Soccer: the beautiful game. Across Europe, South America and Africa — and increasingly in North America — it’s a global byword for joy. At its best, soccer evokes images of ecstatic fans, their arms wrapped around each other, singing and reveling in the sport’s combination of grace, speed and endurance. What it’s not usually associated…
(JTA) — Soccer fans in Belgium chanted about burning Jews during a match in the city of Bruges, Belgian media reported. La Derniere Heure published footage from the Aug. 26 match on Wednesday. It shows dozens of fans celebrating their local team’s victory over Brussels’ Anderlecht team that day by singing in Flemish: “My father…
(JTA) — Chelsea, the British soccer club, is planning to send fans who are caught chanting anti-Semitic songs on a tour of the former death camp of Auschwitz instead of punishing them. The team’s owner, Roman Abramovich, who is Jewish, has spearheaded a new initiative to combat anti-Semitism, according to the report about he plan…
Although he fasted for 24 hours in observance of Yom Kippur, a member of the Queens Park Rangers hopped off the bench and into the soccer game as soon as the holy day ended, the Jewish Chronicle reported Thursday. Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement and one of the holiest days in Judaism, ended after…
The World Cup comes around every four years, just like the Olympic Games, except the Olympics are for amateurs. And if you’re an American, chances are you are indifferent at best or totally oblivious at worst about the single thing that, more than any other, unites all humanity. The World Cup is reportedly the most…
Much like cicadas tentatively emerging from the ground after years of hibernation, the American public is gearing up once again to care about soccer. That’s right, it’s time for the World Cup, the international showcase of the globe’s greatest passion: bribery football. As more and more Americans familiarize themselves with the beautiful game (average attendance…
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — Argentina’s national soccer team canceled this week’s friendly match with Israel after pressure from the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. After two months of pressure against the match with Israel, the Argentinian team’s players late on Tuesday announced the cancellation of the match scheduled to be held on Saturday night…
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Hamas prisoners in Israeli jails will not be permitted to watch the FIFA World Cup soccer tournament. Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan reportedly ordered the Israel Prisons Service to block the Hamas prisoners from watching the matches. The 2018 World Cup tournament begins next month in Russia. “I have no intention to…
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