CNN
 — 

For Alexis Ohanian last summer, it started with a simple phone call. The entrepreneur and co-founder of Reddit was in London and his friend wanted him to come to Paris, “He’s like, you’re an idiot if you don’t come down to watch the USA play France.”

Shortly afterwards, Ohanian was alongside 45,000 other fans, watching Megan Rapinoe score twice for the US women’s national team in the quarterfinal of the Women’s World Cup, leading her country towards what would be a fourth world title.

“It was admittedly the first time I’d ever been to a women’s football match,” he told CNN Sport, “and the crowd was electric. I walked away from it thinking, how did I not pay this enough attention? How did I not even know there was a pro league back in the States?”

A few days later, he and his wife, the tennis legend Serena Williams, were watching the tournament final on television. Their young daughter Olympia was running around wearing the jersey of one of the team’s star players, Alex Morgan.

Out loud, Ohanian wondered about the possibility of Olympia one day playing the game professionally, but Serena cut him off.

“Without missing a beat, my wife was like, not until they pay her what she’s worth. And she was half joking, but not really.”

In that moment, Ohanian says he felt compelled to try and make a positive contribution to the world of women’s sports, “Alright babe,” he declared, “challenge accepted!”

READ: Megan Rapinoe says ‘we all have a responsibility to make the world a better place’

Twelve months later, ‘Angel City’ has become a reality. Ohanian is a lead investor on a new Los Angeles soccer project led by the Hollywood actress and activist Natalie Portman.

The National Women’s Soccer League was formed in 2013 with just five teams, four have been added since and the league will hit double figures in 2021 when Racing Louisville FC join in. The following season, Angel City will make it 11 teams in the league.

According to Angel City’s President Julie Uhrman, the idea for this new team came during Portman’s involvement with Time’s Up, a movement established in 2018 to combat sexual harassment.

“You can see that she really gets behind causes that are important to her and she does meaningful work for those causes,” Uhrman told CNN Sport, adding: “she wanted to take her commitment to elevate women’s athletics, to address pay equity and to make it public and meaningful.”

Promoting Angel City’s launch in July, Portman spoke about the challenges which have traditionally held back women’s sports. She was talking on Instagram with somebody who’s experienced it first hand for the last 20 years – Williams.

“Our team told me that only 4% of sports coverage is of women’s sport,” Portman said, “it’s insane that we’re here in 2020 and it’s so disproportionate.”

READ: Alexis Ohanian on being married to Serena Williams

The team, which doesn’t have an official name yet – Angel City is only a nickname – and they won’t play until 2022. But already it’s clear that those behind the club are doing things differently.

For one, the founding investors are almost exclusively women, “I think you can count the number of clubs that are mainly owned by women on one hand and probably with only a couple of fingers,” Uhrman told CNN, “I mean, it’s very unusual.”

Listed on the club’s website are the 31 founding investors and only four are men; Alexis Ohanian is one of those odd-men out.

He described an early meeting with Uhrman, Portman and venture capitalist Kara Nortman, “the three of them sat down and said, ‘this is what we want to build, this is how we want to build it,’ and it was really important to them from day one to have a majority women-owned team.

“I think we can talk about so many of the disparities in professional sports. And I think one of the ways we get real change is not just proving that this is an amazing business that will generate lots of money and lots of attention and lots of success, but it’s also showing that every bit of how this organization is run can be different and be as, if not more successful as a result.

“And not because it feels good, although it does feel good, but because it’s preposterous that it is not more normal.”

The club knows that they are trying to swim against the tide, and not just because they’re hoping to change the perception of professional women’s sport; they’re also launching a club in a Los Angeles sports market that is already saturated.

READ: Natalie Portman and Serena Williams are among investors behind Angel City

Uhrman rattles off the clubs that they’ll soon be rubbing shoulders with in a city famed for congestion, “Los Angeles is a market where there is already nine professional sports teams and [collegiate] powerhouses like University of Southern California and University of California, Los Angeles.

So even the idea of bringing another professional sports team here, the third soccer club here, is an ambitious, big idea.”

But Angel City believes that their novel approach will cut through the noise, establishing a local, community, club with global appeal. “We know women’s soccer has been incredibly successful during the Olympics and World Cup,” Uhrman says,

“The question is, why is it every four years that they garner such attention? And I think the answer is because of exposure and awareness.”

Behind the key investors is a supporting cast of Hollywood stars, including Jennifer Garner, Eva Longoria and Jessica Chastain, plus Serena Williams and 14 former players on the US women’s national team; it’s a group of women with tens of millions of followers on social media; they’re going to use their collective platforms to shout it from the rooftops.

“There’s this general issue that if you can’t see it,” Uhrman says, “You can’t be it. If you can’t see it, you can’t follow it. [If] you can’t cheer for it, you can’t get your friend to become a part of it, and so there’s a systemic problem that we have to fix and change.”

Uhrman continues, “We have a group of people that come from the entertainment space, the media space, sports and the technology space. We’re thinking about soccer as bigger than sports, in fact we’re thinking about it as entertainment.”

Ohanian says the focus will be on social media storytelling to build the brand and it already seems to be working, “tens of thousands of folks are very excited, [we’ve] sold out merchandise for a team that doesn’t exist yet.”

He compares women’s soccer to e-sports, which drew a rush of investment five years ago, and has concluded that the market has massively undervalued female soccer.

“These are clubs of gamers, young men who draw hundreds of millions of fans all over the world. [But] the average American does not know who the best League of Legends player is, whereas Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan are already cultural icons.

“From a marketing standpoint, no offense to e-sports, they’re far more marketable for brands who want to be aligned with consumer spending in this country.”

In her conversation with Williams on Instagram, Portman remarked that already, Angel City has changed the conversation, “people are starting to think about how to do this in other sports too.”

