world cup
Latest
How to stream the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023
We’ve got all the information you need to know about when and how to stream the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, starting with the first matches on Thursday, July 20th.
Google Search saw its highest traffic ever during the World Cup 2022 Final
Google Search recorded the highest traffic in its 25-year history during the FIFA World Cup yesterday, CEO Sundar Pichai tweeted.
World Cup attendees can use AR to see stats for players on the pitch
Fans in stadiums will be able to say player heatmaps in an overlay and look at replays of VAR decisions.
Comcast will air the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Dolby Vision HDR
Comcast is airing the World Cup in Dolby Vision HDR for the first time, provided you have an Xfinity X1 box.
Fox Sports will offer World Cup pre-game shows on Twitter for every match
Fox Sports will stream FIFA World Cup pre-game shows and in-match previews on Twitter.
Fox Sports will stream every match of the 2022 World Cup
Fox Sports has confirmed it will stream every 2022 World Cup match live.
CONCACAF will use VAR during remaining 2022 World Cup qualifiers
CONCACAF will use video reviews for multiple soccer competitions in 2022, including the World Cup qualifiers.
Fox Sports created a USWNT Snapchat AR lens for the World Cup
The United States women's national soccer team laid down a clear statement of intent to their World Cup rivals after a record-breaking 13-0 win over Thailand in their opening game. Alex Morgan grabbed the headlines by scoring five goals against the Asian side in France, and now the co-captain of the defending champions is taking on another starring role.
Nike's latest Snapchat Lens shows support for USWNT
With the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup drawing closer, fans of the US Soccer Women's National Team have one more way to show their support. The creatives at Nike have put together an AR Lens that slaps a team jersey on you, and of course links to Nike.com for a quick purchase. The USWNT soccer Lens will only be available tomorrow, May 9th, and the timing is close enough that users can snag a jersey in time for the team's "Send-Off Series" of matches begin on the 12th against South Africa, followed by Belgium and Mexico. Meanwhile, Snapchat is trying to deal with its identity crisis, but Lenses people like and using its login to power a popular new quiz app could help change the story.
Live Rugby World Cup scores are coming to London's Tube
With the Rugby World Cup kicking off this week, Transport for London (TfL) is gearing up to play a big role in helping sports fans navigate to and from the city's three host stadia. However, that's not all it will do come Friday. The transport authority today announced it has teamed up with ITV to deliver live news, scores and results from the tournament across 180 Tube and DLR stations right through until the final on October 31st. It'll be the second time the London Underground has hosted a World Cup, after it delivered goals and updates via information boards during the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. The deal will generate revenue for TfL, helping it to invest more in its modernisation of the Tube network, which will include the development and rollout of new driverless trains with built-in WiFi in 2022.
Follow Team USA in the World Cup with USA Basketball
The World Cup of basketball begins later this week in Spain. NBA Properties latest app USA Basketball allows you to closely follow the action of the United States team as it progresses through the three- week long tournament featuring the top twenty-four basketball nations in the world. The tournament begins with play in group round robin games. The top teams in each group advance to the 16-team knockout stage. The United States with a team made up of NBA players is the favorite but many top US players such as LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Kevin Love are not playing so victory is not a sure thing. The app is a free universal app that requires iOS 6.0. Team USA open play Saturday, August 30 against Finland and then plays Turkey in group games. USA Basketball provides exclusive behind the scenes news updates, photos, and video of the men's team as it prepares and advances in the World Cup. Plus once the games begin you will be able to get photos, video highlights and statistics from the games and for individual players. With the time difference between Spain and the United States, USA Basketball offers a good way to track just what is taking place. You will find all the background information you will need on the players and coaching staff. The roster is listed and once you have it up you can touch individuals and get their history. USA Basketball offers all the background on the player's Team USA career including which teams he has played on, how they finished, individual statistics, and individual honors and more. You will also find a similar briefing on the player's NBA career and college playing days. That's not all. The app also has personal information on the player's family, his birth date, and his younger basketball accomplishments. In addition to the USA Men's National Team, USA Basketball gives you information on the Women's National Team as it prepares for the Women's World Cup. That tournament takes place in Turkey September 27 through October 5. The same behind the scenes news, statistics, photos, and videos available for the men will also be in USA Basketball for the women's team. The app also contains a segment on Youth Basketball. In that area you will find instructional videos intended to help younger players improve their game, plus videos of the Men's Under 18 and Men's Under 17 teams in action from earlier this month in their international championships. Basketball fans will get just about everything they need to follow the upcoming International Basketball Federation's World Cup of Basketball in the USA Basketball mobile app. Download it today and follow all the action when the USA tips off against Finland on Saturday, August 30.
