Because attending sporting events and drinking a cold alcoholic beverages go so well together, many soccer fans have already started worrying about a potential ban on beer for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. That’s not the plan, the event’s organizers say, at least, not so far. [More]
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World Cup Ticket Prices Will Top $1,000 For The First Time
By 7.6.16
If you’re planning on attending the 2018 World Cup in Moscow, you better start saving, as ticket prices will cross the $1,000 mark for the first time. [More]
FIFA Chief Sepp Blatter Banned Over $2M Payment To Fellow Soccer Exec
By 12.21.15
More than six months after he announced he would eventually be ending his nearly two-decade reign atop the world’s largest soccer organization, FIFA president Sepp Blatter has been banned from the sport for eight years. [More]
Four Major Sponsors Call For FIFA President To Resign Immediately, He Refuses
By 10.2.15
Sure, sure, the president of global soccer association FIFA is under criminal investigation in Switzerland, but that doesn’t mean that he should make any rash decisions, like resigning in advance of the emergency presidential election in February. Now some of FIFA’s deep-pocketed sponsors are calling for Blatter to resign immediately, and he… refuses. [More]
John Oliver Pledges To Eat McDonald’s, Drink Budweiser If They Use Sponsorship Power To Change FIFA
By 6.1.15
Last week, the soccer world was rocked when numerous current and former FIFA officials were arrested and charged with accepting illegal kickbacks and bribes. Only days later, FIFA President Sepp Blatter, under whose oversight these alleged crimes have occurred for nearly two decades, was reelected. That’s why John Oliver has called on FIFA’s high-profile sponsors to use their financial leverage to effect some change in the most powerful soccer organization in the world. [More]
FIFA Officials Arrested On Racketeering, Bribery, Money Laundering Charges
By 5.27.15
The world’s most prominent soccer organization has been rocked this morning with the arrest in Switzerland of multiple officials of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and several allied businesses on charges that include racketeering, bribery, wire fraud and money laundering. The Justice Dept. claims the defendants have been enriching themselves through corruption for more than two decades. [More]
Visa, Coca-Cola Respond To Human Rights Concerns About Qatar World Cup; Not Pulling Out As Sponsors
By 5.20.15
Since the mysterious cabal that is FIFA announced that the 2022 soccer World Cup would be played in Qatar, there have been rumors of graft, concerns about the exceedingly high temperatures, and most importantly multiple reports of human rights abuses at worksites for the new stadiums and other facilities being erected around the country. As more people call on the event’s largest sponsors to pull their support, some are responding, though none are giving any indication that they won’t slap their name on the wildly popular tournament. [More]
FIFA Exec Says Qatar Is Just Too Hot To Host 2022 World Cup
By 9.22.14
There are numerous reasons why Qatar was a questionable choice to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, from the conditions for the workers building the venues to allegations of corruption in the bidding process to basic issues of human rights. But for one exec at the international soccer association, it’s just too darn hot in Qatar. [More]
Waffle House Urges Team USA Fans To Boycott Belgian Waffles Ahead Of World Cup Match
By 6.30.14
At any other time, it would be perfectly acceptable — nay! completely encouraged to enjoy a tasty Belgian waffle. But this is not that any other time, Waffle House is reminding Americans, not when Team USA is about to face Team Belgium in the World Cup tomorrow. [More]
World Cup Fan Spends $7K To Get Curry Takeout From His Favorite UK Indian Restaurant, Bring It To Brazil
By 6.25.14
We want what we want, when we want it, right? So of course a guy with $7,000 to spare would call up his favorite Indian restaurant before he heads to the World Cup, and ask if he can pick up some curry takeout for 12 of his buddies and fly it to Brazil. Of course. [More]
Souvenir Company Features U.S. President As Soccer Player On World Cup Mugs For English Team
By 6.24.14
Soccer fans eager to display their loyalty and love — often a newfound affection, right, America? — are going nuts for World Cup merchandise right about now, a fact any good souvenir company knows. But one British business apparently rushed past certain details on its mugs featuring members of the English national team: Funny how fullback Chris Smalling loooks exactly like U.S. President Barack Obama, isn’t it? [More]
Delta Apologizes For Ghana Giraffe Gaffe On Twitter
By 6.17.14
Last night, the U.S. men’s soccer team edged out the team from Ghana for its first victory in 2014 World Cup play. People everywhere went online to congratulate the team, including Delta Air Lines, which didn’t do quite enough research about the wildlife in Ghana before it Tweeted. [More]
StubHub Users Seeking World Cup Tickets In Brazil Stymied By Cyber Attack
By 5.7.14
Soccer fans (yes, other countries, we know you call it football) in Brazil trying to score resold tickets on StubHub in that country have been blocked from doing so after the site suffered a large denial-of-service attack and shut down. This, amidst the insistence of soccer’s governing body FIFA and the Brazilian government that all tickets to the upcoming World Coup tournament should come directly from FIFA. [More]
Adidas Drops World Cup T-Shirts After Host Country Brazil Deems Them Too Sexy
By 2.27.14
The country that put thong bikinis on the map would rather not put out the wrong message about its citizens during the 2014 World Cup. Brazil has nixed two graphic T-shirts from Adidas for being too suggestive, saying the country doesn’t want to promote sexual exploitation. [More]
UEFA Issues Red Card To Vuvuzelas
By 9.2.10
Nothing makes a monotonous soccer game more difficult to watch than several hours of the monotone bleating of vuvuzelas, the plastic horns that drove many World Cup viewers to hit the mute button. Thankfully, the Union of European Football (don’t call it soccer) Associations has decided to ban the noisemakers. [More]
KFC Hates Vuvuzelas Too; Will Give You A Free Doublicious For Yours
By 7.10.10
Were you one of the few people on this continent to get caught up in the World Cup hullaballoo? Did you get drunk enough to think that buying a vuvuzela — the obnoxiously loud plastic horn that has been the bane of many Cup watchers — would be a good idea? If so, the fried chicken-loving folks at KFC might be willing to exchange your noisemakers for one of their bellyachers. [More]
Free Anti-Vuvuzela Software To Stop Your Ears From Bleeding
By 6.21.10
If you’ve tried watching any of the World Cup soccer games (aka Tournament of Ties) in the last week, you’ve no doubt noticed the Satanic bleating of the vuvuzela, a horn-like torture device that soccer fans in South Africa use to keep themselves awake during all the scorching, non-scoring action on the field. And while software companies take years to debug simple glitches, there’s been no shortage of electronic attempts to silence the deafening din. [More]
Nothing Will Silence Those Damn Vuvuzelas
By 6.16.10
If the sound of vuvuzelas — those ubiquitous plastic horns used by thousands of soccer fans — has made your World Cup viewing experience seem more like a visit by a horde of 17-year cicadas, Consumer Reports has a message for you: tough luck. Nothing short of muting your TV’s sound will silence the noisemakers, though there are a few ways to make them less annoying. [More]