Women are standing up for and elevating other women; the sisters are doing it for themselves. It’s an LA Story that could have a Hollywood ending and it’s a potential game-changer for women’s sports everywhere.

CNN
 — 

Paris Saint-Germain’s miserable season went from bad to worse on Sunday as the team suffered a second straight home defeat with a 1-0 loss to Lyon.

Even before the game kicked off, Lionel Messi bore the brunt of the frustrations of some PSG fans who whistled when his name appeared on the big screen during the announcement of the starting lineup.

After Alexadre Lacazette missed a first-half penalty, Bradley Barcola’s goal 10 minutes into the second period was enough to earn Lyon the three points on a night that PSG rarely looked like threatening the visiting goal.

Lens’ 1-0 victory over Rennes and Marseille’s 1-1 draw with Montepellier means both teams are now just six points behind PSG at the top of Ligue 1, and even the domestic title may slip from the team’s grasp.

The reaction of some fans on Sunday must have felt a world away from the adulation and worship Messi received during his recent return to Argentina for friendlies against Panama and Curaçao as the country continued its World Cup celebrations.

Messi’s arrival at the Parc des Princes was supposed to be the missing piece that would help PSG finally win the Champions League, the trophy the club’s Qatari owners crave the most.

So far, the only major trophy the team has won since Messi joined was Ligue 1 last season, a title – it’s fair to say – PSG would likely have won without him.

Messi has 34 goal contributions in all competitions for PSG this season – 18 goals and 17 assists – second only to Mbappé’s 38 and head coach Christophe Galtier refused to lay the blame for the team’s failures at the Argentine’s feet.

“I found it [the jeering] hard to listen to,” Galtier told reporters, per the Athletic. “There may be expectations for Messi and Mbappe to unlock difficult situations. Messi tries very hard, they didn’t all work out; but around him, the other players also need to do their jobs.”

“We can’t expect everything from Leo and Kylian,” he added.

Up next for PSG is a season-defining week as Galtier’s side travels to a Nice team that is unbeaten in 13 matches, before hosting Lens at the Parc des Princes.

PSG has lost two of its three matches since being dumped out of the Champions League by Bayern Munich last month, and only limped past relegation-threatened Brest with a 90th minute Kylian Mbappé winner.

After his team’s victory, Lyon head coach Laurent Blanc said the Champions League or bust mentality has been detrimental to PSG’s performances.

“Paris’ problem is when the No. 1 objective of the Champions League is no longer accessible, it seems that the season no longer exists – and at all levels,” he told reporters.

CNN
 — 

Lionel Messi celebrated his return to Paris Saint-Germain with a goal in his first game back since lifting the World Cup.

The 35-year-old only returned to training in the new year after taking some time off to celebrate and recuperate after Qatar 2022, where he finally won the trophy that had always eluded him in one of the greatest finals ever.

But the forward didn’t look to be suffering any hangover as he returned to action with a goal from close range in PSG’s 2-0 win against Angers on Wednesday.

Messi also paid tribute to Pelé before the match, joining his teammates in wearing a t-shirt with the Brazilian’s face on it during the warmup.

PSG sits comfortably top of the league despite Christophe Galtier having to switch up his team as he eases players back in after the World Cup.

Kylian Mbappé, a beaten finalist in Qatar, was rested for Wednesday’s match, allowing the likes of youngster Hugo Ekitiké to get some game time.

The 20-year-old forward has impressed when given the chance this season and opened the scoring with a sweeping finish in the first half.

Messi, who dovetailed the attack alongside Neymar Jr., then doubled the lead in the 72nd minute after a well timed run and right foot finish.

The linesman had initially flagged for offside, but the Virtual Assistant Referee (VAR) overruled the call and the goal was given.

The win on Messi’s return is some welcome good news for PSG, who lost in the league for the first time this season last week, 3-1 away to Lens.

“Yes, it was very important to get back to winning ways. We have rivals who are pushing hard,” Galtier told PSGTV after the game.

“We knew that we were going to have a difficult match because Angers is a team that plays good football and poses big problems on a tactical level.

“I also insist on the fact that the situation – post-World Cup – means that we have had a lot of players absent, that the group was very scattered and that, little by little, everyone is coming back and reconnecting.”

PSG, which is six points clear atop the table, plays Rennes in its next game on Sunday.

Editor’s Note: A version of this story appears in today’s Meanwhile in the Middle East newsletter, CNN’s three-times-a-week look inside the region’s biggest stories. Sign up here.

Abu Dhabi, UAE
CNN
 — 

It’s a partnership that’s been hailed as “history in the making.”

One of the world’s most famous soccer stars landed in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Tuesday, where Cristiano Ronaldo was received in an extravagant ceremony, with excited children sporting his new club’s yellow and blue jerseys.

Oil-rich Saudi Arabia’s success in luring the five-time Ballon d’Or winner on a two-year contract with the kingdom’s Al Nassr FC is the Gulf monarchy’s latest step in realizing its sporting ambitions – seemingly at any cost.

According to Saudi state-owned media, Ronaldo will earn an estimated $200 million a year with Al Nassr, making him the world’s highest-paid soccer player.

Shortly after the 37-year-old’s signing with Al Nassr, the club’s Instagram page gained over 5.3 million new followers. Its official website was inaccessible after exceeding its bandwidth limit due to the sudden surge in traffic, and the hashtag #HalaRonaldo – Hello, Ronaldo in Arabic – was trending for days across the Middle East on Twitter.

Analysts say that his recruitment in Saudi Arabia is part of a wider effort by the kingdom to diversify its sources of revenue and become a serious player in the international sporting scene.

It is also seen as a move by the kingdom to shore up its image after it was tarnished by the 2018 dismemberment and killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the hands of Saudi agents, and a devastating war it started in Yemen in 2015.

Critics have decried the kingdom for “sportswashing,” an attempt to burnish one’s reputation through sport.

