Senegal’s World Cup coach Aliou Cissé.
Atef Safadi/EPA
Although Senegal’s overall World Cup result was disappointing, the team showed that they have a great deal to build on for future campaigns.
Ben Sutherland / shutterstock
Most big bureaucratic organisations are subject to oversight from civil society, but not FIFA.
Christophe Petit Tesson / EPA
The French set up FIFA and the World Cup.
The Luzhniki stadium will host the World Cup final on Sunday July 15.
Shutterstock
The Russia and Qatar World Cups are backward steps for LGBT rights – unless FIFA can use the tournaments to achieve change.
The designs, materials, cuts and graphics of jerseys are meant to stand out.
AP Photo/Frank Augstein
World Cup jerseys have to please players, national officials, FIFA rulemakers and – perhaps most importantly – fans who buy them to show support for their teams.
Morocco will be going home after coming last in their group in Russia.
Martin Divisek/EPA
African governments and football associations need to do some serious recalculating for the Qatar world cup in 2022.
While major brands like Coca-Cola have stuck by FIFA and the World Cup, others have not.
Maxim Shipenkov/EPA
Compared with years past, the build-up to the Russia World Cup has been relatively subdued from a marketing and advertising standpoint.
One of the favourites to win the World Cup, Germany’s national football team, on their way to Russia.
Armando Babani/EPA
Can we trust expert football predictions? Perhaps, but it’s variable.
Emil Jeyaratnam/The Conversation; AAP images
Scandal-plagued FIFA says it’s committed to reform. Changing the way World Cup hosts are selected would be a start.
Senegal’s starting 11 before a recent friendly against Luxembourg.
Julian Warnand/EPA
When Senegal face Poland in their first World Cup match in Russia, the whole nation will be roaring them on to victory.
At the 2014 World Cup African fans felt that Nigeria were on the receiving end of poor refereeing.
Peter Powell/EPA
Video Assistant Referees at the World Cup finals in Russia might help African teams to do better than they have done so far.
fifg / shutterstock
For FIFA, the tournament is a commercial and technological opportunity.
Football Federation Australia has scored some own goals this year.
Dan Himbrechts/AAP
What should have been a great year for Australian soccer has been let down by underwhelming fan interest and a distracting dispute between Football Federation Australia and A-League clubs.
Riot police drill outside Saint Petersburg’s new soccer stadium ahead of the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky
After a series of debacles, many metropolitan areas no longer want their leaders to vie for these opportunities.
Gareth Fuller/PA Archive/PA Images
Fan parks will be a key tool at Russia’s World Cup next year.
Will the World Cup give Brand Russia a boost?
shutterstock.com
Russian officials will be hoping that excitement about one of the world’s biggest sporting events generates some goodwill for the country.
Egyptian athlete Manal Rostom wearing the Nike Pro Hijab.
Nike
With its “Pro hijab” Nike has mainstreamed what is generally considered as an oppressive and marginalised garment.
Leonard Zhukovsk
When financial times are tight, only those with soft power ambitions can see the economic sense in World Cups or Olympic Games.
Alexis Sanchez celebrates Arsenal beating Chelsea in the 2017 FA Cup final.
John Sibley/Reuters
World soccer is the story of hyper-capitalism. What would fan and revolutionary thinker Frantz Fanon have thought about the state of the sport?
Best of 32 teams in 2014.
PA
From 2026 there will be more teams, more matches - and more tickets sold.