How to watch football (soccer) now that the World Cup is over
Many are referring to the 2014 World Cup as the best of the modern era -- think: since Korea/Japan in 2002. Was it due to the fact it set an incredible amount of viewing records? Or, perhaps, it has to do with how much social networks made the entire experience that much more enjoyable. After all, who could forget all the great memes and Tumblr accounts? The level of play wasn't bad either, with this year's tournament leaving behind formidable memories of great individual (Guillermo Ochoa against Brazil, Tim Howard against Belgium) and team (Germany's 7-1 thrashing of Brazil) performances. There's a reason why the sport is nicknamed "The Beautiful Game." Thankfully, football doesn't stop here. While we wait for the next World Cup, which Russia will host in 2018, here's how you, the new (or old) fan, can keep up with some of the professional leagues from across the globe.
FIFA 15's global cover star just lost the World Cup
FIFA 15's cover athlete is Barcelona's Lionel Messi, marking the Argentinian footballer's third consecutive year on the series' box (his fourth being 2012's FIFA Street). Messi will be the lone global star on the game's cover, though EA says regional editions will include local heroes alongside him. Messi's cover spot follows Argentina's loss to Germany in the 2014 World Cup final match yesterday. Joystiq's own Sinan Kubba could be heard across the globe shouting, "I told you so!" to yours truly about the championship results - meaning I must now must pay my side of the bet with an unfortunate selfie in a Messi jersey. Check out large versions of the next-gen and PC cover art in the gallery below and join us after the break for that selfie and some hearty pointing and laughing. FIFA 15 will launch September 23 in North America, September 25 in Europe and one day later in the UK for Xbox One, PS4, Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. [Image: EA Sports]
Apparently, the internet loved the 2014 World Cup final
The numbers speak for themselves: This year's World Cup has been setting records all over the place. Not only did it keep folks in the US tuned into their team with services like WatchESPN, but who could forget the most tweeted-about sports game ever in that 7-1 thumping suffered by host nation Brazil -- Sad Brazilians, anyone? Yesterday's final, meanwhile, which ultimately saw Germany beat out Argentina for football's biggest prize, set great numbers for social media and TV networks alike. For its part, Facebook reports that the 2014 World Cup Final was the biggest sporting event in its history, with comments, likes and posts combining for over 280 million interactions. Twitter, on the other hand, says the match produced a total of 32.1 million tweets and, in the process, broke the record for any event with 618,725 tweets per minute.
Barely Related: Harry Potter in his 30s, Seth Rogen's war
Oh, yes, Friday. Oh. Yes. Welcome to Barely Related, a conversational Friday column that presents the non-gaming news stories that we, the Joystiq staff, have been talking about over the past week. And no, we're not stopping our focus on industry and gaming news. Think of this as your casual weekly recap of interesting (and mostly geeky) news, presented just in time to fill your brain with things to discuss at all of those weekend shindigs. Grab a fresh drink, lean back in your armchair, and get ready to talk nerdy with us.
One for the future: playing with the new Adidas miCoach Smart Ball
I still remember my old, favorite football like it was yesterday. It wasn't made by Nike, Adidas or even Diadora, but it lasted me for about seven years, from when I was 7 until about 14 or so. And even though, toward the end of its life, it started to look as if it had been living in a waste dumpster, never, ever did it let me down. Despite the battle scars collected over the years, like the faux-leather gradually falling off or needing to get pumped up every time before a game, that cheap, low-tech ball always did what it was supposed to: Be, well, a ball you could have fun with. In recent years, however, things have changed quite drastically. As technology evolves, sports balls continue to get smarter and smarter, with a great amount of research and development money being spent by manufacturers. Here's where Adidas' recently announced miCoach Smart Ball comes in.