“I think Saudi Arabia has recognized a couple of years ago that to be a powerful nation internationally, you cannot just rely on hard power,” Danyel Reiche, a visiting research fellow and associate professor at Georgetown University Qatar, told CNN.

“You also need to invest in soft power, and the case of Qatar shows that this can work pretty well,” he said, adding that Saudi Arabia is following in the Qatari approach with sport, but with a delay of around 25 years.

Neighboring Qatar has also faced immense criticism since it won the bid to hosting last year’s FIFA World Cup in 2010.

Despite the smaller Gulf state facing similar accusations of “sportswashing,” the tournament has largely been viewed as a success, not least in exposing the world to a different view of the Middle East, thanks in part to Morocco’s success in reaching the semifinals and Saudi Arabia beating eventual World Cup champion Argentina in their opening group game.

Gulf nations engage in fierce competition to become the region’s premier entertainment and sporting hubs. The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain, in close proximity to each other, each have their own Formula One racing event. But their competition hasn’t been confined to the region. Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have also bought trophy European soccer teams.

Riyadh is playing catchup with neighbors who have long realized the importance of investing in sports, said Simon Chadwick, professor of sport and geopolitical economy at SKEMA Business School in Lille, France, especially as its main source of income – oil – is being gradually shunned.

“This is part of an ongoing attempt to create more resilient economies that are more broadly based upon industries other than those that are derived from oil and gas,” Chadwick told CNN.

Ronaldo’s new club Al Nassr is backed by Qiddiya Investment Company (QIC), a subsidiary of the kingdom’s wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), which has played a pivotal role in Saudi Arabia’s diversification plans.

“It is also a sign of interconnectedness, of globalization and of opening up to the rest of the world,” said Georgetown University’s Reiche.

The move is part of “several recent high profile moves in the sports world, including hosting the Andy Ruiz Jr. and Anthony Joshua world heavywight boxing championship bout in 2019, and launching the LIV Golf championship,” said Omar Al-Ubaydli, director of research at the Bahrain-based Derasat think tank. “It is a significant piece of a large puzzle that represents their economic restructuring.”

The kingdom has been on a path to not only diversify its economy, but also shift its image amid a barrage of criticism over its human rights record and treatment of women. Saudi Arabia is today hosting everything from desert raves to teaming up with renowned soccer players. Argentina’s Lionel Messi last year signed a lucrative promotional deal with the kingdom.

Hailed as the world’s greatest player, 35-year-old Messi ended this year’s World Cup tournament in Qatar with his team’s win over France, making his ambassadorship of even greater value to the kingdom.

The acquisition of such key global figures will also help combat the monarchy’s decades-long reputation of being “secretive” and “ultra-conservative,” James Dorsey, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore and an expert on soccer in the Middle East, told CNN’s Eleni Giokos on Wednesday.

Al-Ubaydli said that the kingdom wants to use high profile international sports “as a vehicle for advertising to the world its openness.”

Saudi Arabia bought the English Premier league club Newcastle United in 2021 through a three-party consortium, with PIF being the largest stakeholder. The move proved controversial, as Amnesty International and other human rights defenders worried it would overshadow the kingdom’s human rights violations.

Ronaldo’s work with Saudi Arabia is already being criticized by rights groups who are urging the soccer player to “draw attention to human rights issues” in Saudi Arabia.

“Saudi Arabia has an image problem,” especially since Khashoggi’s killing, says Reiche. But the kingdom’s recent investments in sports and entertainment are “not about sportswashing but about developing the country, social change and opening up to the world.”

Saudi Arabia is reportedly weighing a 2030 World Cup bid with Egypt and Greece, but the kingdom’s tourism ministry noted in November that it has not yet submitted an official bid. Chadwick believes that Ronaldo’s deal with Al Nassr, however, may help boost the kingdom’s bid should it choose it pursue it.

Another way Saudi Arabia may benefit from Ronaldo’s acquisition is that it will be able to improve commercial performance, says Chadwick, especially if this collaboration attracts further international talent.

“It is important to see Ronaldo not just as a geopolitical instrument,” said Chadwick, “There is still a commercial component to him and to the purpose he is expected to serve in Saudi Arabia.”

What Ronaldo’s move to Saudi Arabia shows is that the kingdom aspires “to be seen as being the best” and that it wants to be perceived as a “contender and a legitimate member of the international football community,” said Chadwick.

UAE FM meets Syria’s Assad in Damascus in further sign of thawing ties

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad received the United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed in Damascus on Wednesday in the latest sign of thawing relations between Assad and the Gulf state. The meeting addressed developments in Syria and the wider Middle East, according to UAE state news agency WAM.

Turkish President Erdogan says he could meet with Assad

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a speech on Thursday that he could meet the Syrian leader “to establish peace.”

Iran shuts down French cultural center over Charlie Hebdo’s Khamenei cartoons

Iran announced on Thursday it had ended the activities of a Tehran-based French research institute, in reaction to cartoons mocking Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and fellow Shia Muslim clerics published by French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo this week.

The prized legacy of iconic Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum re-emerged this year when Rolling Stone magazine featured her in its “200 Greatest Singers of All Time.”

Ranking 61st, Umm Kulthum was the only Arab artist to make it to the list, with the magazine saying that she “has no real equivalent among singers in the West.”

Born in a small village northeast of the Egyptian capital Cairo, Umm Kulthum rose to unmatched fame as she came to represent “the soul of the pan-Arab world,” the music magazine said.

“Her potent contralto, which could blur gender in its lower register, conveyed breathtaking emotional range in complex songs that, across theme and wildly-ornamented variations, could easily last an hour, as she worked crowds like a fiery preacher,” it wrote.

