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Some players just transcend the game. Others transcend the planet. While most astronomical objects discovered in the past couple decades have been given boring names with nothing more than an assortment of letters and numbers, a select few are given names, be it for a famous astronomer from the past, a mother in law or, in this case, a soccer player.

Hundreds of thousands of minor planets — essentially everything orbiting the sun that’s not a planet, dwarf planet or comet — exist in our solar system. Five of them have been named after famous footballers. 

With the full release of FIFA 18 only nine days away (Sept. 29), we got our hands dirty with the demo, and we somehow managed to learn five things while completely disregarding a plethora of other things in our actual lives (I will call you tomorrow, Grandma). And awaaay we go.

Here’s a friendly public service announcement from your friends at The18: World Cup tickets are on sale as of 5 a.m. EST on Thursday, Sept. 14. 

Frank de Boer was let go by Crystal Palace this weekend after losing 1-0 to Burnley. It was just his fourth league match in charge, and his fifth overall. Granted, he lost all four of those league matches, only winning a Carabao Cup match against Ipswich Town. In memory of de Boer's time at Palace, we ranked his five matches in charge from worst to best. And no they weren't just all the worst.

Twitter handles are like facts: Everyone has their own and some are better than others. The English Premier League follows this model. Some EPL Twitter handles are instantly recognizable, like @ManUtd with its 14 million followers and @Arsenal with another 11.3 million. Some, like @htafcdotcom, leave you scratching your head as to whether you’re following an English Premier League club or a realty website. 

The story of Sunday night’s 1-1 draw between Seattle and Los Angeles wasn’t Lamar Neagle’s 85th minute equalizer for the Sounders, nor was it Gyasi Zardes actually doing a goal for the Galaxy. It was provided by FS1 broadcaster Alexi Lalas after the match had concluded. Lalas has some opinions on the USMNT, and he brought them. He brought them hard.

With only a handful of matches remaining in World Cup qualifying, it’s become clear which nations are in serious danger of missing out on Russia next summer. While all will become clear in October, here are 25 global superstars who, if World Cup qualifying ended today, would either fail to appear at the tournament or would need to navigate a playoff to qualify. 

25 Stars In Serious Danger Of Missing The World Cup

Transfer deadline day is one of the most confusing days of the year for soccer fans. So much information is flying around, it's difficult to keep track of it all. Have my club signed a player? Have they not signed a player? Have they given up? Are they still negotiating? I don't know! No one seems to know!

To help sort through the confusion, we came up with five handy ways to tell if your club has ACTUALLY, signed that big name, or if the signing is just a rumor blowin' in the wind.

The world has changed a lot since the U.S. Men’s National Team last lost a match on Nov. 15, a dark time for America. For starters, the United States saw a great man who has accomplished so much throughout the world replaced by a goofy New Yorker with awful hair. We’re talking about Jurgen Klinsmann making way for Bruce Arena, of course.