Andrés Guardado simply will not stop. He’s the epitome of hard work, strength of character and desire for all of the Americas. 

A born fighter, Guardado does not keep his battles solely on the field. He inspires others to work towards the betterment of themselves and the world around them.

He tackles the battle against breast cancer, pushing for global awareness and activisim, in the same way he'd fly into a tackle for El Tri.

Pele has been released from the hospital in good health after undergoing surgery on his back. He was admitted into the Albert Einstein hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil, after suffering from a trapped nerve.  

The question of whether or not Russia should host the 2018 World Cup still remains in the air after recent stories of corruption from Sepp Blatter and FIFA have risen. Should plans for the next World Cup stay the same, more issues besides corruption will come to light during the summer tournament. 

Relegation is for chumps, right? Only proven losers and journeyman pros ever drop into the lower reaches of the football league structure.

Wrong. As our helpful little list below will show you, some of the most decorated players in the history of the game have been relegated from the Premier League. We have Champions League victors, Ballon d’Or winners, La Liga winners, Olympic Gold medalists and multiple-time Premier League champions.

How many of these great players did you know had been relegated from the Barclays Premier League?

2014 saw the deaths of some prominent figures in the soccer community. We here at The18 thought it would be a good idea to honor those who passed away this calendar year with mini bios on each of the departed. The soccer community already misses these individuals. 

Cristiano Ronaldo is from Madeira, a little island off of the coast of Portugal and it is not surprising that his persona is probably the biggest export to come from the petite island. The Real Madrid goal-scoring machine (who has 25 goals in 15 La Liga matches) has a museum dedicated to his likeness on the island, and this past weekend they added another memento to honor the Portuguese star: A statue.  

Except there are two problems with this statue.

#1: It looks nothing like Cristiano Ronaldo:

With Christmas just around the corner and Santa putting his final touches on his naughty and nice list, we here at The18 thought we’d put together our own list of soccer’s naughtiest and nicest personas of 2014. 

Naughty 

Luis Suarez

We’re a site of the people here at The18. Upon request, after our recent article about "The Best Instagram Accounts Of Soccer Wives & Girlfriends," we put together (with the help of some of our female staff) a compilation of Instagram accounts of the best looking soccer players in the world.

So, ladies, pull out your smartphones and hit the follow button, because these footballers have the looks to match their skills. Here are the hottest soccer player Instagram accounts: 

There’s no two ways about it. The 2022 Qatar World Cup is a disaster. The topic is one that we’ve payed close attention to here at The18, especially the human working conditions, which are pretty much akin to modern day slavery. According to the International Trade Union, an estimated 4,000 people will die building the infrastructure for the 2022 World Cup given the current rate of on-the-job deaths, and it seems like no one is doing anything about it.

Soccer, like all sports, is a game of unpredictability. No two situations are alike, and players must constantly be willing to adapt in order to succeed. This season, the pinnacle of this adaptation is the face-save by the most trend-forward goal keepers across the globe.