Nicknamed “the lady of Arab singing,” her music featured both classical Arabic poetry as well as colloquial songs still adored by younger generations. Her most famous pieces include “Inta Uumri” (you are my life), “Alf Leila Weileila” (a thousand and one nights), “Amal Hayati” (hope of my life) and “Daret al-Ayyam” (the days have come around). Some of her songs have been remixed to modern beats that have made their way to Middle Eastern nightclubs.

The singer remains an unmatched voice across the Arab World and her music can still be heard in many traditional coffee shops in Old Cairo’s neighborhoods and other parts of the Arab world.

Umm Kulthum’s death in 1975 brought millions of mourners to the streets of Cairo.

By Nadeen Ebrahim

CNN
 — 

He’d won three World Cups, scored goals galore and become a global icon, but Pelé wasn’t quite done yet, so off he went to the US and helped transform the sport of soccer in North America.

The Brazilian great was convinced to come out of retirement, signing in 1975 for the New York Cosmos for three more seasons.

Pelé had seemingly played his last professional game months prior to joining the North American Soccer League (NASL) side, hanging up his boots after making 638 appearances for his childhood club Santos.

It was almost unfathomable that Pelé would ever play for any other club apart from Santos, but he joined the Cosmos midway through the 1975 season on a $1.67-million-a-year contract, despite soccer struggling to generate much interest in North America at the time.

Pelé came, saw and conquered and by the time ‘O Rei’ (“The King”) left in 1977, he was an NASL champion who had helped spark a soccer boom.

“During three seasons with the Cosmos, Pelé helped transform the domestic landscape of the sport of soccer,” the Cosmos said in a statement after his death this week.

“Where once there had been baseball diamonds, now there were also soccer pitches.

“The Cosmos and their King not only started a sporting revolution in America, they also traveled the world to spread the Gospel of the Beautiful Game.”

Even now, after almost 50 years, Pelé’s influence is still being felt across both the men’s and women’s games in North America.

His move to Cosmos paved the way for other greats, such as Giorgio Chinaglia and Franz Beckenbauer, to follow suit and although the NASL ultimately folded in 1984, it set a blueprint for Major League Soccer (MLS) when it was established in 1993.

Superstars such as David Beckham, Gareth Bale, Thierry Henry and Zlatan Ibrahimovic have all followed in the footsteps of Pelé by helping grow the sport in North America by playing in the MLS.

Soccer in the US is now thriving, with the US National Men’s Team impressing during the Qatar 2022 World Cup.

Scouts from across the world are now looking at North America to discover new talent, with the sport cemented into the fabric of society and being naturally passed down through generations.

Much of the early work was done in the 1970s thanks to Pelé’s natural ability and infectious smile.

CNN’s Don Riddell spoke with supporters about Pelé during Qatar 2022, with one American saying the legend changed his life.

“Watching him was the first professional game I ever saw in 1975 and because of that, one of the reasons this is my 11th World Cup,” Clifton Broumand told CNN.

“Watching him and his ability hooked me to coming and watching soccer and the World Cup.”

In the season before Pelé joined Santos in 1975, the Cosmos’ largest attendance for a match was a little over 8,000 people.

During his final and most successful season in 1977, the average crowd was 42,689 for home games, including three occasions when the attendance was over 70,000, according to the Society for American Soccer History.

When Pelé joined the Cosmos he was aged 34 and he went on to score a total of 37 goals in 64 NASL matches.

“Pelé’s decision to bring his artistry to the United States with the New York Cosmos in the 1970s was a transformative moment for the sport in this country,” MLS Commissioner Don Garber said in a statement.

“As Pelé captivated fans throughout the US and Canada, it demonstrated the power of the game and the limitless possibilities for the sport.”

The Cosmos’ first General Manager Clive Toye played a key role in getting the sport’s then biggest superstar to join the Cosmos.

A former journalist who was heavily involved in the NASL’s creation, Toye had a vision for the future of soccer in the US and believed Pelé was the man to make that dream a reality.

However, Toye and the Cosmos faced some stiff opposition from around the world for Pelé’s signature.

Heavyweight political intervention was even brought to bear, with Pelé saying then US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger had helped convince him to join the Cosmos.

“At that time, I had a lot of proposals to play in England, Italy, Spain, Mexico but I said no. After 18 years, I want to rest because I’m going to retire,” Pelé told CNN in 2011.

“Then appeared the proposal to go to New York because they want to make soccer big in the United States. That was the reason. I started my mission.”

Suddenly it was cool to watch soccer.

Matches were broadcast globally and the star-studded Cosmos team was the hottest ticket in town. The Comsos and Pelé even began touring around the world.

“No matter where we went, all around the world, Asia, Australia, Europe, all they wanted was Pelé,” former Cosmos player Dennis Tueart, who was signed to replace Pelé, though he played some exhibition matches with the Brazilian star, told Sky Sports.

“He had extraordinary vision, extraordinary athleticism […] he was without doubt, in my view, the best.”

Pelé still has a presence in New York City today. The ‘Pelé Soccer’ store was opened in 2019 and sits on the iconic Times Square, a location many fans flocked to after news of his death.

After the Cosmos won the NASL title in 1977, a farewell match against Pelé’s former team Santos was organized, with the Brazilian playing a half for both sides in what would be his final official game.

After the testimonial, he addressed more than 70,000 people inside a packed New York’s Giants Stadium, leading the crowd in a chant of “Love, love, love.”

A fitting end, perhaps, for a man who spread joy wherever he went and who helped establish soccer as a way of life in North America.

CNN
 — 

Born into poverty – he used to kick a grapefruit around Brazil’s Minas Gerais state – Pelé finished his career as arguably soccer’s greatest ever player.

He was that rarity; like Muhammad Ali, Pelé was a sports star, who transcended his sport.

The Brazilian brought joy and creativity to a sport often stuck in rigidity and personified o jogo bonito – “the beautiful game.”

