FIFA president Sepp Blatter (left), pictured with Russian president Vladimir Putin, was booed at the World Cup final because he continues to be the face of what is wrong with FIFA.
EPA/Alexey Nikolsky
Delays in stadium construction. Poor working conditions for World Cup workers. Massive budget blowouts. Nationwide protests. Ignoring the needs of millions of struggling Brazilian families. All of these…
Get in line. Riders keeping out of the wind on the road to Sheffield.
Adam Bowie
When the Tour de France comes to town, it’s a chance to get your gladrags on. This year’s Grand Depart in Yorkshire saw Leeds decked out with yellow flowers, bikes placed in coffee bar windows, statues…
The World Cup may be safe in German hands, but the legacy the tournament will leave in Brazil might be contested for some time.
EPA/Srdjan Suki
The losing World Cup teams and fans are licking their wounds, while newly crowned world champions Germany will celebrate for at least the next four years. However, the world has already started to ask…
Football’s growth, while based on the game’s intrinsic nature, is also indebted to the World Cup.
EPA/Abedin Taherkenareh
FIFA, world football’s governing body, is not a perfect multinational corporation. It would be quite naïve to envisage that the World Cup should have the capacity to bring world peace, fix global inequality…
Look to the future now, Brazil.
Thomas Eisenhuth/EPA
The extraordinary 7-1 defeat of Brazil by Germany in the World Cup semi-final is richly ironic. Many Brazilians had hoped that by hosting the World Cup in 2014, their country could finally exorcise the…
Spain’s golden generation, featuring players such as Torres, Iniesta and Casillas, crashed out of the World Cup in Brazil, perhaps marking an end to their dominance of world football.
EPA/Abedin Taherkenareh
As the World Cup reaches its climax, with Brazil, Germany, Argentina and the Netherlands to fight it out for a spot in the final, can we explain why some countries have been successful at the highest level…
Blurred lines. Costs and benefits of the TDF are hard to define.
oneshotimages
When the world’s greatest cycling race starts in Yorkshire, England on July 5, some 2-3m visitors are expected to turn out to watch a spectacle which will cost an estimated £10m to host. If the organisers…
Australia is heading in the right direction football-wise if our results at the World Cup are anything to go by.
EPA/Fernando Bizerra Jr
For those well-versed in football and Australian sport, the Australian national team’s early exit from the World Cup should come as no surprise. The three losses – to Chile, the Netherlands and Spain…
Ofsted’s recent report into competitive sport in schools – provocatively entitled Going the Extra Mile – criticises state schools for not doing enough to develop sporting talent. A significant number of…
Italian striker Mario Balotelli is a pioneer in a society that still struggles to accept its multiethnic composition.
EPA/Kai Foersterling
Mario Balotelli is already an international football star and has the potential to become one of Italy’s greatest ever strikers. But is Italy ready to accept a black player as its next football hero? Balotelli…
Britain’s number one tennis player must have been looking forward to an opening week of Wimbledon with the pressure slightly off, but thanks to England’s World Cup failure, a nation turns its lonely eyes…
You’re the reigning Wimbledon champion, the first Briton to win at home for more than 30 years. You’re facing the prospect of defending your title against a rampant Novak Djokovic and a dominant Rafael…
Andy Murray just found out he’s missing the Honduras Switzerland game.
Jonathan Brady/PA
For many sports fans, the final week in June signals the start of a fortnight to be spent enjoying the annual feast of entertainment, heartache and ecstasy served up by the world’s best tennis players…
What does Spain striker Diego Costa’s back story tell us about footballers and identity in the modern world?
EPA/Antonio Lacerda
People watching the World Cup match between Spain and the Netherlands earlier in the tournament may have been wondering why Spanish striker Diego Costa was vociferously booed every time he touched the…
The heat is on. And referees can get it wrong.
Tolga Bozoglu/EPA
There has been much hand-wringing over the problems that World Cup players are facing due to the environmental extremes they are exposed to in Brazil. There has been little sympathy for the men in black…
Level playing field? Raheem Sterling attacks.
Rhona Wise/EPA
Like football, globalisation creates winners and losers. For now, the England football team is one of the back markers. By globalisation we mean free movement: it is the increase in mobility across national…
If you would like to see a large number of desperately poor people enjoy the joy of a World Cup victory, you should cheer for Nigeria.
EPA/Rungroj Yongrit
Let’s be realistic. Australia is the lowest ranked of the 32 teams in the World Cup, and despite a very creditable performance in its first match against Chile, its chances of making it out of the group…
Research a better bet than an octopus oracle.
Roland Weihrauch/EPA
Given my academic background it may come as little surprise that when I gamble, I expect to lose in the long run. But, that is not to say that I don’t have some golden rules that I apply in gambling situations…
Spain’s revitalisation of ‘beautiful football’ in recent years has been extremely successful. How have football tactics evolved over the years?
EPA/Zurab Kurtsikidze
The football World Cup may be yet to kick off, but there have already been innumerable discussions on the various playing styles that each country will adopt. Will they play a 4-4-2, a 4-2-3-1, or a straight…
The “home advantage” is a well known phenomenon in sporting circles with home teams consistently winning more than 50% of sporting contests. But how exactly does playing at home help Brazil and disadvantage…