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South Africa | At the top of our thoughts, near the bottom of the world

Cape Town, Jun 22 | World football stands poised between an obscenity and a dream—the obscenity the £136 million to send two Lusophone footballers to Real Madrid, the dream a 2010 World Cup in South Africa that might make soccer here a sport for all. (Photo of Green Point Stadium courtesy Department of the Premier, Provincial Government Western Cape)

Video & archives »


Titans FC of the Vodacom women's league in North West province, South Africa, currently four points clear at the top, prepare for a friendly Jun 27 against the Chosen Few Lesbian Soccer Club of Johannesburg. Titans would win 6–1, all six goals coming in the second half. (2:14)

About The Global Game »

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A website of football culture with accent on the game’s reach into under-publicized enclaves—among diaspora Ukrainians, aboriginal Canadians and women players of Iran, Morocco and Brazil. See mission statement »

In memoriam | Steven Wells, 1960–2009 »

Steven Wells, 1960-2009
Jun 24 | He was "renowned for his irreverent, acerbic wit and prolific use of expletives," says the Guardian. Philadelphia Weekly editor and Guardian Unlimited columnist Steven Wells (above) also saw through the façade of suburban soccer and reported on the inner-city Anderson Monarchs, a traveling side of African American girls. We spoke to him on 30 Oct 07.

Interviews & Features »

Ukraine | Anatoly Kuznetsov and Dynamo Kyiv’s ‘almost incredible’ story
Ukraine | Anatoly Kuznetsov and Dynamo Kyiv’s ‘almost incredible’ story
06-18-2009 | Comment »
Forty years ago Ukrainian writer Anatoly Kuznetsov declared political asylum from the former USSR. Smuggled microfilm contained images of the uncensored manuscript for Babi Yar and what would become, when translated, one of the first English-language accounts of Dynamo Kyiv's deeds during World War II.
Israel | Settling Palestinian question in ‘90-minute war’
Israel | Settling Palestinian question in ‘90-minute war’
05-10-2009 | Comment »
In Itay Meirson's first novel, Milchemet Tisheem Hadakot (The 90-Minute War), the intractable Middle Eastern dispute over Palestine is decided in one football match. The winning team keeps the Holy Land. The losers must leave. As a potential resettlement site, Israel selects eastern Oregon.
Cinema | 20 years later, remembering East German film and football
Cinema | 20 years later, remembering East German film and football
04-04-2009 | 1
Twenty years from the fall of the Berlin Wall, the sixth edition of the 11mm Fußballfilmfestival revels in Ostalgie (“Eastalgia”) by screening 14 films from or concerning the former East Germany. With film listing and podcast »
Books | Municipal de Fútbol, where Angelenos do not fear to tread
Books | Municipal de Fútbol, where Angelenos do not fear to tread
03-30-2009 | Comment »
The multimedia project Municipal de Fútbol, published in 2008, focuses on what the project's essayist, Jennifer Doyle, calls the most developed subculture in Los Angeles: improvisational soccer. With podcast »

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The Global Game | Writers on Soccer

On Feb 7, co-editors John Turnbull and Alon Raab appear on Only a Game from WBUR-Boston. Of The Global Game: Writers on Soccer, host Bill Littlefield says, "I'm a soccer fan. If you are, too, this is the book for you." Go to website »

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Quotable »

We are just playing with our souls and spiritual abilities. It's because we are strong, we are Palestinian, we face a lot of difficulties. We want to be something. (Honey Thaljieh, Palestine women's soccer team, Apr 07)