Money

When Jim Frank first started volunteering as a Withrow High School soccer coach in Cincinnati, he and head coach Tyler Barrott had to base their substitution pattern on the players’ shoe size.

The soccer program had 40 players, almost all international students and most of them refugees, but only 23 pairs of cleats. 

“The disdain or pity on our opponents’ faces as we had to take the time to remove shoes and shin guards during substitutions was the emotional ‘aha’ moment that told me that I needed to do more than just coach these players,” Frank said. 

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is just saying what we’re all thinking, and, often, talking, writing and complaining about. Soccer in America is broken because of one key aspect: pay to play.

Ibrahimovic has left the United States, trading Beverly Hills for Milan after one-and-a-half years with the LA Galaxy. But his time in America left a mark on the Swedish striker.

Four days ago, Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp ruled out a move for PSG’s Kylian Mbappé while lamenting the fact that no club could possibly afford the 20-year-old phenomenon. On Tuesday, Real Madrid reportedly said hold my beer and began preparing a $440 million bid for the World Cup winner.

The National Women’s Soccer League, which just finished its seventh season by crowning the North Carolina Courage as champions, is overhauling its pay structure to try to stay relevant on the global state.

It’s sad, really. The U.S. Soccer Federation has done so much good for women’s soccer, but when it comes to paying the best team in the world more money, it is dragging its feet worse than a kid being taken to the dentist. 

UEFA has, once again, failed to punish racism.

After a slew of racially charged incidents took the spotlight this season, UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin promised tougher punishments for despicable, racist fan behavior. Bulgaria was already serving a partial stadium ban for previous racist incidents and still managed to hurl monkey chants at the England team during Euro qualifiers just a few weeks ago.

UANL defeated Veracruz 3-1 on Friday night in Liga MX. Veracruz vs Tigres 2019 was anything but a normal match.

Veracruz protested unpaid wages — some players having gone five or six months without pay — by refusing to play the opening four minutes, standing still as Tigres players scored two uncontested goals, which proved to be the difference in the match.

The numbers are officially in, and the 2019 Women's World Cup viewership totals are astronomical — double what they were in 2015 by some of the most important metrics.