It’s Not Women’s Soccer—It’s Just Soccer

The World Cup Shouldn’t Be the Only Time My Son Roots for Female Sports Stars

He sat on the edge of his seat, tense, cheering and simultaneously yelling at the refs, shifting from side to side with each movement of the ball. No, my 9-year-old wasn’t watching LeBron and Curry, he was watching Wambach and Morgan.

He’s got World Cup fever.

Every day he asks, “Who won today, who’s playing next, how did the U.S. do and can we watch, pretty please?” As Team USA advances to the elimination rounds, his excitement grows.

We’re big sports fans. My husband has coached Jake in three sports. Pretty much …

by Tanya Wheeless | June 18, 2015

Arsenal Fever Is a Transcontinental Malady

How My American Family Became Obsessed with an English Soccer Team

by Emily Lombardo | June 6, 2015

The soccer match was in London, I was in Tokyo, but the incessant text updates on the recent FA Cup Final between Arsenal and Aston Villa cascading down my phone’s …

Now That Americans Love Soccer, We’ve Also Become Its Referee

How FIFA Corruption Charges And New U.S. Fans Could Alter the Pitch for the World's Most Popular Sport

by Andrés Martinez | June 1, 2015

Not too long ago, Americans couldn’t care less about the world’s most popular sport. Now we care so much we are not only going to be a force to be …

I Was a Psychotic Soccer Mom

Living Vicariously Through My Daughter Allowed Me to Celebrate Her Skills—and How Organized Sports Have Changed Life for Young Women Since I Was a Girl

by Claire Peeps | August 14, 2014

I grew up in Minnesota in the 1960s and ’70s, before the passage of Title IX—the education amendment that provides for gender equity in athletics.

Had I grown up in …

Has FC Barcelona Ruined Its Brand?

A Soccer Team That Was Supposed to Be About More Than Winning Betrayed Itself by Signing Biter Luis Suárez

by Andrés Martinez | July 28, 2014

Et tu, Barcelona?

I’ve rooted for you—the Spanish soccer team FC Barcelona, one of the most successful sports franchises in the world, founded in 1899—since I was a kid. And for …

Confessions of a Soccer Sister

I Gave Up My Weekends So Our Family Could Help My Brother Pursue His Dreams of Athletic Glory (Spoiler Alert: He Didn’t Make It to Brazil)

by Marie Helmy | July 2, 2014

I was 7 years old when I first learned why people hate Bakersfield.

Sitting under the blistering San Joaquin Valley sun, I stared out at a yellow soccer field as West …

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