“Pele changed everything,” wrote current Brazil international Neymar Jr. after Pelé’s death was announced.

“He turned football into art, into entertainment. He gave a voice to the poor, to Black people and especially. He gave visibility to Brazil.”

From dazzling as a 17-year-old in 1958 on his way to his first World Cup success to claiming the Golden Ball award as player of the 1970 World Cup as he won a third global title, “O Rei” (“The King”) achieved almost everything possible in the famous yellow and blue of Brazil.

And there were goals – lots of them.

Pelé scored 757 goals in 812 official matches for club and country. However, there is disagreement over just how many goals he scored in his career. According to Reuters, Brazil’s football association and Santos say Pelé scored 1,283 goals in 1,367 matches, though FIFA puts the number at 1,281 goals in 1,366 games.

But it wasn’t just the phenomenal number of goals he scored. As Neymar suggests, Pelé was also an artist on the pitch.

“Even if he did not use a brush, or a pen, but simply had a ball at his feet,” says CNN Sport’s Don Riddell.

The world first got a glimpse of Pelé at the 1958 World Cup.

“When we arrived in Sweden, no one knew what Brazil was. They know about Argentina … Uruguay. It was a surprise for us,” Pelé told CNN in 2016.

At the age of 17 years and seven months, Pelé became the youngest person to play in a World Cup, a record the Brazilian held until Northern Ireland’s Norman Whiteside took that landmark in 1982.

Almost 15 years after leaving the world agog at the 1958 World Cup, Pelé hung up his boots for the Seleção, bequeathing his nation the legacy as the most successful in World Cup history and the most feared team in international football.

Pelé’s crowning moment for Brazil came at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, a tournament further romanticized by being the first World Cup broadcast in color.

Throughout that tournament, Pelé blazed a trail of technicolor splendor, a blur of yellow and gold, beguiling and bewitching opposition teams.

His four goals earned him player of the tournament, capped by an assist to Carlos Alberto’s breathtaking goal in the final against Italy.

“We won the World Cup, and I think in my life in sport (that was the pinnacle), no doubt,” Pelé told CNN.

Italian defender Tarcisio Burgnich summed up Pelé’s superhuman genuis fittingly: “I told myself before the game, he’s made of skin and bones just like everyone else. But I was wrong.”

Even moments when Pelé didn’t score helped cement his legend status – notably England goalkeeper Gordon Banks’ incredible block from the Brazilian’s powerful header in a group game, which is widely considered to be the greatest save of all time.

“The save was one of the best I have ever seen – in real life and in all the thousands of games I have watched since,” wrote Pelé in a 2019 Facebook post in tribute to Banks following the goalkeeper’s death.

“When you are a footballer, you know straight away how well you have hit the ball. I hit that header exactly as I had hoped. Exactly where I wanted it to go. And I was ready to celebrate.

“But then this man, Banks, appeared in my sight, like a kind of blue phantom.”

Despite playing all but three years of his club career with Brazilian side Santos, Pelé’s dynamism, majesty with the ball and lethality in front of goal ensured he became one of football’s first Black global stars.

Pelé admitted to CNN in 2015 that he had plenty of interest from Europe to make the move across the Atlantic, but chose not to out of loyalty and “love” for Santos; yet another reason why he is so beloved in his native country.

“In the past, it was a profession filled with love, now it’s just a profession,” Pelé said.

“There isn’t that love of playing for my club, playing for my country. Clearly, a footballer needs to make a living from the game. It’s different from my time.”

Such was his impact as a soccer player, Pelé also became the symbol of a new country, according to a recent Neflix documentary.

“To cope with that, I think he creates this Pelé character, someone who almost kind of forgoes his own identity to become Brazil essentially,” Ben Nicholas, co-director of the documentary about the Brazilian’s life, told CNN.

As well as shouldering the burden of a country’s aspirations on the world stage, the ascension of the Brazilian military in 1964 that showed interest in football as a tactical and political strategy – in particular, targeting the 1970 World Cup as a “government issue” – presented a problem for the apolitical Pelé, according to the Netflix documentary.

“There’s a really telling line at the end of the film,” the other director of the documentary, David Tryhorn, said, “where you’re expecting Pelé to give us perhaps a ‘Pelé-ism,’ where he would talk about joy and happiness, but he actually talks about ‘relief.’”

The footballing GOAT debate is one which will rage on until the end of time – is it Pelé? Or is it Diego Maradona? Or Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo?

But, Brazil’s pure love and adoration for Pelé cannot be matched and is one which extends further than just an excellent footballer, but to a totem pole for a nation.

CNN
 — 

Lyon stunned Manchester City on Saturday to qualify for the semifinals of the Champions League, winning 3-1.

The French side made the perfect start, stifling Manchester City’s attacking play and eventually taking the lead after 24 minutes thanks to Maxwel Cornet’s inventive finish from just outside the box.

In the second half, the English side cranked up the pressure, and the pressure eventually told, as Kevin de Bruyne coolly slotted home to level the score before substitute Moussa Dembélé scored two goals to see Lyon through.

Lyon will face Bayern Munich in the semifinal on Wednesday, after the German side advanced to the semifinals on Friday, dispatching Barcelona 8-2.

For the first time since 1990/91, and for the first time in the Champions League era, the semifinal stage will not feature any team from England, Spain or Italy. For the first time in Champions League history, it will feature two teams representing France.

Belgian midfielder de Bruyne said that following another heartbreaking exit from the competition, it is “not good enough.”

“It’s definitely the same stuff. I think the first half wasn’t good enough,” he told BT Sport after the game. “I think we know that.

“We started slow, we had not many options. I think second half, we played really well. We came back 1-1, had a couple of chances and then obviously the 2-1, and then the 3-1 ends the game. It’s a shame for us to go in that way.

