International Football
OUTSPOKEN AMERICAN WOMEN CAPTAIN, RAPINOE BLASTS FIFA
Ahead of this Sunday’s FIFA Women’s World Cup final in France, Megan Rapinoe has blasted FIFA for not doing enough to promote women’s football.
“We are worthy of that investment,” she said. “I know we take a great deal of pride trying to push the game forward, not only in our own country but abroad,” Rapinoe said, speaking for all her teammates who embrace this leadership position.
Back in America there are plenty who dismiss Megan Rapinoe because she knelt for the national anthem, because she has expressed her unwillingness to visit the Donald Trump White House, because, well, there are all sorts of reasons. Rapinoe acknowledges that. She acknowledges she isn’t always the easiest to support.
“Maybe you don’t agree with every single way that I do it or
[what]
gets discussed,” she said. “I know I am not perfect.”
To focus solely on Trump or the flag is to miss Megan Rapinoe in full, to miss her blast away with forceful points, humor and impossible-to-ignore truths. It is to miss why she is so beloved across this game.
This kind of talk still ruffles feathers in the United States. It is a neutron bomb in some of these other places.
What she has become is not just a national figure, but a global one with the potential to become a historic figure in women’s sports everywhere. You could practically hear the gasp of FIFA leadership as she took every question and said what others won’t or can’t.
Someone asked her about how FIFA said it would double the prize money for the 2023 Women’s World Cup from $30 million to $60 million. It sounds good, except the men’s side is being raised by $40 million to a total of $440 million, so the pay gap is actually … increasing.
“If you truly care about the game, are you letting the gap grow?” she asked. “I’m not saying the prize money is $450 million this time or the next time around. I understand for a number of different reasons the men’s game financially is far advanced from the women’s game.
“But if you really care, are you letting the gap grow?” she asked. “… We should double it now and use that number to double it for the next time.”
Rapinoe also mocked FIFA for scheduling two other major men’s championships on Sunday, the Gold Cup final in North/Central America and the Caribbean, and also the Copa America final in South America. It’s the kind of thing that draws attention from the women and would never occur on the men’s sid
“This is the World Cup final,” Rapinoe said. “Cancel everything [that] day. I don’t know how that happened. I think I heard somewhere that they didn’t think about it, which is the problem. You didn’t think about it? The World Cup final is set so far in advance, it’s actually unbelievable.”
And there’s the endless challenge for more countries to invest in girls, to see them as equals, to encourage not just on the field success, but the kind of leadership and lessons that come from athletic competition.
“If you really care … are you letting federations have their teams play two games in the four years between each tournament?” Rapinoe asked. “No, you are not.”
FIFA is rich beyond comprehension. It has the money to do all sorts of things. It can pressure national federations. It’s never shown the will, though.
“You need attention and detail … in the women’s game every single day,” Rapinoe said. “I understand it is a very complex problem to be a part of it, but the resources are there. The willingness and the brain power is all there. People wanting to work in the women’s game and make it as good as we can is all there. It’s just a matter of wanting to do it and making it happen.”
Her questions are direct. Her solutions are practical. She was asked about mandating that only women can coach women’s teams . She brushed it off and said the issue should be training young female coaches around the world so that there are more qualified candidates.
“So [women] get judged on their skills the way men are,” she said, noting the same should be true of female referees.
This is the biggest and the best Women’s World Cup ever. It was underpromoted, especially here in France. It succeeded in spite of FIFA, not because of it.
All it proved, she kept saying, is so much more is possible. That women everywhere deserve at least the opportunities they have in America.
“Investing in infrastructure, in training programs or academies for women, for coaching for women, for all of it,” she said.
Who could argue against that? Who could fault an American for focusing on the plight of others?
Her words were ringing out here, right under FIFA’s nose, right inside FIFA’s house, right at FIFA’s press conference. It’s a long loathsome and corrupt organization that wants these women to take what they’ve been given and be quiet … shut up and dribble.
Megan Rapinoe is never shutting up.
She’s going to do everything she can to make the world listen to her, this American original with a megaphone and a heart that FIFA can’t silence.
International Football
Players’ union, FIFPRO, wants 20-minute halftimes, more cooling breaks amid extreme heat
Global players’ union FIFPRO is exploring whether extending halftime to 20 minutes and introducing more frequent cooling breaks could better protect players from extreme heat.
Nine of the 16 host cities for the 2026 World Cup face conditions considered “extreme risk” for heat-related illness.
Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Guadalajara, Houston, Kansas City, Miami, Monterrey and Philadelphia are expected to face dangerous levels of heat and humidity, posing player safety concerns and fuelling calls for mandatory cooling aids or schedule changes.
FIFPRO’s heat risk assessments are based on wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT), a measure combining temperature, humidity, solar radiation and wind speed to estimate how environmental conditions affect the body’s ability to cool itself.
Under FIFPRO guidelines, a WBGT reading above 28 degrees Celsius indicates conditions in which matches should be postponed or rescheduled to protect players’ health.
By comparison, world soccer governing body FIFA’s own guidelines set the extreme risk threshold higher, at 32 degrees Celsius WBGT – but even by that standard, six of the nine cities are still projected to exceed safe limits.
Major League Soccer in the U.S. has a threshold of 29 degrees Celsius WBGT.
