One of the most fascinating aspects of this World Cup is how the US will engage with its national team. Can a country that regards itself as so divided come together over a tournament that has been entirely politicised? Where is the line between nation and state? observer.co.uk/news/sport/a...

USA! USA? The awkward dance of America’s World Cup patrio...

“I have my opinions on politics, but when our country plays, I take pride in supporting the players who are wearing the badge.”

observer.co.uk

It's half time at the stadium that FIFA refuses to call the Azteca. It speaks volumes for the way they think that when they renamed it they went with the evocative, historic, slightly Pro Evo "Mexico City Stadium." observer.co.uk/news/sport/a...

The Azteca Stadium is ready. Just don’t call it that

There is no reason why the iconic World Cup venue has had its name changed for this tournament – but it is the least of Fifa’s worries

observer.co.uk

Of all the scandals that FIFA have made for themselves around this World Cup, the ticket one might be the hardest to shake. But it’s part of a trend of cultural events being taken over by/staged for the corporate class. On the commodification of experience: observer.co.uk/news/sport/a...

From Burning Man to burning fans: a World Cup story

The world’s game is being repackaged for an elite audience

observer.co.uk

New Libero Have Arsenal handed Manchester City the title? @rorysmith.bsky.social @jonawils.bsky.social @jackpittbrooke.bsky.social pod.fo/e/402e81

Libero: 115 | Was Manchester City's Win Against Arsenal Really A Title-Decider?

Join SC Libero, the most important of the least important membership clubs, now: liberopodcast.com.—Manchester City’s 2-1 win over Arsenal on Sunday was a rare thing: a Premier League game that...

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New Libero Are Arsenal bottling the league? @rorysmith.bsky.social @migueldelaney.bsky.social @jameshorncastle.bsky.social pod.fo/e/3fd90c

Libero: Libero 113 | Why Does No One Want Arsenal To Win It?

So it all comes down to this. Maybe. After Arsenal lost at home to Bournemouth and Manchester City swatted aside Chelsea, the Premier League has a genuine title decider: Mikel Arteta’s stumbling ...

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I went to Rome last month to watch the latest instalment of Operazione Nostalgia: a rolling celebration of the glory days of Italian football. And what I realised was that more than people miss Totti, Veron and Zanetti, they miss how football made them feel. observer.co.uk/news/sport/a...

Football’s nostalgia machine makes us long not just for t...

Javier Zanetti, Edgar Davids in wraparound shades, imperial-phase Francesco Totti. Operazione Nostalgia is a window back to Serie A’s legends era

observer.co.uk

I went to Rome last month to watch the latest instalment of Operazione Nostalgia: a rolling celebration of the glory days of Italian football. And what I realised was that more than people miss Totti, Veron and Zanetti, they miss how football made them feel. observer.co.uk/news/sport/a...

Football’s nostalgia machine makes us long not just for t...

Javier Zanetti, Edgar Davids in wraparound shades, imperial-phase Francesco Totti. Operazione Nostalgia is a window back to Serie A’s legends era

observer.co.uk

Managers in modern football have less power and less responsibility but seem to get just as much of the blame as ever. But does that mean they don't matter? Or, in a sport of intensely fine margins, are they the biggest of all the small things? observer.co.uk/news/sport/a...

Managers are just a cog in a machine. But they may be the...

The modern game has stripped away the idea of the omnipresent and omnipotent football manager

observer.co.uk

"If you don't want it, I know a guy in America who'll take it."

This is a story I’ve been wanting to write for ages. It’s about how a generation of fans have brought the ultra movement to Scotland, and what that says about fandom, connection and friendship in a world where so much of life is digital observer.co.uk/news/sport/a...

‘It is an identity’: The march of the Scottish ultras | The Observer

observer.co.uk

I am terrible at actively promoting my work these days, but I am determined to find a way to be better. So let's start with this, a column for @meninblazers.bsky.social on Jude Bellingham the-correspondent-rory-smith-newsletter.beehiiv.com/p/jude-belli...

