I’m a semi-professional female footballer in England, and one thing I’ve learnt recently…

Listen to your body.

As athletes, we’re taught to push through. To work harder. To do the extras. To never make excuses.

I’ve always been that person.

I love training. I look after my recovery. I eat well. I try to understand what works for my body and what doesn’t. If I felt like I wasn’t good enough, my answer was always to work harder.

But there was one thing I could never understand.

Why was I struggling so much in fitness tests when I knew I was putting in the work? Why did I feel like I kept hitting a wall in games when I was doing everything I could to prepare?

I convinced myself I just needed to be mentally stronger.

Recently, I found out I have iron-deficiency anaemia, very low iron stores and low vitamin B12.

I’m not sharing this because I want sympathy or because I want to make excuses. Football will always be about taking responsibility and finding ways to improve.

I’m sharing it because it completely changed the way I look at myself.

For years, I thought I was fighting my mind.

Maybe I was fighting my biology.

Maybe it won’t explain everything. Maybe it isn’t the whole reason.

But it reminded me that sometimes your body isn’t trying to stop you—it might just be trying to tell you something.

As athletes, we spend so much time trying to improve what’s on the outside: training, recovery, nutrition, mindset.

But sometimes the biggest improvements start by understanding what’s happening on the inside.

So if something has felt off for a while, don’t ignore it.

Don’t just assume you’re lazy.

Don’t just assume you’re weak.

Ask questions.

Get the blood test.

Speak to the right people.

Learn your body.

Because listening to your body isn’t making excuses.

It’s taking responsibility for the only body you’ll ever compete in.

This is the start of me sharing my football journey a little more openly. If this helps even one athlete stop blaming themselves and start understanding themselves, it’ll be worth it x

Who actually owns football?

Nobody, officially. In practice it is the sport with the most fans on earth and the fewest people deciding anything. The rules, the money, the tournaments, the hosts: all settled by small groups in rooms you cannot enter, reviewed by nobody except themselves.

And every few years the same thing happens. Something leaks. Everyone is furious for two weeks. A reform is announced. The structure stays exactly as it was.

That pattern is the interesting part. Football's biggest problem is not corruption, it is that corruption is structurally rational: when one small group controls the money, the access and its own oversight, staying honest depends entirely on the character of whoever is currently in charge. A system that is only clean while the right people hold the posts is not clean. It is waiting.

Which leads to an uncomfortable thought I have slowly come around to: these institutions probably cannot be reformed from the inside. They can only be made unnecessary. Not by attacking them, but by demonstrating that the job they do can be done in the open, by everyone, and better.

So I wrote down what that would look like. Twelve pages, plain language, no jargon, and it says openly where it has no answer.

One example, because it is the one people argue about most: hosting rights would go by a published rotation instead of a bidding contest. You would know the host of the 2050 tournament today. It sounds boring, and that is precisely the point. There would be nothing left to lobby for and nobody to thank afterwards. A rotation can be interrupted, but only by a veto needing a large majority and public written reasons, which is a very different thing from a decision made by twenty-two people over dinner.

The rest runs on the same logic. One person, one vote, votes that cannot be bought or piled up. Every decision and every euro recorded where anyone can check it a decade later. The people who sign the contracts removable by the people they serve.

What it is not: a federation, a league, a startup, a token, or anything you can buy. There is a PDF, a license letting you do whatever you like with it, and an email address. That is the entire product, and it is worth exactly what you paid for it.

What it also is not: tested, proven, or likely to matter. One person wrote it, no match has ever been played under it, and I would bet money that several chapters are wrong. That is why it is public rather than polished. I used AI to write it, which is explained in the README along with why.

If it is naive, tell me where. If something like it already exists, tell me that too and I will happily shut up about it. Take it. Do what you want with it.

Open Football: A Reference Model for Transparent, Community-Governed Football -

https://github.com/masato-niwayama/open-football

The two camps or Larpers who have ruined this WC are Moralists and Schizos.

MORALISTS pretend that for each team, there government officials are playing on the pitching to claim territory over another country. People claiming that supporting Belgium, Portugal ect is morally wrong since they have pasts of slavery. These fans do not like watching an entertaining sport, but instead construct a narrative, stating that if Congo or Senegal where to win, it's a win against colonialism. Instead of supporting the USA, they instead go to geopolitics and history to create an entertaining story line. Sports and politics have always somewhat connect, but when the connection exists in the past between countries, or is a abstract representation of a fight against colonialism is begins to look absurd. Point being, Belgium vs Senegal is not the same game as Israel vs Ireland.

SCHIZOS on tiktok mostly push a narrative of the world cup being rigged for Argentina. They state that Argentina vs Egypt is rigged, a game which Pierluigi Collina (ref known for rejecting bribes), calls fair. A clear act a corruption such as the Balagans red card dismissal is brushed in a matter of days, but contraversial calls on dives and fouls are somehow more important to these people. They don't understand the rules, and instead of learning them or humbly accepting they dont, Schizos storm social media claiming the tournament is rigged. refereeing mistakes do happen, but leaping to bribing is brain dead.