“Cooling breaks at the 30th minute and 75th minutes are quite traditional, but from a physiological point of view it does not make sense,” said Vincent Gouttebarge, FIFPRO’s Medical Director.
“Even if you ingest more than 200 millilitres of fluid, you already cannot take it all. So I would definitely like to see some project where we look at the efficacy of perhaps more frequent but shorter cooling breaks – every 15 minutes, rather than only one during each half.”
LONGER HALFTIMES
Gouttebarge also questioned whether the traditional 15-minute halftime interval is sufficient when matches are played in extreme heat.
“You can imagine that halftime of 15 minutes might not be enough in order to decrease the core temperature,” he said.
“It could be a halftime of 20 minutes which would be significant. That has been shown in the laboratory and FIFPRO, together with the national union in Portugal in August, we are going to test this kind of mitigation strategy.”
The urgency of stronger heat protocols became clear at this month’s Club World Cup where two matches — Benfica-Bayern Munich in Charlotte and Chelsea-Esperance in Philadelphia exceeded the WBGT threshold FIFPRO considers unsafe.
“According to our position, those games should have been postponed later that day or rescheduled,” Gouttebarge said.
FIFPRO officials acknowledged that FIFA has responded constructively during the tournament by lowering thresholds for mandatory cooling breaks and improving pitch-side hydration, but stressed that proactive planning is critical.
“FIFA have been quite responsive once the tournament was under way,” said Alex Phillips, FIFPRO General Secretary.
“They have actually modified how they’ve been dealing with heat during the matches based on FIFPRO’s input, which is credit to the work of the team. Obviously, it would have been better if that happened in advance, but it’s better that they have adapted.”
FIFPRO warned that the risks highlighted at the Club World Cup are a preview of what players could face at the expanded 2026 World Cup.
“This is not just affecting the Club World Cup, but also future tournaments either in the U.S. or elsewhere in the world,” said Alexander Bielefeld, FIFPRO Director of Policy & Strategic Relations.
“We need a better balance between commercial interests and the health and safety of players,” he added, referring to earlier kick-off times to accommodate European television audiences.
-Reuters
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Former Manchester United and England midfielder Paul Ince has been charged with drink-driving, police said on Monday.
Ince, who earned 53 caps for England and won two Premier League titles during his six years at United, has been released on bail and will appear in court on July 18.
“The incident involved a black Range Rover which had collided with the central reservation barrier. Officers attended the scene and arrested a 57-year-old man,” the Cheshire police said in a statement.
“Paul Ince, of Quarry Road, Neston, has since been charged with drink-driving.”
Reuters has contacted Ince’s representative for comment.
After retiring as a player, Ince led Milton Keynes Dons to a League Two title in 2007-08. He most recently managed Reading during 2022-23.
-Reuters
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International Football
From garbage collector to Starman of Ancelotti’s Brazil team: the story of Ribeiro
“I was without a team for a year and a half, doing trials… and no club in Brazil wanted me.!” Alex Ribeiro
Alexsandro Victor de Souza Ribeiro (Rio de Janeiro, 1999) was, until a few days ago, a semi-unknown to the general public in Brazil.
However, Carlo Ancelotti, impressed by his strong performance against Real Madrid in the Champions League, insisted on calling up the Lille centre-back… and giving him his debut.
Not only that. He started alongside Marquinhos against Ecuador (0-0) and Paraguay (1-0) and helped the Seleçao keep two consecutive clean sheets for the first time in the qualifying rounds.
Alex, as he likes to be called, impressed with his 1.92 meters (6′ 1″) frame and confidence. According to ‘R10Score’, he was the Brazilian player who completed the most actions with the ball (186) and the second with the most cuts (11).
He completed 154 of the 166 passes he made (92% accuracy) and won 12 of the 16 duels he was involved in: 5 of 7 at ground level and 7 of 9 in the air. “A gentleman defender,” boasted the official Ligue 1 Portuguese account.
His path to the elite wasn’t easy. “I don’t think you know this, but this is my first game as a professional in Brazil. Strange, isn’t it? There’s nothing better. To debut in Brazil like this, with a win and qualification,” he boasted after defeating Paraguay.
These first few days with Ancelotti have been unique; I’ll remember them for the rest of my life. I’ve responded well not only to myself, but also to the coach and the Brazilian people. I was able to demonstrate my ability to those who had doubts. Few people give me the opportunity that the manager has given me,” he insists
The Lille centre-back took his first steps in Flamengo’s youth system, where he even met Vinicius.
“When we played against Real Madrid, Vini came up to me and hugged me. He said, ‘I’m glad to see you here, brother.’ That inspired and motivated me even more,” he told ‘Globo Esporte’.
‘Fla’ cut him off. He had to make a living as a street vendor. He also collected trash, especially cans. “I was without a team for a year and a half, doing trials… and no club in Brazil wanted me, so I went to Europe to play in Portugal’s Third Division.”
Praiense (2018-20), Amora (2020-21), and Chaves (2021-22)—the latter already in the Second Division—were his springboard to Lille. The Bulldogs signed him in 2022-23 for €2 million. He has become a more than worthy successor to his compatriot Gabriel Magalhaes.
“Little by little, my name is spreading. My football is reaching everywhere. This includes Brazil,” he said before making his debut with the Seleçao. Now that he’s made it, he has another challenge: “I want to continue it.”
-Marca
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