Football (Soccer) Thread

[Zoupa]

Honestly both teams played like shit, real boring game today. Spurs got 2 on the board from a penalty and an own goal...

Ronaldo is pretty much the only one that showed up to play today, and he was brilliant.

[Syt]

BTW, Portugal is also investigating the process through which Abramovich got the Portuguese citizenship.

Wouldn't that have been a usual golden passport? Portugal, Malta and I think Cyprus are pretty generous with them.

[Josquius]

BTW, Portugal is also investigating the process through which Abramovich got the Portuguese citizenship.

Wouldn't that have been a usual golden passport? Portugal, Malta and I think Cyprus are pretty generous with them.

Descendents of jews unfairly deported in the 16th century passport .

[The Larch]

BTW, Portugal is also investigating the process through which Abramovich got the Portuguese citizenship.

Wouldn't that have been a usual golden passport? Portugal, Malta and I think Cyprus are pretty generous with them.

He used a different route, he went for the Sephardic one.

[Josephus]

He has Israeli citizenship too, no?

[The Larch]

He has Israeli citizenship too, no?

Yup.

[FunkMonk]

Chelsea play Newcastle today

Keep politics out of football!!!!1111

[Sheilbh]

Why would that be, Amanda?

[FunkMonk]

Why would that be, Amanda?

What do you make of the argument that Roman and Vlad have ruined it for sportswashers? People think of Newcastle now and associate it with the Saudis executing dozens of people the other day. Kind of reverse sportswashing 

[Sheilbh]

What do you make of the argument that Roman and Vlad have ruined it for sportswashers? People think of Newcastle now and associate it with the Saudis executing dozens of people the other day. Kind of reverse sportswashing 

I'd hope so - but I'm not convinced

With fans I think it just becomes integrated into the tribalism of football - which is exactly what sportswashers want. I do not understand, but regularly see, Man City fans complaining to journalists who are reporting on Abu Dhabi about it and doing "whataboutery" - normally aimed at Saudi or Qatar. We see the Newcastle fans waving Saudi flags or putting a Saudi flag into their Twitter handle - and I don't get it. But the opposing thing is true that opposition fans are likely to chant about Saudi or Russia if they're playing Newcastle or Chelsea. I'm not sure that it doesn't just become part of general football tribalism.

I just don't understand why, for some fans, supporting your team means also supporting and backing the owner in exactly the same, tribal way you support a football team. I find it really baffling - I think you can support Newcastle without "supporting" the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

I do wonder what the line is though, as a fan. Everton have a shady and unclear relationship with Usmanov. And it is shady and unclear enough to basically ignore if you want to. I wonder if I'd feel differently if he was the outright owner and there was a transparent/obvious relationship. What's the line at which fans start to question the support of their club - for example Newcastle or Man City seem clear to me (they're effectively owned by nation states). Abramovich or Usmanov a bit more dubious how linked to Russia you feel with that club. But then even further Wolves are owned by a questionable Chinese conglomerate that also has operations in Xinjiang and whose chairman went "missing" for a while - what's the link there and is it enough? When would I feel so implicated and dirty  from the sportswashing that I'd step back? I'm not sure

Edit: And as Barney Ronay pointed out it was nice to get away from all the sportswashing debate by just watching a nice game of football at the Emirates Stadium with players in shirts sponsored by Visit Rwanda - again is there a line before ownership? I don't know

[Duque de Bragança]

BTW, Portugal is also investigating the process through which Abramovich got the Portuguese citizenship.

Wouldn't that have been a usual golden passport? Portugal, Malta and I think Cyprus are pretty generous with them.

He used a different route, he went for the Sephardic one.

A rabbi who helped Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich obtain his Portuguese citizenship has been told he cannot leave Portugal and must present himself to authorities when required.
Daniel Litvak was detained on Thursday as part of an investigation into how citizenship had been granted.
The naturalisation process of several Jewish people is being investigated.
On Friday, Mr Abramovich was sanctioned by the UK in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Mr Abramovich, 55, is the owner of Chelsea FC and he is one of seven oligarchs to be hit with fresh sanctions, including asset freezes and travel bans.
The Premier League has disqualified him as a director of the club.
Mr Abramovich was granted Portuguese citizenship in April 2021 under a law that offered naturalisation to descendants of Sephardic Jews, who were expelled from the Iberian peninsula more than 400 years ago during the Inquisition.
Applicants for Portuguese citizenship via this route are assessed by experts at one of Portugal's Jewish communities in either Lisbon or Porto. Mr Litvak is the rabbi for the community in Porto (northern Portugal) and was responsible for assessing Mr Abramovich's application.
Mr Litvak was detained by authorities as he was preparing to travel to Israel. He was asked to hand over his passport and will have to periodically present himself to authorities.

Portugal's Judicial Police and public prosecutor said on Friday that there were suspicions of money laundering, corruption, fraud and falsification of documents in the process of of granting citizenship to descendants of Sephardic Jews.
Porto's Jewish community has denied any wrongdoing and said it was the target of a smear campaign. They added that Mr Litvak oversaw the department that grants certification of an individual's Sephardic Jewish heritage and the criteria used for granting someone Portuguese nationality had "been accepted by successive governments".

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60724509

Great Rabbi of Porto, Daniel Litvak, who is now under investigation by Portuguese authorities in the above mentioned case, does not sound like your typical Iberian/Sepharadi/Portuguese Jew. 
Think of David Ricardo, the Péreire (Pereira) brothers bankers in France or Benedito de Espinoza (Spinoza).

But then the only authentically Portuguese synagog would the crypto-jewish one in Belmonte.

[Josquius]

What do you make of the argument that Roman and Vlad have ruined it for sportswashers? People think of Newcastle now and associate it with the Saudis executing dozens of people the other day. Kind of reverse sportswashing 

I'd hope so - but I'm not convinced

With fans I think it just becomes integrated into the tribalism of football - which is exactly what sportswashers want. I do not understand, but regularly see, Man City fans complaining to journalists who are reporting on Abu Dhabi about it and doing "whataboutery" - normally aimed at Saudi or Qatar. We see the Newcastle fans waving Saudi flags or putting a Saudi flag into their Twitter handle - and I don't get it. But the opposing thing is true that opposition fans are likely to chant about Saudi or Russia if they're playing Newcastle or Chelsea. I'm not sure that it doesn't just become part of general football tribalism.

I just don't understand why, for some fans, supporting your team means also supporting and backing the owner in exactly the same, tribal way you support a football team. I find it really baffling - I think you can support Newcastle without "supporting" the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

I do

It's funny though as it only really comes out about shit hole countries.

You don't see for instance Leicester fans gushing aboit Thailand, or Man Utd America (quite the opposite).
That Sunderland is Swiss owned you'd think would be a humorous counter point to Saudi Newcastle, extremes of respectability and democracy, but never mentioned.

[Zoupa]

A big part of my support for Spurs is that they're not owned by Saudis, Russians or terrible people in general.

[FunkMonk]

I remember after the debacle of the first 3 games this season I was an Arteta Out'er and now the team is consistently playing lovely attacking football with defensive solidity while fostering a courageous new spirit in a squad that is the youngest in the league.

Just pointing out how much of a dumbass I am. 

[celedhring]

A big part of my support for Spurs is that they're not owned by Saudis, Russians or terrible people in general.

Barcelona is owned by me. Am I terrible people?