searching for their children, Indigenous communities are being forcibly displaced, and social crises persist across the country.
Throughout the letter, FIFA, national federations, and the system that is increasingly turning football into a spectacle and a commercial product are criticized. According to Marcos, the problem is not football itself, but its transformation into a massive industry controlled by corporations, sponsors, and executives, detached from ordinary people.
Despite this, Marcos stresses that football can still be a tool of resistance. He points to banners in the stands, acts of solidarity, and Lamine Yamal raising a Palestinian flag during Barcelona's title celebrations as examples that football can still give a voice to the people.
The most striking part of the letter is the following passage:
“The most important thing about this World Cup will not happen inside the stadiums, but in the streets and on the fields, on the coasts and in the mountains. Because what will take place there will not be a spectacle, but memory and struggle, resistance and rebellion.”
According to Marcos, the World Cup will come and go. However, the stories of families searching for their disappeared loved ones, Indigenous peoples, and those fighting for justice will continue long after the tournament is over.
I am deeply grateful for the overwhelming support, encouragement, and kind messages I have received from people around the world. Your solidarity has reminded me that football unites us beyond borders. Thank you to everyone.
This is Bharti Fulmali, her story is one of perseverance and late recognition in Indian women's cricket.
She began playing cricket at around 13 years of age and made her senior domestic debut when she was just 17 for the Vidarbha Women's Cricket Team.
Unlike some Indian stars who came through national age-group teams quickly, Fulmali spent many years grinding in domestic cricket. She consistently performed for Vidarbha and became known for her fearless batting style and ability to hit sixes. She made her India debut in 2019 but did not become a regular member of the Indian team.
Many players would have given up, but she continued working on her game in domestic cricket. For several years she remained outside the national setup while continuing to score runs and perform consistently.
The arrival of the WPL gave Fulmali another opportunity to showcase her talent. Her powerful batting in domestic cricket and franchise cricket brought her back into the spotlight. She became known as an explosive middle-order batter capable of changing matches quickly. Following two good WPL seasons she has earned her place back in the India set up and scored an impressive 56 of 40 balls.
She has spoken at length how people judge her on her look and against societal expectations of what a woman should look like. Not every female has the archetypal feminine looks.
She is a female playing womens cricket, judge her on her cricketing ability and that alone. Anyone who questions her gender does for clicks or $$ is a disgusting human.
I've always believed that Maradona’s expulsion from the 94 World Cup had far more to do with his friendship with Castro and his outspoken anti-imperialist politics than it did with doping. They couldn’t stand the prospect of him captivating audiences on U.S. soil.
The same dynamic seems to be playing out again. This World Cup is being heavily politicized. We’re already seeing what look like humiliation rituals directed at African countries, while efforts are made to ensure that nations viewed as geopolitical adversaries don’t get the opportunity to shine on American soil.
Meanwhile, the more credible security threat comes from America’s own gun-heavy society and the possibility of mass shootings carried out by private citizens. What a shame. FIFA could hardly have chosen a worse host.
When the U.K. Foreign Office considered denying North Koreans visas to play at the 1966 World Cup, FIFA told the FA that they would immediately relocate the tournament.
That was when FIFA still had something remotely resembling a spine.