Gianni Infantino hints at expansion to 64-team World Cup before 2030 event
Fifa president says 48-team tournament has been a ‘huge success’
Gianni Infantino
Jim Boyce: ‘I’ve known Infantino for years. He should have told Trump to keep out of football’
The Belfast-based former Fifa vice-president on the red-card review controversy, 57 years of marriage and being caught up in a bombing
Gavin Cooney: Gianni Infantino playing the fame game creates conflict of interest for Fifa
Organisation’s ideal of absolute neutrality in danger as Fifa faithfully follows America’s scripture of celebrity
World Cup 2026: US flop after Trump’s intervention as Belgium show how to drop big names
All the hosts are out of the tournament, and so is Cristiano Ronaldo, who drifted through the whole Spain-Portugal snoozefest
USA crash out to Belgium in last-16 loss in Seattle
Co-hosts lose 4-1 to Belgium in game overshadowed by red-card reprieve given to Folarin Balogun after Donald Trump’s phone call to Gianni Infantino
‘I’ve never seen anything like it’: Trump confirms asking for Balogun red card review
Belgium will appeal against striker’s availability for tie
The World Cup – soccer in general – seems to have escaped its once-stubborn naffness
The vast efficiency of the current tournament wipes out the comforting leathery embarrassment football once allowed
My son’s frustrating World Cup sticker book is a perfect reflection of Fifa
My son’s World Cup sticker book offers an unmissable opportunity for me to deliver the first ever broadsheet book review of this most vaunted form of literature
Fans hate them but hydration breaks are the World Cup’s new money spinner
Fifa says they’re for player welfare but advertisers have been the big winners
Irish MEPs join calls for investigation into Gianni Infantino over Fifa’s Trump peace prize
Fifty representatives sign letter describing US president’s award as ‘the most troubling development’ of 2026 World Cup
Ken Early: My friend is right, TV replays from the World Cup are different this time
Goals are almost secondary to emotion, celebrity and spectacle
Flying saucer prediction not even wackiest thing at this World Cup
Football divided into comfort-breaks, curious ticket resales and Qatar’s loyal followers
Ken Early: World Cup feats by Messi and Mbappé go against efforts to break players’ flow
Fifa and other football rule-makers seem determined to destroy the sport’s defining characteristic
Fifa ‘shoutout’ gimmick open to all manner of infantile manipulation
World Cup has also been used by Argentina as an opportunity to stop bad parents having fun
‘A distinct absence of joy’: The World Cup’s return to the US has been overshadowed
With the tournament at risk of being overshadowed by politics and pricing, American players have tried to shift the focus to their football in advance of their game against Paraguay
World Cup 2026, Day 1: I stayed up all night so you didn’t have to
Opening ceremony was actually quite enjoyable, though Gianni Infantino might not have liked the boos
Ken Early: Driving through Mexico City it’s clear not everyone is in love with this World Cup
Teachers’ strikes highlight the chasm between ordinary workers’ wages and the premium price of match tickets
Ken Early: Gianni Infantino rolls out the platitudes and gratitudes in press conference
Fifa chief addressed Iran, ticket prices and visa problems at event in Mexico City, but didn’t hit the dramatic heights of Qatar 2022
The World Cup is still free to watch in Ireland, but for how much longer?
More and more sports broadcast rights are moving to subscription services and that is likely to continue
Under-3s training for $165: Why the US is the only World Cup nation where soccer is a country club
Parents of most youngsters taking up soccer in the US are well placed to afford the high sums it takes to put them in competitive arenas
Ken Early: Gianni Infantino has little reverence, respect or feeling for football – it’s all about the money
Fifa president has focused on increasing World Cup revenue to the detriment of the game’s greatest showpiece
Politics of Donald Trump and Gianni Infantino dominate event with flood the zone defence
Sporting anticipation for this World Cup is at an all-time low, and for good reason
Here in Trump’s US the staggering expense of daily life casts a shadow over the World Cup
A record 48 teams will play across US, Canada and Mexico for sport’s most prestigious prize
The best quotes of the football season from Roy Keane, Hallgrímsson, Messi and more
Pep Guardiola, Mikel Arteta and Cristiano Ronaldo wisely hinted at what was to come this year
Fifa’s fleece ’em all mentality has immunised Americans against World Cup fever
Many American soccer fans do not appear especially excited. Even Donald Trump has baulked at the ticket prices
Italian sports minister dismisses plan for Azzurri to replace Iran at 2026 World Cup
Andrea Abodi says proposal put forward by a special envoy to Donald Trump ‘is firstly not possible, and secondly not appropriate’
Trump’s World Cup has a strong whiff of the last days of Rome
With a host nation at war and ‘Fifa’ rendered as a swear word, escapism will be hard to find this summer
Drink in the jeopardy of the World Cup playoffs, it’s the last we’ll get for a while
The expansion of this summer’s 48-team tournament mean Tuesday’s games will be the best we see until the round of 16
Malachy Clerkin: Fifa’s risible punishment of Israeli FA is a dereliction of duty
The world governing body was scathing in its condemnation of the IFA for discrimination but let it off with a slap on the wrist
Fifa rule all women’s teams must have female coaches
‘There are simply not enough women in coaching today,’ Fifa chief football officer says
Donald Trump says Iran should not play in World Cup for their ‘life and safety’
Comment comes just days after telling Fifa president Gianni Infantino that Iran would be welcome despite the war
Ken Early: Infantino unlikely to reflect on World Cup host US attacking participant Iran
Fifa chief has never been afraid to risk a little embarrassment in pursuit of what he wants
Tottenham’s existential strife, and a couple of heartwarming stories from the soccer world
Plus: The cost of watching PSG; and the extraordinary behaviour of Jamie Vardy
Who is going to stand up for football against Gianni Infantino?
When you think what Fifa could be, it’s sad to see what it is
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