“The game was open but they didn’t really create except the two goal chances. Yeah, we need to learn. It’s not good enough.”

READ: ‘The club needs changes’ Changes on the horizon for Barcelona following Champions League humiliation

With its star players and a big name manager, Manchester City were overwhelmingly favored to beat Lyon.

But the French side had showed its resilience in its second leg against Juventus in the previous round, managing to edge past Cristiano Ronaldo and company despite having almost five months without football.

And its sturdiness was put to the test from kickoff. Manchester City dominated possession from the first whistle, but failed to create any golden opportunities.

And eventually Lyon’s ability to counterattack produced the game’s first goal. A ball played behind the City defence for Karl Toko Ekambi to run on to eventually fell to Maxwel Cornet and, with City keeper Ederson out of his goal, Cornet threaded a magnificent curling shot into the near post from about 20 yards.

The rest of the first half played out just as Lyon and manager Rudi Garcia would have planned. Manchester City dominated possession without creating too many clear-cut chances while Pep Guardiola’s team looked susceptible on the break.

After the half-time break, the game opened up and following an attacking substitution by Guardiola, City began to create chances at will.

And eventually the pressure told, as some nice footwork by England international Raheem Sterling freed him up to lay it back for de Bruyne to finish.

It looked like there would only be one winner. However, Lyon’s own super-sub Dembélé thought differently, latching on to a through ball near half-way and finishing under Ederson. A nervy video assistant referee check followed but after a few minutes of waiting, the goal was given.

Although City was behind, it created the better chances and the best of which fell to Sterling. Some clever dribbling and a cross from Gabriel Jesus left Sterling with an open goal from just five yards out, but he sent ball skyward and over the goal.

And the miss proved costly. Just 59 seconds later, Lyon had scored again, Dembélé pouncing on a poor save from Ederson to send the French club into the final four for the first time in nearly 10 years.

The result means that during Guardiola’s time at the club, Manchester City has failed to make it past the quarterfinal stage of the Champions League.

Despite thinking that his side played well for the majority of the game, Guardiola lamented Manchester City’s inability to play without errors in the Champions League.

“One day we will break this gap of the quarterfinals,” he told BT Sport after the game. “Except the first 25 minutes where we struggled to find out spaces to attack them more fluidly, the players, they play free.”

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“And the last 15 minutes of the first half was good. The second half was OK, we were there. I had the feeling we were better, but you have to be perfect in this competition in one game and we weren’t.”

The 2019-20 Champions League semifinals will see two French teams and two German teams compete for a place in the final; the first time since 2012-13 that there are just two different nations represented at this stage.

CNN
 — 

Brazil’s bright yellow jersey is a symbol that unites the country through a love of football and national pride, but over the past two years the shirt’s adoption by right wing supporters of Jair Bolsonaro, who wear it at protests and rallies to show their political allegiance to the Brazilian president, is causing controversy.

That famous yellow jersey was burnt into the imagination of a global audience in the 1970 World Cup. Inspired by the spelbinding performances of Pelé – he wore the number 10 jersey – the yellow shirt has represented Brazil’s success on the pitch and created a positive image worldwide for the past five decades.

That 1970 national team also became embroiled in politics, notably ahead of the World Cup in Mexico when General Medici, the president of a nation under military dictatorship, played a key role in the removal of the coach – Joao Saldanha – who had overseen a perfect qualification campaign.

Fast forward to 2020 and critics of Bolsonaro say the iconic yellow jersey has now become tainted by its close association to the Brazilian president.

Walter Casagrande, a former footballer for the Brazilian national team and the São Paulo club Corinthians, remembers the feeling of scoring a goal while wearing the yellow jersey in his first match with the “selecao” in 1985.

“It was a magical thing,” Casagrande told CNN Sport, “like an enchanted object that gave me huge emotion.”

Casagrande’s sentiments lie on the left side of the political chasm separating Bolsonaro’s supporters and opponents, and he feels an item he cherishes is being misrepresented.

“Now I consider the Brazilian yellow jersey to have been kidnapped and appropriated by the right wing, so we cannot use it.”

Casagrande said that for him the power of the yellow shirt used to be that it represented democracy and freedom.

“Brazil is appearing horribly to the world right now,” he said. “It’s the first time in my life I’m seeing the yellow jersey being used against democracy and freedom.”

READ: 50 years on, 1970 World Cup-winning team remains Brazil’s greatest ever

As quick as the left is to criticize Bolsonaro, his supporters aren’t slow to counter punch.

Cosmo Alexandre, a Brazilian fighter who holds multiple world titles for Muay Thai and Kickboxing believes the left is conflating their many issues with Bolsonaro, and using the jersey as just another way to air grievances.

As a Bolsonaro supporter, Alexandre brushes off accusations that the jersey’s symbolism is being manipulated, and says the reason for supporters to wear a yellow t-shirt is simple: everyone in Brazil has a yellow t-shirt.

He points out that supporters don’t always wear the Brazilian team jersey specifically, and rallies are full of people wearing yellow t-shirts of all kinds.

Alexandre says there is a separation between the jersey’s sporting reputation and associations from what it politically represents.

“Around the world everybody knows about the Brazilian soccer team, so even if I go to a fight and I use the yellow soccer team shirt, everyone knows it’s Brazil,” he said. “So it’s not about politics – it’s just that the world knows about soccer in Brazil.”

It may be easier for some than others to isolate football and politics in a country where football is God.

Josemar de Rezende Jr. is a football fan who co-founded a Bolsonaro volunteer group in his city before the election. He said he’s proud of the Brazilian team’s global reputation for winning, and to him the yellow jersey “means love for the country, leadership, achievement and pride.”

READ: The mystery of the 1998 World Cup final

White and blue kit campaign

Nonetheless, the subject of the yellow jersey has become so divisive that a campaign is underway for Brazil to play in a white shirt.

