Fifa Club World Cup: Will European teams make it 10 in a row? And when is the competition expanding to 32 teams? Explainer The dust has barely settled on Qatar 2022 and already the next Fifa jamboree, the Club World Cup, is about to begin in another destination with big hosting ambitions. Chelsea won last year in Abu Dhabi but won’t be defending their title in Morocco over the next 10 days, since they didn’t qualify via the [...]
Best of 2022: How Freed From Desire became an England football anthem More and more This piece, originally published during the World Cup earlier this year, charts how Gala’s Freed From Desire, a 90s dance hit about Buddhist philosophy, became the official goal music for the England team, via Irish football and the lower leagues. Lashed home by Harry Kane, dinked by Bukayo Saka or headed by Jude Bellingham, each [...]
A year in sport: The big moments from 2022’s sporting calendar review of the year It’s been a monumental year for sport both on British shores and further afield. Take a look at some of the year’s biggest moments ahead of another year of exhilarating action. January Cricket: Ashes series concludes with 4-0 defeat for England. The result would extend England’s winless run in Australia to 15 matches and mark [...]
World Cup hangover: Now Premier League is back, which clubs will be most affected? December 24, 2022 As the Premier League prepares to resume, which clubs are likely to be most affected by fatigue and suffer a World Cup hangover? City A.M. crunches the numbers to find out. No sooner has the ticker tape been cleared from the field of the Lusail Stadium following the World Cup final than the Premier League [...]
Germany fall below Morocco in Fifa world rankings December 22, 2022 Germany have fallen below Morocco in the Fifa world rankings after they crashed out of this month’s World Cup in the group stages. Brazil remain at the summit of the rankings but Argentina climb up to second, with France third and England below Belgium in fifth. Italy – who failed to qualify for the showpiece [...]
Ed Warner on the sporting year that was December 22, 2022 And so we reach the end of a year of sporting excess, or at least an excess of sport. Sunday’s FIFA World Cup Final was the calorific dessert that may well have caused you to come over all Mr Creosote, exploding under the temptation of just one more dish of must-see sporting competition. While we [...]
Argentina homecoming: World Cup champions touch down December 20, 2022 World Cup champions Argentina have returned home to Buenos Aires today with the country declaring Tuesday as a national holiday in celebration. The Albicelestes beat France in Sunday’s World Cup final in Qatar 4-2 on penalties after regular and extra time saw the two sides tied 3-3. Many have declared the Doha final as one [...]
BBC 3, ITV 1: Beeb pulls in three times as many viewers as rival for World Cup final December 19, 2022 The World Cup final may have been a close run contest but the same can’t be said of the competition for UK audience between the BBC and ITV, according to viewing figures. Both terrestrial channels broadcast the final, which Argentina won on penalties after a thrilling 3-3 draw with defending champions France. The BBC’s peak [...]
Break the internet: Google reveals World Cup final set new records for search traffic December 19, 2022 Argentina’s thrilling World Cup final triumph over France set a new record for the number of Google searches, says the tech giant. The South Americans won the trophy for the third time on Sunday afternoon in a thrilling match that saw Lionel Messi finally become world champion at the age of 35. Sundar Pichai, chief [...]
World Cup final: Lionel Messi and Argentina triumph on penalties after epic with France December 18, 2022 Lionel Messi claimed the only major honour to have evaded him as his Argentina side beat France on penalties after a thrilling World Cup final ended 3-3 in Qatar on Sunday. Messi opened the scoring with a penalty after a foul on Angel di Maria, who added the second with one of the all-time great [...]