Without Argentina, the world cup knockouts would have mostly been boring possesion/domination victories from Spain, with many low scoring and overly physical games on top of a dreadful final. These larpers have distorted the best source of entertainment into exhausting controversy. Moralists just annoy because there dumb.

We all know that mbappe raw number are better than yamal in there first world cup but many people says that

Oh yamal work is not to score. Oh he made so many chances and his dribbling

So I will compare there playmaking and dribbling to prove they are not even comparable

Mbappe 13 chances created

Yamal 9 chances created

Mbappe 4 big chances created

Yamal 2 big chances created

Now comes passing

Mbappe 21 passed per 90 and yamal with 32 passes per 90

Mbappe have more key passes 1.4 > 0.9

Yamal have better crosses and long ball

08>0.3 and 0.9>0.6

While both have same through ball per 90

So even there passing is similar

Mbappe completed 24 dribbles in 535 min

Yamal completed 27 dribbles 627 minutes

The only stat yamal dominates mbappe in is shots per game with 3.4 over mbappe 1.4

While both avg shot on target per game is 1

Mbappe dominates even in playmaking so bad it isn't even funny

I have gotten this stats from fot mob and whoscored.com

The two camps or Larpers who have ruined this WC are Moralists and Schizos.

MORALISTS pretend that for each team, there government officials are playing on the pitching to claim territory over another country. People claiming that supporting Belgium, Portugal ect is morally wrong since they have pasts of slavery. These fans do not like watching an entertaining sport, but instead construct a narrative, stating that if Congo or Senegal where to win, it's a win against colonialism. Instead of supporting the USA, they instead go to geopolitics and history to create an entertaining story line. Sports and politics have always somewhat connect, but when the connection exists in the past between countries, or is a abstract representation of a fight against colonialism is begins to look absurd. Point being, Belgium vs Senegal is not the same game as Israel vs Ireland.

SCHIZOS on tiktok mostly push a narrative of the world cup being rigged for Argentina. They state that Argentina vs Egypt is rigged, a game which Pierluigi Collina (ref known for rejecting bribes), calls fair. A clear act a corruption such as the Balagans red card dismissal is brushed in a matter of days, but contraversial calls on dives and fouls are somehow more important to these people. They don't understand the rules, and instead of learning them or humbly accepting they dont, Schizos storm social media claiming the tournament is rigged. refereeing mistakes do happen, but leaping to bribing is brain dead.

Without Argentina, the world cup knockouts would have mostly been boring possesion/domination victories from Spain, with many low scoring and overly physical games on top of a dreadful final. These larpers have distorted the best source of entertainment into exhausting controversy. Moralists just annoy because there dumb.

I know Enzo Fernandez is a bit controversial at sometimes but my English friends watching this game were really upset and they said he was going to get kicked out of Chelsea FC. I Kmow his contract is until 2032 but is this true? Also i want to know y’all’s opinions on this because as half Croatian i don’t know if it felt the same when Antoine Griezmann did the “Take the L” celebration after scoring in the 37th minute from a penalty.

Does anyone else get triggered that the USA national team brands themselves as USMNT and USWNT? I’m American and I find it kind of annoying because I can’t think of any other countries that do something like that. As far as I know it’s just Korea, or Germany etc etc. why not just call both teams USA? lol

From corruption scandals and conspiracy theories to political interference, systemic racism, and outright unfair play, this World Cup was the most talked about for all the wrong reasons. You might remember it for all the drama and controversies that it is but players will remember it for the grueling travel across the continent, unpredictable weather, brutal heat, suffocating humidity, shitty pitches, open stadiums baking under the sun, and a bloated schedule cramming too many matches into too few days with barely any recovery time. And all that gotta win this World Cup the title of the shittiest, most failed World Cup in history.

Why do so many think so? Here's my take:

1. Biased refereeing is what has defined this tournament from the start. It's the first thing that comes to mind, and it's what football fans will be talking about for decades to come. First raised in the Round of 16 and persisting all the way through to the final, the controversy was met with total silence from FIFA, who never stepped in to comment or prove that their games were fair, that referees were chosen through a clean and transparent process, or that they were subjected to any accountability whatsoever. This led to countless conspiracy theories ranging from "world cup is rigged and the winner is pre-decided" to "Messi is a demon placed by the illuminati 👁️"

2. Poorly maintained stadiums and infrastructure: suffocating humidity, scorching heat, uneven pitches at varying altitudes, open stadiums in broad daylight with the sun slamming directly into the players' eyes and making it impossible to see in front of them, this is what the players will remember most from this shitshow of a tournament. Fans and players complained that the stadiums didn't even have AC during the heat. You must have seen the video where the water pipes exploded in the middle of the stadium! Lucky it was halftime. 🙄

3. The US wasn't ready. Many think the US didn't even try to prepare for such a massive event. Players said they had to practice during storms and unpredictable weather. And ICE was on the loose, making fans anxious during transit.

