CANBERRA, Australia — Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told a Sydney audience Thursday that he’d urge state governors to declare a weeklong holiday if Australia wins the World Cup. Albanese’s enthusiasm for the Socceroos’ prospects — when Australia plays Egypt in their first knockout match — isn’t shared by many of his colleagues: POLITICO approached a…
LONDON — Not everyone is happy that Prime Minister Keir Starmer decided to keep pubs open until 5 a.m. Monday for screenings of the England match against Mexico. The National Police Chiefs’ Council complained that the “late announcement” means officers will be removed from other duties and work longer hours, despite the World Cup fixtures…
When FIFA President Gianni Infantino visited the Oval Office last August, he presented President Donald Trump with a giant oversized ticket to the World Cup final. It turns out 10 real ones accompany it, raising anticipation around the White House for a much-coveted invitation to the July 19 match at MetLife Stadium, not far from…
If you want to trace Cape Verde’s emergence as a soccer power, you might go back to 2009, when the country beat Portugal on its way to a gold medal at the Jogos de Lusofonia. The Lusofonia Games were a junior varsity Olympics for remnants of a common empire, an effort by the 12-country Association…
This world leader visited his team’s dressing room after an epic victory that helped send them to the elimination rounds. That’s Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who paid the team a visit after their 6-0 win against Qatar in Vancouver on June 18. Canada plays Morocco in Houston on Saturday. Politics
NEW YORK — New York City has begun one of the busiest weekends in its history — Taylor Swift’s wedding celebration at Madison Square Garden today, a series of air, land and water celebrations for America’s 250th birthday tomorrow and a World Cup match in northern New Jersey on Sunday. Mayor Zohran Mamdani, NYPD Commissioner…
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas has participated in three Super Bowl parades and one World Series parade celebrating his hometown Chiefs and Royals. None compared to when Netherlands fans marched through downtown Kansas City, Missouri, ahead of their team’s June 25 game at Arrowhead Stadium. “It is special and different,” Lucas said, with a politician’s…
DALLAS — Egyptian coach Hossam Hassan said he has no issue with the Dallas Police Department after an officer had a brief altercation with the coach’s brother, team manager Ibrahim Hassan. “Incidents like that happen, of course,” Hassan said in a press conference after Egypt’s shootout victory over Australia. “We have nothing to follow up…
This week, members of the European Parliament issued two sharp rebukes of FIFA over its decision to allow Russians to participate in the U-15 World Cup in October and President Gianni Infantino’s relationship with U.S. leader Donald Trump. In letters published Monday and Wednesday, 90 MEPs pressed FIFA over actions they said undermine the world…
MAGA-friendly Abelardo de la Espriella’s decision to make Colombia’s national soccer jersey a defining feature of his victorious right-wing presidential campaign has sparked a debate over the political ownership of national symbols. While the yellow shirt has long been associated with moments of collective celebration, critics argue that its prominent use by a partisan candidate…
