Religion | Despite best efforts, Inter’s knights err

Izmir, Turkey, Dec 13 | A Fenerbahçe supporter in western Turkey, prompted by jerseys worn by Internazionale of Milan during a Champions League match on Nov 27, has announced that he will take legal action.

The shirts, modeled on St. George’s Cross, to some evoked associations with Knights Templar and, hence, the Crusades of the Middle Ages.

Grown in Galilee | Bnei Sakhnin, by cultivating football, hopes to harvest peace

Sakhnin, Israel, Sept 5 | A small Arab Israeli town of 25,000 residents, nestled in a lower Galilee valley among fig and olive orchards, with an illustrious history and a difficult present, has become world famous within the past three years—all thanks to its soccer team.

A new documentary film, Sons of Sakhnin United, examines Bnei Sakhnin’s place as a bridge builder in divided Israel.

Pride of lions | Iraqi Asian Cup victory reminds a civilization what ‘normal’ feels like

Baghdad, Aug 9 | A triumphant march through the Asian Cup tournament in July contributed to the resurgence of the Arabic phrase Assood al-Rafidain (Lions of Mesopotamia) to refer to the Iraqi national football team.

“It’s a way of labeling them with this unifying and historic cultural icon,” says Newsweek Baghdad correspondent Larry Kaplow, who appeared on our Aug 7 podcast. Rising above divisions by ethnicity and sect, the Iraqi team, which trains and plays matches in Jordan, defeated Saudi Arabia 1–0 on Jul 29 to lift the Asian Cup for the first time.

Souls on ‘The Line’ | Guatemala City sex workers turn to fútbol for a sense of who they are

Guatemala City, Guatemala, Jun 30 | Of football documentaries that favor the human element there is no shortage of late.

One of the most recent is Estrellas de la Lí­nea, screened at English-language film festivals as The Railroad All-Stars, about Guatemala City sex workers who in 2004 organized themselves as a football team.

‘It wesnae a goal, Geoff’ | Worldwide, Scots lend ‘fitba’ their distinctive style

Dundee, Scotland, May 31 | In our second podcast, Billy Kay, author of The Scottish World, recalls Scotland’s influence on the worldwide spread and ultimate dominance of the passing, artistic style of association football. Scotland will not let England forget that “it wes us.”

Talisman of the throw | FIFA searches for new moniker to proclaim Blatter’s reign

Zurich, Apr 1 | Suits at FIFA, the governing body for the world game, apparently are a bit miffed at the license being taken with Joseph “Sepp” Blatter’s honorific. Gliding unopposed into a third term as FIFA president, Blatter has on occasion been heralded in press reports as the FIFA “boss,” “supremo” or, sometimes, “kingpin.”

Offside trap | Iranian women, in Panahi’s film, move beyond a boundary

Tehran, Iran, Mar 28 | The women in “Offside”—Jafar Panahi’s 2006 production now receiving limited release in American cinemas—have “entered a forbidden space before the law has given them permission to do so,” says the Iranian director.

“They don’t have that permission yet, but they’ve gone ahead and entered the territory anyway. They’ve overturned the rules.”

Coverage abroad | In Islamic world, head scarves not always compulsory football equipment

Rabat, Morocco, Mar 11 | A cursory survey of women’s use of the hijab within football, in both Muslim and non-Muslim lands, shows variance that likely defies a systemic approach.

Clerical error? | Iranian officials say coed attendance remains possible, despite sharia’ ban

Tehran, Iran, Dec 30 | With translation help from Portland, Oreg.-based writer and radio host Goudarz Eghtedari, we learn from Iran’s sporting authority that preparations are being made to facilitate coed attendance at football matches despite an ongoing ban by clerics.

Butting in on Christmas | Zidane, Materazzi herald His coming

Naples, Italy, Dec 25 | Including figures from the world of football in the holiday-time “presepe” could not be sacreligious, as football in Italy certainly takes on the characteristics of faith.

Frank McCourt recalls some hallowed turf | Readings for 29 November 2006

Articles by Frank McCourt on the sporting culture of his Limerick of youth, on further suppression of football-watching in Somalia, on Abbass Swan of Maccabi Haifa, and on reprieve for Iran’s football federation.

At home and away | With march, migrants seek space on foreign field

Decatur, Alabama | Until hundreds of thousands marched yesterday, it had become hard to piece together isolated movements from such places as Janesville, Wisconsin; Liberal, Kansas; Bowling Green, Kentucky; San Angelo, Texas; and Dalton, Georgia. These are small to mid-sized locales featured in recent media reports for burgeoning Hispanic populations and for the development of local, ethnically based soccer leagues.