I know it's a very sensitive thing, but I personally want them to participate in the World Cup, the 39-year-old wrote in a tweet on Thursday, a day after Iran's sports minister said the country cannot take part in the World Cup after the US and Israel launched a war on it and killed its supreme leader.
Under Fifa statutes, member associations are not permitted to withdraw from competitions, and declining to take part in a World Cup would be unprecedented in the modern era. No country has pulled out of the tournament after the draw since France and India did not take part in 1950, citing travel costs.
We previously worked with Anzu on a campaign for another artist Babyface Ray and saw huge success and interest from players for his music. When we learned that Anzu was able to bring our latest campaign to the most popular sports title on iOS and allow us to hone in on our target audience of World Cup fans, working with them again was a no-brainer. - Peter Kadin, SVP Marketing, EMPIRE
New Yorkers may soon be able to hop on a bus without tapping a credit card or OMNY card -at least for a few weeks. According to the New York Daily News , Mayor Zohran Mamdani is pushing for a five-week pilot program that would make buses free during this summer's FIFA World Cup , turning one of his signature campaign promises into a high-profile test run just as the city prepares for a massive influx of visitors.
"Playing at Sao Paulo made me value my achievements even more, but the values I learned at home stayed with me everywhere," he tells FourFourTwo. "I was lucky that God gave me that gift and that the right people believed in me at the right time. One of those was the first-team boss, Tele Santana. He first watched me filling in during a reserve-team training session and liked what he had seen.
Peter Gamez, the openly gay President & CEO of Visit Oakland, already has a full calendar of events in the works for 2026. He shared just a few: Super Bowl Watch Parties - Super Bowl LX (the 60th Super Bowl) is just a few months away and will be held at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara on February 8. Gamez says some of the region's best watch parties will be held in Oakland and have been in the works for months.
The celebration, arranged by local organisers in Seattle rather than FIFA itself, was decided on before the draw and scheduling was done. Egypt and Iran were the sides selected for the slot, two countries where homosexuality is illegal. Iran qualified for the tournament back in March, with a draw against Uzbekistan (Image credit: Getty Images)
The tiny island of Curacao is the smallest country to ever reach a FIFA World Cup, an honor it earned with an unbeaten run through an 18-month qualifying tournament in which it outscored opponents by nearly 2½ goals a game. But when it came time to introduce Curacao to the world during last Friday's tournament draw, the Great One shot well wide of the net, stealing its glory.
A reminder of today's four pots, for when the actual draw eventually gets underway. Remember, Ireland are in pot four as UEFA play-off D, should they successfully navigate the play-offs in March. Pot 1: Canada, Mexico, USA, Spain, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany. Pot 2: Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, Iran, South Korea, Ecuador, Austria, Australia.
Germany now have an indication of who they might play at next year's FIFA World Cup. FIFA have confirmed the official draw pots ahead of next week's draw on December 5th. Luckily for Germany, their last November window's string of wins was enough to put Germany up to 9th in the FIFA World Rankings, which was just enough to seal the last spot in Pot 1.
Soccer has officially entered the cultural mainstream and is now a core pillar of sports fandom in the U.S., powered by diverse, young and digitally native fans. The United States now boasts twice as many soccer fans as major European markets, and 87% of them are already anticipating the 2026 tournament. This is more than just a sports moment; it's an epicenter of culture and opportunity.
We're in a world where for drama, for control, for pushing the boundaries ongoing threats are issued to individuals and communities who refuse to back down and comply or be obedient to a hateful agenda. We are going to continue to be who we are and that means, unfortunately, we are going to be in a conversation in a way that is targeting Boston's values, Wu added. Ten toes down for Boston.
The Moroccan government must do the right thing and end the killing at once. We're calling on FIFA and its global partners to demand truth and compassion - not brutality masked as progress.
