Nations and Balls

17/07/2024

A podcast host said he was sorry that when stuff like this is said, “then people are quick to say, oh, oh, oh, that’s racist.” Unsurprisingly, that was the verdict many on social media passed on his guest, with reminders that he once spoke up against the far-right and efforts to explain it all away going largely unnoticed.

Read more:

The past few days suggest that you can find out things you did not want to know about footballers even when they're on cloud number nine.

04/07/2024

Women's Aid is calling for more awareness around how domestic abuse increases when England play during major football tournaments such as the Euros.

aWomen's Aid is calling for more awareness around how domestic abuse increases when England play such as during Euro 2024.

25/06/2024

“United by football.” UEFA bosses picked the slogan to show their tournament would welcome everyone at a time when less welcoming politics are on the rise around host nation Germany. How did it go so far?

Read here:

“United by football.” UEFA bosses picked the slogan to show their tournament would welcome everyone while less welcoming politics are on the rise.

09/08/2023

Unfortunately, football clubs and leagues have largely been reluctant to act decisively against extremists within their fan base without the threat of severe punishment. Were Dinamo to possibly face expulsion from Europe, certainly someone would have stopped these dozens of cars from leaving Zagreb. If the current rules don't allow for a ban on Dinamo over Monday's events, these rules need changing.

Read more on how Greece’s police and UEFA’s rules proved inadequate to prevent a predictable tragedy this week.

Greece's police and UEFA's rules proved inadequate to prevent a predictable tragedy this week.

27/03/2023

Indonesia’s getting ready to host next year’s World Cup for under-20s, the first-ever FIFA tournament to be played in their country.

However, these plans have been thrown in the air after the unlikely qualification of another nation: Israel.

Indonesian officials couldn't have guessed who would qualify for their FIFA U-20 World Cup. Now, they might be left without a tournament.

20/03/2023

Football matches have been held behind closed doors for a variety of reasons. The spectacle of mute stadiums during the pandemic aside, teams are routinely forced to keep their fans out as punishment for their unruly behaviour.

Now, we can add preventing a coup to the list, after Moldova’s FC Sheriff was told to play Partizan Belgrade in the company of the Zimbru Stadium’s unused plastic seats.

Partizan's black and white colours weren't good enough camouflage for some would-be coup plotters. Football matches have been held behind closed doors for a variety of reasons. The spectacle of mute stadiums during the pandemic aside, teams are routinely forced to keep their fans out as punishment f...

17/12/2022

For our FIFA World Cup finals weekend special, we imagined what the tournament would look like if it had 48 teams.

Ukrainians would have another thing to be proud of, Canada's goalkeeper would have a quieter day on the pitch, and North Macedonia's epic win in Palermo would have meant even more.

Read our latest story at https://nationsandballs.com/2022/12/17/what-if-the-world-cup-had-48-teams-already/

29/11/2022

Two banners landed Balkan neighbours Croatia and Serbia in hot water last week, adding further controversy to a tournament that really does not need more of it.

Three fingers in the air, Jules Rimet still reeling. Read more in our latest story at https://nationsandballs.com/2022/11/29/three-fingers-in-the-air-jules-rimet-still-reeling/

06/06/2022

A disgraced government official who lost his job over colluding with N***s is now running Greece’s football federation.

Greece’s national football team has been struggling on the pitch since Fernando Santos led the side to its first ever knockout round at a FIFA World Cup in 2014. Off the pitch, the Hellenic Football Federation — Greece’s FA — has not been faring much better. That's especially true when it comes to countering discrimination in the beautiful game.

Read more at https://nationsandballs.com/2022/06/06/what-racist-crimes-greeces-new-football-chief/

20/03/2022

While asking to “give peace a chance,” Red Star Belgrade ultras forgot a war close to home — and their bloody role in it.

Their former leader, known as Arkan, led paramilitary units that committed heinous war crimes in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The ultras, who now chant 'Russia, Russia' at their club's matches, never disowned Arkan and his followers.

Read more: https://nationsandballs.com/2022/03/20/dont-give-whataboutery-a-chance/

20/12/2021

“They are doctors who have been working and studying medicine for years. If I said this is wrong, then I'll be like anyone in the street [who] said pass this ball here instead of this.”

Mo Salah is a leading voice backing the vaccination drive. But vaccine hesitancy has cost clubs and national teams in terms of missed games and unwelcome publicity.

Read more: https://nationsandballs.com/2021/12/20/free-choice-or-driving-drunk-footballs-unvaccinated-headache/

19/12/2021

Before a match at Bosnia and Herzegovina, while Ukraine’s anthem was blasting from the stadium’s speakers, one of the travelling fans decided to brandish an upside-down Russian flag – seemingly to oppose Moscow’s involvement in their country.

The home crowd started booing Ukraine’s anthem, leaving viewers baffled, as one would think that there’s little to separate them from their visitors in geopolitical or other terms.

Read more: https://nationsandballs.com/2021/12/19/getting-angry-at-the-wrong-flag/

02/08/2021

“Despite deadlock in the political arena, the Balkan country is putting itself on the map through sport.”

Despite deadlock in the political arena, the Balkan country is putting itself on the map through sport.

05/07/2021

Cuba had huge hopes for its national side this summer. Breaking with previous practice, the team is now open to Cuban players plying their trade abroad, including the Premier League’s Onel Hernandez.

Unfortunately, Hernandez and his teammates would not get their chance on the pitch as they never got the visas they needed to board that flight.

Read more in our latest story on what happens if footballers carry the wrong passport in the duffel bag: https://nationsandballs.com/2021/07/05/when-footballers-have-the-wrong-passport/

14/06/2021

Tensions between Serbia and Albania surfaced in a game – and a tournament – which involved neither of them.

Austria's captain David Alaba couldn't stop his teammate Marko Arnautović on time before he yelled racist abuse at one of North Macedonia's players over his Albanian ethnicity.

Ironically, Arnautović's own name comes from an Ottoman word which means 'Albanian.'

Read more about what happened yesterday in Bucharest: https://nationsandballs.com/2021/06/14/macedonian-debut-marred-by-an-austrians-racist-tirade/

11/06/2021

When it comes to a flag-waving competition such as the UEFA EURO 2020, it is difficult to find the line between what is political and what is not.

Especially when history and territory are also contested.

Read our latest post on Ukraine’s new shirt, a tale of nationalism, fashion and football. https://nationsandballs.com/2021/06/11/nationalism-fashion-and-football-ukraines-new-shirt/

02/06/2021

The Vatican City women’s side was formed in 2019. The team’s first captain was Eugene Tcheugoue, a striker on the pitch and an official in the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life off it.

Soon after, they were packing their bags for Austria to play third-tier FC Mariahilf of Vienna. That fixture would illustrate how the team of God was, in Augustine of Hippo’s words, “a captive and a stranger in the earthly city.”

Read more about the Pope's own football teams at https://nationsandballs.com/2021/06/02/the-popes-xi/

04/05/2021

Soon the EU will be led by a man who took to Twitter to celebrate a team that refused to take the knee against racism.

Read our portrait of Janez Janša, Trump's other Slovenian.
https://nationsandballs.com/2021/05/04/trumps-other-slovenian/