In the pilot episode of “The Umhlaba Podcast” I spoke with Boyzzz Khumalo and Yazeed Matthews about soccer and education in South Africa and the United States. Both men are from Johannesburg, but grew up in different areas with distinct experiences. Matthews hails from the Westbury neighborhood, a segregated area reserved for “Coloureds” (biracial South […]
Search: “United States”
We found 52 results for your search.
This is a guest post by Yussif Abuharaz, an undergraduate student at Michigan State University. I come from a thriving Muslim community in Flint, Michigan, made up of more than 100 families from many different cultural and ethnic backgrounds. My dad is originally from Omdurman, Sudan, and my mom is from Manchester, England, so both […]
Categories
Reading Soccer
For almost a decade I’ve been involved with the Football Scholars Forum, an online book club that TV wordsmith Ray Hudson labeled “the soccer think tank.” An intellectual pick up game of sorts, an informal space to read, reflect, try new things, network, learn, and engage in thoughtful conversations with fútbologists around the world. This […]
Categories
Teaching Soccer Online: 2018 Edition
A couple of weeks ago, I was mired in grading final papers and exams when I received the first student emails about my “Global Soccer” online summer course. “Professor,” an eager young man wrote, “I’m really excited about taking your soccer class and want to get an early start.” His enthusiasm, while obviously welcome, also […]
Categories
Johan Cruyff, Football Genius, Dies at 68
Johan Cruyff, the Dutch football genius, has died of cancer at the age of 68. When I was 7 or 8 years old, growing up in Rome, Italy, my older brother Danny took me along with some of his friends to watch “Il Profeta del Gol.” Sitting in the front row of a run-down movie theater […]
Categories
FIFA, Blatter and Me (Andrew Jennings)
Nearly a decade ago, I devoured English reporter Andrew Jennings’s scathing investigation into “The Secret World of FIFA: Bribes, Vote Rigging and Ticket Scandals.” Now, in a compelling BBC Panorama documentary, Jennings updates the story by digging deeper into FIFA’s most recent and spiraling crisis. The documentary takes viewers to FIFA headquarters in Zurich, and […]
Categories
Rethinking the 2015 Women’s World Cup
On December 1, 2015, the Football Scholars Forum held its 33rd session. The Michigan State University-based online think tank pre-circulated a shared list of readings that formed the basis for a wide-ranging, highly engaging discussion about the impact and aftermath of the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Thirteen fútbologists from the United States, Canada, Britain, […]