The Unknowable Superstar 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Rory Smith Judge Bellingham's contentious England career and the end of PSR.

the-correspondent-rory-smith-newsletter.beehiiv.com

Because he’s a proper journalist, @shteyngart.bsky.social twice spent a week watching Russian state TV to get a sense of how media constructs our reality. I did the same, on a budget and various other professional commitments, with Real Madrid TV. It was weird. observer.co.uk/news/sport/a...

Don’t believe your eyes – inside Real Madrid’s world of a...

Is the club’s TV channel harmless propaganda, or something more sinister?

observer.co.uk

I know everyone hates the international break, and that qualifiers seem like a procession of pointless games with an obvious conclusion. But that is only the view from the world's major nations. And football isn't just for the major nations. (Even if it feels like it) observer.co.uk/news/sport/a...

The joy of qualifying belongs to the few, not the powerful

The Faroe Islands prove that while qualifying may be imperfect, it remains the beating heart of international football

observer.co.uk

A test for whether Bluesky is a healthier environment than Twitter: I broke my own self-imposed rule and wrote about football in Glasgow. I think the toxicity of the Old Firm/Glasgow derby is holding BOTH clubs back. I say this with love. observer.co.uk/news/sport/a...

Russell Martin caught in ferocity of Old Firm’s unhealthy...

Rangers manager’s methods need time but that is one thing that Glasgow’s derby pressure never allows

observer.co.uk

The Champions League league phase is underway and Matchday 1 concludes tonight. But does is the new format conducive to more exciting games? @jonawils.bsky.social explains:

New Libero Welcome back to the Champions League! Can anyone challenge PSG this year? @jonawils.bsky.social @jameshorncastle.bsky.social @jackpittbrooke.bsky.social pod.fo/e/32b5f5

Libero: Libero 053: The Things That Matter As The Champions League Returns

The Champions League is back. Or more specifically, the league phase, which starts with matchday one spread over the course of this week.On today’s episode, Jack Pitt-Brooke, James Horncastle and...

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The Correspondent Newsletter has FLOWN 📫 This week, @rorysmith.bsky.social touches on: 🤔 The PL's 20 most interesting players 💙 A Grealish for the Labubu generation 🌳 The English top-flight's wildest owner 🤍 Why Spurs fans might miss Daniel Levy READ IT HERE: mibcourage.co/4gkf9b3

This week's @meninblazers.bsky.social newsletter tries to explore how transfer culture got bigger than actual football, and what that means for how we interact with players, how we watch the game, and who we are as fans. the-correspondent-rory-smith-newsletter.beehiiv.com/p/transfer-w...

The Triumph of Transfer Culture 📊

Rory Smith on the 24/7 game happening off the pitch.

the-correspondent-rory-smith-newsletter.beehiiv.com

I’d been fascinated by a mystery all summer. It was an itch I had to scratch. A question burning in my brain. Was…was Indy Kaila now a legitimate news source? An investigation into the man/men/myth legend who has dominated this transfer (gossip) window. observer.co.uk/news/sport/a...

The myth and mystery of Indy Kaila: the X account that ‘w...

For 13 years an anonymous social media account has posted transfer gossip to the delight – and despair – of fans

observer.co.uk

As of today, I am back in the newslettering game, thanks to the lovely people at Men In Blazers. If you -- yes, you -- want to read the first one, and get a free map, then you should enter your email and no other personal details here. the-correspondent-rory-smith-newsletter.beehiiv.com/subscribe

The Correspondent w/ Rory Smith

A look at the places, history, humanity, and flavors that make football that most interesting of obsessions.

the-correspondent-rory-smith-newsletter.beehiiv.com

We’ve now done two @liberopodcast.bsky.social episodes on whether football has grown too big for its own good. The first is mainly about why it is that one sport grew so much, so fast, in the 1990s. pod.fo/e/2f5917

PSG have won the Champions League, at long last, and all it took was eight managers, 14 years, £2bn in transfer fees, more in wages, one hyperinflationary spiral and the complete restricting of European football. Easy to love the team. Less so the project. observer.co.uk/news/sport/a...

