Original news, features, opinions from Chicago to Jerusalem
A $400 million sale by a senior member of the UAE ruling family of a 13 percent stake in Manchester City FC to China highlights the importance of soccer in the two countries’ ambitions to project themselves on the international stage.
American Arab quarterback Johnny Manziel benched by the Cleveland Browns over off-field behavior. By Ray Hanania American Arab football star Johnny Manziel was benched Wednesday as the starting quarterback for the Cleveland Browns after another incident described by team management as “unacceptable” off-field behavior. Manziel, the son of a wealthy Texas wildcatter who immigrated from…
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By James M Dorsey Zouhair, a security guard of immigrant background, was one of several security officers, who on Friday prevented three of the Paris suicide bombers from entering the city’s Stade de France stadium. The bombers were forced to blow themselves up outside the stadium and at nearby McDonald’s. Little is publicly known about…
Read More “Targeted Paris stadium symbolizes pitfalls of war against the Islamic State” »
By James M. Dorsey Khaldoon Al-Mubarak, chairman of Manchester City, one of Britain’s most popular soccer clubs and a close business associate of UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, has warned the UK that his country would block multi-billion dollar arms deals, halt investment in Britain and suspend intelligence cooperation if…
Read More “UAE chairman of Manchester City pressures UK to crack down on Muslim Brothers” »
By James M. Dorsey Assertions by Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, a candidate for the presidency of world soccer body FIFA, that he was not involved in the arrest and abuse of sports executives and athletes in his naïve Bahrain in 2011 raise more questions than answers. Sheikh Salman…
Read More “AFC president’s FIFA presidential bid mired in abuse of human rights allegations” »
Turkish soccer offers Erdogan headaches instead of voters in walk-up to election By James M. Dorsey Turkish soccer has offered President Recep Tayyip Erdogan more headaches than likely votes as the Turkish leader battles to ensure that his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) will secure a majority in snap parliamentary elections on Sunday. Polls…
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By James M. Dorsey Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa’s candidacy for the presidency of world soccer body FIFA is likely to serve as a litmus test for newly introduced integrity checks on the group’s executives. Sheikh Salman, a former soccer player, has consistently like other members of his ruling…
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By James M. Dorsey A Swiss government-sponsored unit of the Paris-based Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has defined world soccer body FIFA as a multi-national bound by the group’s guidelines. As a result, the group concluded that FIFA is responsible for the upholding of the human and labour rights of workers employed in…
Read More “OECD holds FIFA responsible for Qatari World Cup-related labour conditions” »
By James M. Dorsey The Israel Football Association (IFA) acting on orders of the police has suspended what it calls ‘sensitive’ matches, a reference to professional and amateur games between Israeli Jewish and Israeli Palestinian squads. Police said the suspension on soccer pitches that have long signalled mounting tensions, violence, and racism in Israeli society…
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By James M. Dorsey Israel’s most notorious soccer fan group, La Familia, known for its militant racism against Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims, has put itself in the firing line as Israeli-Palestinian confrontations threaten to spark a third Intifada or popular Palestinian uprising on the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip. Members of La Familia,…
Palestinian American Rush Darwish is leading a team of marathon runners this year in the Bank of America Chicago Marathon, a 26.2 mile race through the city of Chicago. It’s a growing American tradition. An American Arab has won the marathon four times and still holds the record for the fastest run By Ray Hanania The Bank of…
By James M. Dorsey The 2022 Qatar World Cup may be sparking social change in the Gulf, just not (yet) in Qatar. Qatar’s winning of the hosting rights for the World Cup gave human rights and trade union activists the leverage they needed to more effectively pressure the Gulf state for reform, if not abolition,…
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Inevitably, the mass exodus of refugees from conflict areas was going to provoke the spilling into Europe of multiple disputes in the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa. Spanish soccer is the first to feel the weight of the baggage that has turned vast numbers into destitute refugees. By James M. Dorsey Inevitably, the mass exodus…
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By James M. Dorsey A panel in Doha of religious scholars, officials of Qatar’s government-sponsored human rights committee, and international labour activists has called on Qatar to radically alter its controversial labour policies. The call serves to support Qatari government promises of labour reform in response to World Cup-related international criticism and increases moral pressures…
Read More “Religious support for Qatari labour reforms puts Gulf states on the spot” »
By James M. Dorsey Militant soccer fans are on a roll in the Middle East, Europe and Southeast Asia. Fans in Turkey and Egypt have defeated legal efforts to criminalize them as terrorists while Malaysian ultras are tackling corruption in and mismanagement of their country’s soccer association. In Germany, the pitch anticipated the government’s shift…
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By James M. Dorsey The Egyptian interior ministry, in a potential signal that the country’s military-backed regime recognizes that its choking off of all public space could backfire, has agreed to allow fans to attend international matches played by the national team and Egyptian clubs. In doing so, the ministry de facto acknowledged that it…
Read More “Egypt throws the dice with partial lifting of stadia ban” »
By James M. Dorsey Israel’s multiple fault lines – secular vs religious, Jewish vs Palestine and controversial calls for a boycott of the Jewish state – are exploding on the soccer pitch. The spill over comes as President Reuven Rivlin warned in a recent speech that Israel was being fragmented by four tribes that view…
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By James M. Dorsey The Turkish Football Federation (TFF), in a demonstration of the inseparable ties between sports and politics, has effectively declared its support for renewed Turkish-Kurdish hostilities designed to enhance the prospects of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party in forthcoming snap elections. With armed Kurdish youth effectively taking control of at least one…
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