Off the Pitch

During Lockdown, A Former Spurs Legend Has Made Nearly 1,000 Calls To Vulnerable Fans

For most people, it’s a chore to get them to call their parents every once in a while, even during Covid-19 lockdown. For former Tottenham legend Gary Mabbutt, it’s a daily ritual to call other folks’ parents.

The One Sports Game That Outshines FIFA In Music

Until our top thinkers figure out how to break our current understanding of physics and develop time travel, the only real way to go visit the past is through music. Listen to an old album and you’ll immediately be transported back to when you first heard the music.

In this way, FIFA has always been my barometer for the passage of time, having been playing the series regularly for over 20 years. 

Barcelona's Potential New Signing Is A Rapper On The Side, But Does He Have Bars? Here Are His 5 Best Lines

Barcelona is reportedly close to announcing the signing of Dutch striker and worldwide rap artist Memphis Depay. The full-time footballer, part-time rapper caught the eye of the Catalan club after helping Olympique Lyonnais reach the 2019 Champions League semifinal. We know he’s a talented footballer, but is Memphis Depay a good rapper?

He’s definitely not the most popular rapper, that’s for sure. His monthly listener count on Spotify isn’t anything to gawk at.

Why Is This Ex-Football Chief Still Free After Being Found Guilty Of Sexually Abusing Female Players?

KABUL — Pressure is mounting in Afghanistan for the arrest of the fugitive former head of the national soccer federation, who was banned from the sport for life last year after FIFA's ethics committee found him guilty of sexually abusing female players.

Keramuudin Karim, 58, is accused by the attorney general's office of repeated abuse of at least five female footballers between 2013 and 2018 during his time as president of the Afghanistan Football Federation (AFF).

Bologna Coach Throws His Kids Under Bus After Testing Positive For Covid-19

MILAN — Bologna coach Sinisa Mihajlovic believes his children might have infected him with COVID-19, he said on Saturday after being forced to miss his team's pre-season training camp for the second year running.

Mihajlovic, who was diagnosed with leukaemia in July last year, said he remained asymptomatic and denied that he had done anything that could have put himself at risk.

Alleged Football Leaks Mastermind Says He’s Proud Of His Whistleblowing

LISBON — The Portuguese man behind the Football Leaks website said at the start of his trial on Friday that he was proud to be a whistleblower on European soccer clubs' big-money dealings.

Rui Pinto, a 31-year-old former history student and self-taught computer mastermind, faces 90 charges — from unauthorised access to data and violation of correspondence to attempted extortion — in the case at Lisbon's Central Criminal Court.

Even Without Fans Much Of The Season, Racist Abuse Saw Startling Increase In English Football

There’s a common trope in science fiction where aliens come to Earth and the world comes together to stop the invading menace. As we’ve seen over the last eight months, if an alien force came to our planet today, humanity would be as divisive, vitriolic and hate filled as ever, turning on each other in an instant just to save themselves.

At least, that’s the impression I get after seeing hate-related incidents rose a startling 42 percent during the 2019-20 season, even with fans unable to attend matches for the last third of the campaign because of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

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