Jibril Rajoub, the president of the Palestine FA, was banned from all soccer activities for the next year by FIFA on Friday, a ruling stemming from words targeting Barcelona star Lionel Messi.

Rajoub had called on fans to burn jerseys and pictures of Messi ahead of a friendly between Argentina and Israel in Jerusalem this summer, saying one of the world’s biggest stars should not “whitewash the face of racism” by attending the match. 

San Jose Earthquakes central defender Guram Kashia was honored with the inaugural UEFA #EqualGame Award on Wednesday for his public stand for the LGBTQ community while with Dutch club SBV Vitesse last season.

Kashia, 31, wore a rainbow captain’s armband with Vitesse along with other captains in the Dutch top division. Unlike most of his fellow captains, Kashia faced harsh criticism, threats and abuse back home in his native Georgia. Nonetheless, he took a stand for equality, despite calls for him to step down from the national team.

The exciting energy and good spirits that come with opening day of the season were soured by a group of Lazio fans on Saturday. Before the Serie A opener, a group of Lazio loyals distributed flyers to those on their way into the Stadio Olimpico telling female fans to steer clear of their “sacred space” within the stadium known as the Curva Nord.

Fox will make history on Sunday. An all-female cast of three announcers will lead the broadcast in a top U.S. men’s sports league for the first time ever, according to FOX Sports. 

Lisa Byington (play-by-play), Danielle Slaton (analyst) and Katie Witham (reporter/host) will join together to call the DC United vs. New England Revolution match on Sunday evening. The nationally televised game will air live on FS1 at 7:30 p.m. ET. 

The cost of watching soccer in the U.S. keeps rising. ESPN announced it would make ESPN+ the exclusive home of the FA Cup in the U.S. on Wednesday, adding to the growing list of soccer subscription services fans must pay for in order to watch soccer, most of which used to come with a basic cable subscription. 

Another bit of news to file into the “It’s 2018 and this is ACTUALLY still happening” file. Premier League champion Manchester City has launched an investigation into discriminatory language used by youth scout Dean Ramsdale made in early June.

During a meeting in front of colleagues and agents at the club, Ramsdale, who joined the Manchester City ranks in 2017 and has more than 20 years of experience in English youth football, is said to have used the acronym “BBQ” when talking about promising youngsters of African descent.

FIFA has finally taken corruption out of the beautiful game. 

According to an Associated Press report, the word “corruption” doesn’t appear anywhere in FIFA’s new code of ethics governing officials and players. And that’s not the only shady new practice the AP revealed.