Alex Shephard

Does Soccer Still Explain the World? Does Soccer Still Explain the World? Franklin Foer’s bestselling 2004 book helped sell soccer to Americans thanks in part to a defense of globalization. 1Does Soccer Still Explain the World? 2The Loneliness of A Room o... See more

Forget the $10,000 tickets and the travel bans and the fact that the last three World Cups have been hosted in Russia, Qatar, and Donald Trump’s United States—FIFA President Gianni Infantino is a romantic. “Football, or soccer, as it is called here, is th... See more

Have you seen Donald Trump lately? You may have spotted him attempting to spin his “not final” Iran deal as anything other than a total capitulation. Maybe you caught him falling asleep in the Oval Office. You may have seen him talking about how handsome ... See more

Omar Abdulkadir Artan may be the best soccer referee in Africa. He’s certainly one of the best in the world. We know this because he was one of just 52 people chosen to officiate the 2026 World Cup, which kicks off on Thursday. His appointment was histori... See more

In October of 2005, days after Israeli forces killed a commander of the Hamas-aligned militant group Islamic Jihad in the West Bank, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke out unequivocally. “As the imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map,” said Iran’s newly elect... See more