By Nick Harris 1 June 2015 The 2015 Women’s World Cup (WWC) kicks off this coming weekend in Canada, and it will be the seventh edition of a tournament that has come a long way in short time. At the first tournament the games were 80 minutes long, there was a single sponsor, the final wasn’t shown […]

* So the World Cup is over, Germany are fitting champions, Lionel Messi couldn’t add the ultimate title to his glittering CV and the host nation is left to ponder what might have been. So who could have forecast this? Actually, a huge variety of ‘experts’, theorists, modelers and systems tried to predict the outcome of […]

* This post has been updated on 27 June, UK time, an earlier version of same story is below Yesterday’s games at the World Cup mean the World Cup group games (48 of 48) have been completed.  There have been expected victories for some nations, big upsets for others – Adios Spain! Bye-bye England! – and more […]

* The final whistle in the Germany-Portugal match in Group G in Salvador marked the end of the 12th game of the 2014 World Cup, and thus a quarter of the group stage is complete. There have been expected victories for some, big upsets for others and more goals per game at this stage than […]

By Nick Harris 9 June 2014 With the World Cup in Brazil just a few days from kicking-off, five-times winners Brazil are the bookmakers’ favourites on home turf, with twice-winners Argentina second favourites, followed by holders Spain and three-times winners Germany. Then the chasing pack comprises Belgium, France, Italy, Uruguay, Portugal, England, the Netherlands, Colombia […]

  * By Jonnie Baker 6 December 2013 Anticipation is obviously reaching fever pitch over the unspeakably complicated group-stage draw for the 2014 Fifa World Cup (TM), which hasn’t been obsessing too many people at all. Certainly not to the extent that anyone would come up with a draw simulator, like the one linked here, […]

By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 12 March 2013 The American lawyer investigating the circumstances in which the 2022 World Cup was awarded to Qatar has urged anyone with information that could prove wrongdoing in the bidding process to share that information as soon as possible. Michael Garcia is a former […]

By Alex Miller  25 November 2011 The beleaguered RFU has received a small measure of relief from its current troubles after major sponsor Nike – the England rugby kit supplier – confirmed to Sportingintelligence that it is “not planning to change anything as a result of the recent RFU activities”. Those ‘activities’ include a shambolic […]

By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 26 April 2011 I’m not certain who started it, although Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt had a role in spreading the myth that the Royal Wedding on Friday will be watched by a global audience of 2 billion people. Hunt even cited this figure of 2bn […]

By Nick Harris 7 January 2011 As Fifa’s president Sepp Blatter said today that he expects the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to be staged in winter for the safety of the players, Qatar’s 2022 bid website was unavailable, therefore couldn’t remind the world of the promises Qatar made of cooling technologies to allow a […]