João Carlos Assumpção, a Brazilian journalist, filmmaker and author of “Gods of Soccer,” a book about the political, sociological and economic history of Brazil, is leading a campaign for the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) to abandon the yellow jersey altogether and go back to the classic white and blue kit from when the program started in 1914.

CNN reached out to the CBF who responded that they choose not to comment on this matter, “as it is a very unique issue.”

“People used to love Brazilian soccer because we used to play very well,” Assumpção said, “and if we play well with the white shirt in 2022 I think everybody’s going to buy a white shirt. It’s going to be very difficult to change, but I think it’s not impossible.”

The white and blue jersey was deemed unlucky when Brazil lost the World Cup at home to Uruguay in 1950 so they switched to the yellow jersey, and won five World Cups wearing it – a finals record that still stands today.

Assumpção’s vision for changing the color of the kit is to say to the world that Brazilians want change in the country. “Not the changes that this government is doing,” Assumpção clarified.

On the other side of the political spectrum, the color yellow, including the yellow jersey, represents a positive change in the country. Bolsonaro supporter Rezende Jr. believes the attempt by the left to reclaim the yellow jersey is an effort to “mischaracterize the government,” which he describes as a “patriotic government that represents and has support from all social classes throughout the nation.”

READ: A pig’s head and riot police: Football’s most controversial transfer

Political turmoil in the country mirrors the fierceness between inter-city football rivalries all across Brazil. Except it is not contained by city boundaries and in recent months has brought fans together.

São Paulo is home to four main clubs: Corinthians, Palmeiras, São Paolo, and Santos. The rivalry between Corinthians and Palmeiras is especially intense, and in June groups from each club joined together in the streets to counter-protest Bolsonaro’s supporters.

Sociologist Rafael Castilho, a Member of the Collective Corinthian Democracy and Coordinator of the Corinthians Study Center said that for Brazil to overcome the current political situation, it will have to “unite different ways of thinking and accept the contradictory.”

Castilho explains the civic responsibility rival clubs feel to support each other and join with civil society movements, “as the country experiences a crisis of party representation and social movements have been intimidated by police action,” he said, adding that “the attitude of fans has gained sympathy because part of society feels represented by the courage of the fans.”

The Corinthians have a history of mixing football and politics. In the 1980s during the pro-democracy movement called Diretas Já, the club team was led by national team leaders Socrates and Casagrande.

The two intertwined football with politics when the team wore jerseys during a game in 1982 displaying the words “VOTE on 15th,” in an effort to motivate their fans to vote in the São Paulo state government election.

Two years later the Corinthians were the center of a movement called Democracia Corintiana, which Casagrande said put more than one million people in the streets dressed in yellow.

“It was a very important moment for Brazilian democracy, and this yellow jersey was central to that movement,” Casagrande said.

The yellow jersey was back on the streets in the 2013 protests against ex-President Dilma Roussef and against corruption. A year before the World Cup was to take place in the South American country, conservative protesters wore shirts that represented the colors of Brazil, while leftist protesters used other colors.

Alexandre and Rezende Jr. both say that yellow is an improvement from the red t-shirts government supporters used to wear when the left was in power, alluding to an underlying support of communism.

“When Bolsonaro started running, his supporters used the yellow color to show I’m Brazilian and I don’t want communism in my country,” Alexandre said.

The fight for the yellow jersey leaves some longing to reclaim a victorious past, while others push forward to create new meaning for the iconic symbol. In a country so deeply rooted in football, it’s an issue that’s unlikely to go away.

Assumpção thinks it’s only possible for the football community and Brazilians not associated with the far right to recover the jersey “maybe in five years or 10, but not now. Not now.”

CNN
 — 

There hasn’t been much to shout about at Manchester United over the last few years.

The success enjoyed under legendary manager Alex Ferguson feels like a distant memory for a global fan base that has watched its once great club lurch from one bad decision to another.

An FA Cup win in 2016 under Louis van Gaal and Europa League glory under Jose Mourinho in 2017 were two of the highlights in what’s been an uninspiring period since Ferguson retired in 2013 – and a far cry from the 38 trophies won by Scot in his 26 years at the club.

The future didn’t look much brighter back in January. The club, now managed by former player Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, found itself fifth in the league table by New Year.

The football was poor, the atmosphere was toxic and star man Paul Pogba, once seen as the saving grace, looked set to leave as soon as he could.

But, fast forward seven months, and there are now signs of new life under Solskjaer, most notably since the arrival of one Bruno Fernandes.

The Portuguese playmaker turned up at Old Trafford from Sporting Lisbon in January and was thrown into a team lacking creativity, quality and leadership.

Fortunately for his new employees, it seems Fernandes has all three of those attributes in abundance.

Since his debut at the start of the year, United had not lost a game in the league, rising up the table to finish third and qualify for next season’s UEFA Champion League for the first time since the 2018-19 season. It was a remarkable feat considering the club started the campaign by making its worst start to a league season in 33 years.

What’s more, Fernandes brought excitement back to the red half of Manchester after years of uninspiring, and often woeful, performances.

His eight league goals and seven assists demonstrate the sort of player United now has on its hands.

“He [Fernandes] told me about the league, how intense it is to play in that league,” Porto star Danilo Pereira told CNN Sport.

“It’s not a surprise for me to see the impact he’s had in Manchester. I think United can return to their golden years with him and Pogba and other players.”

READ: Rashford to be awarded honorary doctorate for forcing government U-turn

If such a thing as a typical Manchester United player exists, Fernandes would surely be it.

A risk-taker, exciting to watch and able to cope with the extreme pressures of playing at one of the biggest clubs in the world, the attacking midfielder has become an instant hit.

He’s been a leader from day one; stepping up to take (and score) six penalties during his short spell at the club – including the pivotal spot-kick against Leicester City which helped United on its way to Champions League football next season.

