Entertainment

• Tuesday, September 16th 2014 - 05:10 UTC

  Blatter has a challenger for next year's FIFA president election: Champagne

  

  Former FIFA official Jerome Champagne has formally announced that he will stand against incumbent Sepp Blatter in next year's election for president of the world soccer body.

• Friday, September 12th 2014 - 04:08 UTC

  FIFA vice-president has called for 'corruption' report to be published

  

  FIFA vice-president Jeffrey Webb has called for Michael Garcia’s report into the corruption-tarnished World Cup bidding process to be published. The CONCACAF president made his declaration at the Soccerex Global Convention in Manchester on Tuesday.

• Wednesday, September 10th 2014 - 04:55 UTC

  Blatter will run for a fifth term, despite ongoing corruption scandals

  

  Sepp Blatter has confirmed he will run for a fifth, four-year term as FIFA president. Buoyed by a successful World Cup in Brazil and UEFA President Michel Platini opting not to stand in next year’s election, the 78-year-old Blatter believes he has the backing to win again.

• Wednesday, September 10th 2014 - 04:29 UTC

  Paraguay argues that soccer was first played by Guarani tribes, according to Jesuit reports

  

  The Guarani tribes that lived in South America in the 17th century used to play a sport similar to soccer when the Jesuits arrived to establish their missions, claims a video based on historical documents released by Paraguay’s Secretary for Culture. Entitled “The Guaranies invented soccer,” the video collects findings made by anthropologists who studied the Jesuits’ legacy in the country.

• Monday, September 8th 2014 - 06:15 UTC

  Gibraltar's debut in the 2016 European Championship ends in 7-0 loss with Poland

  

  Gibraltar's competitive football debut ended in a predictably one-sided 7-0 loss to Poland on Sunday when the team predominantly made up of amateurs started 2016 European Championship qualifying.

• Tuesday, September 2nd 2014 - 06:57 UTC

  Interreligious soccer match had Maradona as one of the outstanding stars

  

  Diego Maradona and Roberto Baggio were among a host of former soccer stars who played in an interreligious charity match backed by Pope Francis on Monday night. The Argentine pope, an avid soccer fan, did not attend the match but had an audience with both teams earlier in the day and also broadcast a message on the big screens at Rome's Olympic Stadium ahead of kickoff.

• Thursday, August 21st 2014 - 06:26 UTC

  Soccer fan Pope Francis receives San Lorenzo, South America's best team

  

  Soccer took center stage at the Vatican Wednesday morning when members of Argentina's San Lorenzo visited their most famous fan, Pope Francis, to share the joy of winning the Copa Libertadores last week.

• Saturday, August 16th 2014 - 08:28 UTC

  Ebola-affected region athletes involved in body contact disciplines banned from Youth Games

  

  The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced on Friday it was prohibiting young athletes from the Ebola-affected region of West Africa from participating in certain events at the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China.

• Monday, August 11th 2014 - 07:55 UTC

  Blatter challenges his critics to take the risk and stand for FIFA election

  

  FIFA President Sepp Blatter has challenged his critics to “take the risk” and stand for election against him next year. Although he did not identify potential rivals in the ballot scheduled in May, he appeared to target UEFA President Michel Platini.

• Thursday, August 7th 2014 - 06:53 UTC

  Argentine football has new president; HQ raided on court's order

  

  Argentinos Juniors and interim Argentine Football Association president Luis Segura has been ratified in the AFA post until October 2015, as confirmed following the first meeting of the body's executive committee since the passing of late chief Julio Humberto Grondona.