07.14
Argentina Wins! (for Best Fans)
Their team succumbed to Germany on the pitch, but everywhere in Rio, Argentina was winning.
07.02
Learning to Lose
This is the week when the sweetest World Cup dreams die. A requiem, then, for the fallen.
06.23
Babylon on the Beach
Nathan Thornburgh takes in the World Cup from Rio's Copacabana Beach, where the atmosphere is somewhere between Spring Break and the Fall of Saigon.
06.17
In Front of Team Iran’s Hotel
The Iranian team has been hounded by sanctions and a deeply divided fan base. But on the day of their first match of this World Cup, none of…
06.10
An Exceptional Country?
The debate about soccer’s rightful place in American culture opens a wider conversation about America’s place in the world.
05.27
Soccer in Solitude
It's the carnival of the masses, but sometimes the only way to watch soccer is on your own.
05.20
The Dream-Time of the World Cup
Someone has sliced open soccer’s hourglass, and the sand has come pouring out on to the streets.
05.13
Bosnia Divided
In Bosnia-Herzegovina, football won't easily mend the chasms created by mortars and massacres.
05.06
Borderball with Club Tijuana
How Club Tijuana made itself San Diego’s local team
04.28
In Brazil, Fighting for the Women’s Game
Brazil may be the spiritual homeland of global soccer. But its women have had to fight hard just to be taken seriously as footballers in their home country.…
04.22
Football for All
Australia has a popular new top-flight soccer league, but is it in danger of forgetting the ethnic fans and clubs who built the sport in the country?
04.15
Beijing’s Green Army
Like much else in China, soccer has developed rapidly and attracted huge investment, but a fan culture has developed that is independent of—and sometimes a challenge to—the state.
04.07
The Non-Fifa Renegades
What happens if the place where you live isn’t regarded as a nation by FIFA? You start your own federation.
04.01
A League of Their Own
After years of mismanagement, Kenyan soccer is finally coming into its own.
03.25
A Soccer Secession
Crimea’s future is uncertain, and so is the future of its two most storied and successful football clubs.
03.18
The World Cup Takes New York
From the Rudar Soccer Club to Sake Bar Satsko or La Gran Uruguaya Bakery, New York’s immigrant communities make it the best place on earth to watch the…
03.11
Working-Class Ballet
Philosopher Simon Critchley on the spectacle, poetry and importance of professional football
03.04
The Indomitable Tino
Why is one of the greatest players in Colombian history also one of the most controversial? The answer may lie in the color of his skin.
02.25
The Life and Death of Justin Fashanu
Justin Fashanu was a rugged English striker and the first black soccer player to be traded for a million pounds. He was also openly gay.
02.18
The Beautiful Language
Cow dribbles, lettuce hands and the poetry of Brazilian soccer
02.11
Where Soccer Gets Made
How a town in cricket-mad Pakistan became the center of the global soccer ball industry
02.04
The Most Righteous Team in England
A historic upset, a heart-breaking relocation, and a fan-fuelled revolution: the improbable history of AFC Wimbledon.
01.28
China’s Stadium Diplomacy in Africa
China is on a stadium-building binge in Africa. What will the glut of cookie-cutter stadia do to the African game?
01.21
Mr. Big Bucks and the Mamelodi Sundowns
How Zola Mahobe changed South African soccer forever
01.07
Afro-Europe in the World Cup
Once again, Afro-European players are making Europe reexamine its identity.
12.24
The Suárez Conundrum
Liverpool star Luis Suárez is Uruguay’s best hope in the World Cup. But he also makes them one of the most despised teams in the tournament.
12.10
The Far Post: In Glasgow, a Rival’s Lament
Glasgow’s storied Rangers Football Club was gutted last year. Where does that leave the fans of its oldest and only rival?
11.26
Heroes of the Neighborhood
Heroes of the Neighborhood: Can an uneven second-division club save Hamburg’s leftist St. Pauli district?
11.12
The Long Revolution of the Ultras Ahlawy
Death, defiance, tribunals, coverups, outrage and intrigue: in today's Egypt, soccer is so much more than just a sport.
10.29
Soccer and the Street in Istanbul
When the police and protesters clashed around Istanbul's Gezi park, an unlikely alliance of football rivals banded together. But will politics continue in the new league season?
10.15
Afghanistan United
From dodging falling bullets to breaking bread with Afghanistan's national soccer team, May Jeong has the complete story of the remarkable run of a beleaguered nation.
10.01
Messi in Kolkata
The "god of football", as local papers called him, arrived on Indian soil for a friendly at Salt Lake Stadium. But where will the beautiful game go from…
09.17
The Far Post: Brazil 2014 Starts Now
In the first of R&K's World Cup dispatches with Sports Illustrated, Laurent Dubois talks about the global theater of soccer