Livingston defender targeting personal and team success before World Cup break

Despite being plagued by injuries that knocked out some key players in past weeks, France entered the World Cup with a bang on Tuesday — and scored a ratings victory for TF1 at the same time. At home, an average 12.53 million viewers tuned in from 8 PM local time to watch Les Bleus defeat Australia’s Socceroos 4-1. 

The United States began its 2022 World Cup campaign on Monday against Wales, scoring nearly 12M viewers across Fox and Telemundo.

, multiple European teams have walked back plans to wear rainbow armbands during the global soccer competition.The teams representing England, Wales, Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Switzerland, and the Netherlands announced that they would no longer wear the OneLove armbands for “diversity and inclusion” shortly before their campaigns were scheduled to start on Monday, per . The gesture, small as it may seem, speaks volumes in Qatar, which has  since it was chosen to host the back in 2010, due to its harsh criminalization of homosexuality and mass exploitation of migrant workers. Although the teams said that they would be willing to accept a fine, FIFA told them just hours beforehand that any player wearing an armband would receive a yellow card, per .

Sunday’s 2022 World Cup opener between hosts Qatar and Ecuador drew an average of about 3.2M multi-platform viewers for Fox Sports.

, hosted by Qatar, has spawned countless controversies already, many of which have nothing to do with and everything to do with Qatar's human rights record. But despite protests and performance boycotts from the likes of , the tournament has continued on. And with the World Cup, comes a World Cup anthem.This year's song is a collaboration between Nicki Minaj, Colombian singer Maluma (who starred in ), and the Lebanese actor and singer Myriam Fares.

England’s fiery World Cup opener against Iran, which ended 6-2, was watched by a peak of 8M viewers yesterday lunchtime in the UK. The peak was similar to that of host Qatar’s opener with Ecuador.

Brand Beckham used to be bulletproof, but insiders say Victoria is increasingly stressed as the backlash against husband David and his ambassador role for World Cup host Qatar reaches boiling point.We’re told she’s not only feeling deeply worried about the negative impact on the family business, but also how it’s affecting their friendships.Former footballer David signed a multi-million pound deal to promote the country, where attacks on LGBTQ+ communities are common and homosexuality is punishable by death. He’s been accused of hypocrisy as he’s always stood in alliance with the LGBTQ+ community – supporting Pride events, speaking out in support of gay footballers, and being honoured as a top ally in the LGBT+ Awards.

, with host nation Qatar facing allegations of corruption and bribery in addition to new . But on Monday, a whole new imbroglio unfolded at the tournament when Iranian fans attempting to enter the Iran vs.

A TV reporter, who was robbed whilst live on air reporting on the World Cup 2022 in Qatar, says she has been left stunned by the police response to her reporting the incident. Dominique Metzger says officials asked her what punishment she thought would be suitable for the criminal who stole from her handbag.

The possibility of protest and non-protests are looming large over the England vs Iran World Cup match this afternoon (5 a.m. PST).

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has hit back at criticism of Qatar’s human rights record in an extraordinary press conference in Doha, the day before the World Cup kicks off in the Middle East. 

Going after the record held by Essam El-Hadary might be too much to ask.

Soccer’s governing body FIFA estimates that five billion people will tune in to watch the Qatar World Cup, marking a new record for a global sporting event. This will be a spectacle like no other.