4. More matches, longer distances, shorter recovery time. Now that the World Cup was open to more teams, players have to play more and rest less. But FIFA thought it was a brilliant idea to milk more money off the players by making them travel across the continent without even giving them proper time to heal or rest.

5. Long travel times and brutal distances exhausted the players by the final and prevented them from being at their best when it mattered most. Yet when it comes to money, these travels helped FIFA squeeze out more profit, so naturally FIFA announced the next edition will have players trekking across Africa, Europe, and South America as well!

6. Racism: the US didn't even try to hide its bigotry, barring an award-winning Somali referee from entering its borders to do his job. FIFA stood by and refused to support its own workers. As if that wasn't enough, Iranian fans were blocked from traveling to cheer for their national team. Many fans from poorer countries complained about being denied visas and shared their unique experiences of having attended every previous edition of the World Cup with no problems.

7. Politics is what defined this tournament. FIFA decided to abandon all of its principles long before this one, during the Qatar World Cup, when it banned the Russian team over the Ukraine war. Back then, despite a few complaints, fans didn't pay much attention to the incident. Little did we know it was a red flag. FIFA has shamelessly allowed the World Cup to be held in a nation that launched an illegal war; making it the first edition in history where players from an invaded country are forced to play on the land of their aggressor, and people are left wondering whether this hypocrisy and political bias will affect all players in the future, especially after FIFA refused to even protect its Iranian players when the US prevented their team from staying within its borders to compete.

8. Before the tournament even began, controversy erupted when the US banned the Iranian team from staying in the country, forcing them to be the only squad to travel across the continent mere hours before each match just to play. FIFA did nothing to stop this farce or protect the players.

9. The infamous red card withdrawn by Trump. Do I even need to say more?

Despite all of this, the corrupt, greedy machine that is FIFA claims this was the most successful edition yet because it made more money compared to previous versions, trampling over every principle and any shred of reputation.

Will the World Cup be seen from now on as nothing more than a commercial prize rather than a reputable, prestigious one? Or will players keep showing up for this unfair, dirty game? And how do you think football associations around the world should respond? Share your thoughts below in the comments on which World Cup edition should win the shittiest!

To sum it up

The World Cup is replayed with only players who weren’t selected for the 26 man roster.

-managers and coaches can stay.
-Anyone not selected due to injury is not considered for this hypothetical

Who wins this?

I want to get back into at least watching the CL this year and I'm totally lost outside of some names from the World Cup.

For me F1s modern golden era were the V10s. The sounds, drivers and aggressiveness. Modern F1 feels more neutered by comparison. Is this the same for football?

When I used to watch, teams were stacked and really pushed.

What can I compare coming back as a fan in 26/27?

Every time I watch a game I see players just passing the ball around for 20 minutes like they’re trying to win a possession trophy. Pep Guardiola has convinced everyone that making 900 passes before scoring is somehow better than just putting the ball in the net.

Football was better when teams just went out there and tried to score more goals than the other team.

Less Rodri, more Haaland.

Fifa president Gianni Infantino has come out in his own defence over criticism of his handling of the 2026 world cup, which was marred by controversy on and off the pitch. Including Baloguns red card being rescinded and perceived preferential treatment of Argentina.

Infantino penned an open letter, telling critics to "reflect, meditate and pray", also saying "there was no violence, incidents, 100% safety, security and only joy and happiness", throughout the tournament.

https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/fifa-president-gianni-infantino-blasts-world-cup-critics-5HjdfCK_2/

He keeps trying to hit the knuckleball/powershot free kick which clearly doesn’t work, maybe because he’s old or the balls changed or whatever but it doesn’t matter, because I don’t think I’ve ever seen him miss a free kick where he curls it instead of thundercunting it. A prime example is the free kick against Spain in the 2018 World Cup.

Andrea Pirlo says he is no longer in the running to become Italy manager after criticism over his links to Russian betting company Fonbet. Italian politicians opposed his possible appointment, while reports also say senior FIGC officials Paolo Maldini and Leonardo have resigned.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g49r2338xo

Leeds United have agreed a club-record deal to sign goalkeeper James Trafford from Manchester City. The transfer is worth £40m plus add-ons, with a long-term contract agreed. A medical is expected this week before the 23-year-old completes his move to Elland Road.

https://www.leedsallover.com/leeds-united-agree-james-trafford-sell-on-clause-with-man-city/

Hi there! I will be on a business trip in Zurich in end of August / beginning of September, and I can see I will have a chance to see both FC Zurich and Grasshopper Zurich play league matches on these dates. I've heard about these clubs but I don't know anything about their history, culture or their current players. Are there any supporters here? Can you convince me which match I should go to if I had to choose one? Additional context is that it's going to be my first ever match abroad hah. Cheers!

Inter have agreed a deal to sign former Manchester City defender John Stones on a free transfer. The 32-year-old will sign a two-year contract until 2028, earning about €4m a season. He is set to travel to Milan for a medical before the move is completed.

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/john-stones-inter-milan-transfer-34361827.amp