Ex-players and pundits alike have fawned over his performances since he moved to England, where he’s won the Man of the Match award in almost every game he’s played.

“You can see that he’s got the talent and he’s not scared. He wants the ball, which I would expect from a very good player,” former Premier League star and current Monaco player Cesc Fabregas told CNN Sport.

“But what I like is that he’s intelligent in terms of moving around the pitch. He knows when to get between the lines. He knows when to go in the space when he sees that someone is available to make a chip. He arrives at the second line fantastically.

“He supports the midfield when they are building up and struggle a little bit, and when teams are putting a lot of pressure on them.

“He can play long, he can play short, little passes. He has the personality to take free-kicks and penalties. He’s not scared. He doesn’t hide. I think Man United made a really good choice. A really good signing.”

READ: Meet the Manchester United fanatic opening a 33,000-piece museum in Finland

Adapting to the Premier League is no simple feat. It usually takes players time to get used to the physicality and fast paced nature of the league, but it hasn’t been a stumbling block for Fernandes.

Although his performances in Portugal gave an indication of what was to come, such an instant impact took many by surprise.

“You looked at the player at Sporting Lisbon and clearly he was someone who scored a lot of goals and someone who created a lot of goals, but there’s always a challenge as to whether they can translate that to a better league and into a new club,” British journalist Richard Jolly told CNN Sport, adding that he saw no realistic way of United finishing in the top four without Fernandes.

“But he’s been a transformative player and a revelation in terms of how quickly he’s done it, I mean it really was from day one.

“You look at both the goal tallies and the assist tallies, and they’re fantastic. If you could maintain that form over the entire season, that’s an incredible player there.”

Whilst his individual brilliance is evident, Fernandes’ arrival has seen the uptick in the form of players around him.

The attacking trio of Anthony Martial, Mason Greenwood and Marcus Rashford scored at will after football returned from lockdown (the team has scored 22 goals in its last nine league games), and the likes of Pogba and Nemanja Matic have looked more settled in the midfield.

Pogba, in particular, is a different player to one who was seemingly weighed down by the pressure of being the biggest star in the starting lineup.

The Frenchman’s relationship with the club appeared to reach rock bottom earlier this season, with constant rumors linking the midfielder with a move away from the club.

Fans also grew frustrated with Pogba for spending much of the season on the treatment table after suffering two ankle injuries. When they did catch a glimpse of him on the field, he often underwhelmed.

But now, since he returned from his latest injury after lockdown, there have been early signs that a partnership with Fernandes could flourish and the World Cup winner suddenly looks more comfortable.

“I think Pogba likes to be surrounded by big players and big characters in their own right, I don’t think he wants to be the only big name there, and thus have all the pressure lumped on him,” Jolly said.

“I think he probably doesn’t want to be in a midfield where he’s surrounded by mediocrities. I think you’ve seen signs already of a bit of chemistry between Pogba and Fernandes which helps, but I think he also just appreciates the element that he’s playing with other quality players around him.”

Fernandes had been linked to a move to Old Trafford throughout 2019 and there had been disappointment when the deal wasn’t completed in time for the new season.

So, when the transfer got over the line in January for an initial $61 million (£47m), fans were ready to see what all the fuss was about. It’s safe to say they haven’t been disappointed.

Mark Goldbridge, a United supporter and presenter of fan channel The United Stand, cannot wait to see how the team develops.

“I sort of liken it to what Eric Cantona did when he came to Manchester United from Leeds [in 1992] and we won our first Premier League title,” he said. “It was sort of the kick-start for some real success.

“Now, I’m not saying Bruno Fernandes is going to lead Manchester United to the same level of success that Cantona did but he’s not just one player coming in and making us great.

“It’s one player that’s come in and made everybody else around him better.”

It’s easy to forget that Fernandes has only been at the club for a matter of months but he’s already established himself as a firm fan favorite – with one particular moment, in a game against local rivals Manchester City, a defining one of his short time at the club.

Fernandes got involved with a sideline feud with Pep Guardiola, resulting in the Portuguese player putting his finger to his lips and shushing the City manager.

“I think Bruno, in a very short period of time, has certainly come in and really grasped what Manchester United is all about,” said Goldbridge.

“Ultimately, there’s a thin line between grasping what Manchester United is all about and actually just being somebody who loves the game, wants to play the game in the right way, and is passionate to win.

“I remember his little argument with Pep when we played Man City, and the fans loved that because I think Fernandes just wants to win.”

READ: Rashford, the gifted Manchester United star who became a remarkable activist

Whilst United’s form dropped for the final two games of the season, fans will be holding on to those encouraging signs of life and hoping this isn’t yet another false dawn at the club.

The third-place finish, although not befitting of the club’s true ambition, must be seen as progress and attention can now turn to winning the Europa League, which is set to resume on August 5.

United face a simple task in their second-leg tie against LASK on Wednesday, leading 5-0 from the first leg and all but guaranteed a place in the quarterfinals.

Although winning European football’s secondary club cup competition is nothing to be smirked at, the real prize is still the Premier League.

Despite all the improvements seen at the club in recent weeks, the gulf between it and the likes of Liverpool and Manchester City remains wide – it finished 33 points behind eventual champion Liverpool this season.

A productive summer in the transfer market could be just what United needs, and Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho is just one of the names being linked with a switch to Old Trafford.

There had been signs of success during both Van Gaal and Mourinho’s time at the club but something does feel different about United under Solskjaer.

Maybe a return to its glory days aren’t too far away.

“It does look more sustainable and one of the things that they’re doing is they’re not just beating teams but, if you look at that winning run, they’ve won quite a lot of those games comfortably and quite emphatically, and, quite entertainingly,” said Jolly.

“I think what you might see next year is not necessarily United winning the league but them getting in the top four a lot more comfortably.”