Paris St-Germain complete their long journey to supreme prize | The Observer

Inter Milan swept away as French champions run up record-breaking score in Munich

observer.co.uk

Absolutely delighted to be writing, as well as talking, for @meninblazers.bsky.social. Newsletter will go out every Thursday, and you can read the first one — about Lautaro Martinez, and how we judge players — and sign up here: mibcourage.co/4kDA7CG

The Champions League Final Is Here 🏆

Rory Smith on the disrespect of Lautaro Martínez, Inter Milan and PSG's first-ever meeting, and the best brezels in Munich.

mibcourage.co

Talking Saturday's Champions League final with two of the biggest Premfaces out there, @jameshorncastle.bsky.social and @rorysmith.bsky.social. On today's @liberopodcast.bsky.social podfollow.com/libero/episo...

Libero: Libero 021: Champions League Final, Premface Edition

Today on Libero Jack Pitt-Brooke, Rory Smith and James Horncastle look forward to Saturday’s Champions League final between Paris Saint Germain and Inter Milan.First up is the question of what ac...

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Dispatches from Libero's Bilbao Bureau bring word of an all-English final that was not the greatest advert for the 'Best League in the World™', so instead @jameshorncastle.bsky.social, @brewin.bsky.social and @rorysmith.bsky.social discuss the Italian perspective on football in 2025

Libero: Libero 019: The James Horncastle Origin Story

Dispatches from the Libero's Bilbao Bureau bring word of an all-English European final that was not the greatest advert for the 'Best League in the World™', so instead James Horncastle, John Brew...

pod.fo

The only time most of us engage with motorbike racing is when someone dies. I’d always wondered how they managed to race on when they’d lost a friend and a colleague. But I didn’t understand how being so conscious of death changes the way you interact with it. observer.co.uk/news/sport/a...

Inside the world of Superbikes: ‘It is not a job or a hobby. It is a life’ | The Observer

Two deaths a fortnight ago have failed to dispel the turbocharged allure of the motorsport for riders

observer.co.uk

Carlo and Caipirinhas. An Italian in Brazil. The cultural moment. And what he has left for Xabi in Madrid with @rorysmith.bsky.social and @brewin.bsky.social pod.fo/e/2d51b2

Libero: Libero 016: Don Carlo

On today’s episode of Libero, Rory Smith, John Brewin and James Horncastle wonder whether anyone not named Carlo Ancelotti can make sense of the modern Real Madrid, and assess the prospects for X...

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New Libero. What are the secrets of Bodo/Glimt and can their success be easily emulated? And a look at Liverpool’s title celebration at Anfield. What does it mean for the fans, Arne Slot and FSG? @rorysmith.bsky.social @brewin.bsky.social @jackpittbrooke.bsky.social pod.fo/e/2ce9a4

Libero: Libero 012: Marathon Wolf Hall Sessions

Today’s episode starts with a look to the Arctic circle, where Bodo/Glimt have become one of the best stories in European football this decade. The small club from northern Norway have won four o...

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PSG v Manchester City: who has the better strategy? @rorysmith.bsky.social and @jackpittbrooke.bsky.social on the new episode of Libero.

New Libero. Talking Paris Saint-Germain and Crystal Palace. How do football clubs represent their local area in an era of homogeneity? @rorysmith.bsky.social @brewin.bsky.social and @jackpittbrooke.bsky.social discuss podfollow.com/1804708562

Libero

This is another podcast about football. But it is also not really, when you think about it, about football. It is about the football industry, about that gauzy web of characters who determine how the ...

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