Daniel Rouse

Manchester City were cruising at 3-0. Their bad run of form was seemingly in the rearview mirror. Then the wheels came off.

Ruud van Nistelrooy is set to take over as Leicester City manager after the recent sacking of Steve Cooper, according to The Telegraph's John Percy and Sam Wallace

The supersized Champions League resumed this week, with all 36 teams back in action over 48 frenetic hours. Below, theScore's soccer editors reflect on Matchday 5 in Europe's premier club competition.

Rodri and Vinicius Junior will battle it out for another coveted individual award after the pair were included in the shortlist for the The Best FIFA Men's Player prize.

Mohamed Salah would commit to Liverpool for an extra season despite his frustration over the pace of contract negotiations with the club, according to The Athletic's Simon Hughes

Arsenal and Manchester United will meet in the third round of the FA Cup after the Premier League foes were drawn against each other Monday.

Manchester United abandoned plans to wear an Adidas jacket in support of the LGBTQ+ community after full-back Noussair Mazraoui refused to participate, according to The Athletic's Adam Crafton

Gianni Infantino wants you to know the revamped, overstuffed Club World Cup was his idea. One piece of self-aggrandizement isn't enough, so his name is engraved on the trophy twice.

FIFA has granted hosting duties for the 2030 men's World Cup to a group of six countries spanning three continents.

Human rights groups and climate activists have condemned FIFA after naming Saudi Arabia as host of the 2034 World Cup.The Middle Eastern country's uncontested bid won the rights to the tournament Wednesday, leading to criticism that FIFA president Gianni Infantino is strengthening Saudi Arabia's sportswashing project as he tries to squeeze more money out of soccer for the sport's world governing body."FIFA has totally thrown their human rights policy right in the garbage can for this," Michael Page, the deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa division, told theScore."They've invested in mega events, they've invested in celebrities and entertainment, and they've absolutely invested in sport, and especially football, to distract from, obfuscate, and silence dissent on what is a really terrible human rights record," Page said of Saudi Arabia's attempts to boost its image.Thousands of migrant workers died while building infrastructure for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. FIFA hasn't compensated anybody who suffered human rights abuses during those preparations, despite its own independent investigation finding it's the organization's "responsibility" to do so.Human rights groups fear the death toll could be much larger in Saudi Arabia, a neighbor of Qatar, around the 2034 World Cup. Qatar had a migrant workforce of well under 3 million ahead of the World Cup; Saudi Arabia's migrant workforce totals 13.4 million and is already subjected to the same abuses that occurred in Qatar before World Cup preparations are officially underway.A Human Rights Watch investigation published last week found "many migrant worker deaths in Saudi Arabia are unexplained, uninvestigated, and uncompensated."Saudi Arabia's number of migrant workers is expected to rise rapidly with many large projects on the horizon. The projects include the construction or renovation of 12 stadiums to ensure they have capacities of 40,000 or more to meet FIFA's requirement for 2034, according to Agence-France Presse.Severe restrictions on free speechHuman rights groups are also concerned by how Saudi Arabia's repressive authoritarian regime threatens people's freedoms around the World Cup. There are potentially grave consequences for falling foul of Saudi law: the Middle East state has already executed more people in 2024 (304) than it has in any other year over the past three decades, according to Union Nations experts.Speaking out against Saudi Arabia is dangerous. Peaceful protests on social media were punished with decades-long prison terms or death sentences in 2023, according to a Human Rights Watch report."The ability for a worker or journalist or a human rights activist to point out problems and criticize the government is nearly zero," Steve Cockburn, the head of labor rights and sport for Amnesty International, told theScore.Cockburn said it's unclear how some laws, such as those restricting women's rights and prohibiting same-sex relationships, will be enforced during the tournament.Climate activists have added to the voices against awarding Saudi Arabia with the 2034 World Cup. It's widely believed that one of FIFA's primary motivators to steer the World Cup toward the country was to appease its biggest sponsor, Aramco, the Saudi state oil company.Saudi Arabia is the world's top oil exporter and has been widely accused of trying to slow the switch to clean energy."The same FIFA president who calls climate change 'one of the most pressing challenges of our time' has massively expanded the footprint of the World Cup and ensured that it is hosted by a regime that is all in on selling oil and stopping climate action," Fossil Free Football founder Frank Huisingh said.Dutch international Tessel Middag contributed to an open letter with other female footballers in October that urged FIFA to reconsider its association with Aramco."(FIFA's) willingness to let Saudi Arabia improve its reputation through football is isolating players, fans, and the planet," Middag said. "Securing a future for football, where everyone can play it and enjoy it, requires real leadership from the very top. The 2034 World Cup decision is further proof that football deserves better."