Most World Cup teams used Mac-only software from Sportstec to improve game performance
As part of Apple's 30th anniversary celebration of the Mac, the company devoted a little bit of ink to Sportstec, a increasingly popular sports analytics company with products that have always been available exclusively on the Mac. Sportstec, the sports software company founded by Philip Jackson, has been Mac-only since day one. In 2003, Sportstec created its innovative SportsCode technology. For the first time, professional sports teams could use high-quality, real-time video to make adjustments during the game. The Mac provided a platform that was easy to use, was able to compress large amounts of video quickly, and, most important, didn't crash. That sports teams across the globe employ now Sportstec technology is nothing new, but with the World Cup this year, its offerings have gone global with greater reach than ever. Out of the 32 teams that qualified for the 2014 World Cup, 18 used Sportstec software for statistical analysis, in-game tracking, and more. Of the final four, Brazil, Argentina, and the Netherlands all employ Sportstec technology. Impressively, of the 16 teams that advanced to the knockout stage, 10 are Sportstec customers. Congratulations Sportstec! 10 users in Round-16 Worldcup Brazil 2014. pic.twitter.com/OlEXWVeMdk - SANTIAGO CUENYA (@SCUENYA) June 29, 2014 I was recently able to catch up with Sportstec founder Philip Jackson who was gracious enough to provide me with a little bit of information as to how Sportstec works, how it helps World Cup teams prepare, and why the product has yet to transition over to the world of Windows and Android. Usage among World Cup participants has increased since the last World Cup, a result Jackson believes can be attributed to word of mouth and good old fashioned hard work and sales. We work damn hard at doing that. In South Africa I think we had 10 teams, so it's an increase from the last World Cup. It's just pure sales. We're out actively trying to talk to the coaches in an effort to show them the difference our software can make to hopefully get them on board. Leading up to the World Cup, there was a lot of hard work that went into getting our software out to as many teams as possible. And the response from teams thus far has been universally positive, Jackson says. The software and technology allows coaches and training staff to take in a live feed of game action from up to 34 distinct cameras. Coaches use this avalanche of footage to conduct statistical analysis of a team's performance and identify weaknesses in opposing teams. Note that the software doesn't just help teams keep an eye out on the competition, but it also helps teams track the nuances, for better or worse, of their own play on the field. Our software captures absolutely everything. Teams build their own "exchange" consisting of video files of every game. They build up a monstrous database, analyze every game, and as soon as a team knows who they're playing, the prep work is well underway. During the course of a game, many of the viewing angles we see on TV are tight shots that exclusively follow the ball. This is great for casual viewers watching at home, but Sportstec software allows teams to check out the action from a plethora of angles, thus enabling them to see "the whole structures" of what's happening on the field. What's particularly interesting, not to mention useful, is that teams are therefore using the software to help them make game decisions in real time. Teams are using the software at halftime and also in real time. Messages are getting down to the managers and he's getting the message out to the players regarding what technical changes might need to be made. In the run up to the games, some teams went the extra mile and decided to provide individual players with iPads containing footage specifically tailored to their position and their roles on the team. The teams who went this route include England, Australia, and Argentina. And speaking of Argentina, Jackson notes that their team in particular is leveraging the software as much as they can. In fact, Sportstec sales manager Santiago Cuenya is embedded with the Argentinian team, effectively working as a consultant and helping the team's video analysts be "as prepared as possible." Argentina are the leaders in trying to use the software to go as far as possible with what they can deliver. Santiago is challenging the team at every stage, thinking of ways to use the technology to their advantage. Here's Argentina manager Alejandro Sabella doing some film study on his iPad. RT @nicobasdedios: Sportstec con la Selección Argentina. pic.twitter.com/u8dvTP3tdj - Sportstec (@Sportstec) July 2, 2014 Why Sportstec isn't yet available for Android As mentioned earlier, Sportstec remains a Mac and iOS only offering. In previous interviews, Jackson explained that the software is Mac only because "Macs handle video better and faster than any other platform." With that in mind, I asked if the Sportstec software will remain Mac and iOS only for the foreseeable future. We know that we will have to look at Android at some point in the future. And we have looked at Android solutions already. The reason why we're not on Android yet is that, from a technical standpoint, it can't handle video as well as iOS. The simple answer for that is that you can't go backwards frame by frame on Android, and so from that perspective, Android is limited. And especially in a sports environment, the ability to look at each individual frame is extremely important. But in the long run, we do need to be there. But I wouldn't tell someone today to go out and buy an Android tablet and tell them it's as good as an iPad and that they should expect the software sometime soon. In any event, here's a view of the software about to get ready for action in the first World Cup game which pitted Croatia against Brazil. RT @NicoJover: #Croatia ready to code before the big match Croatia vs #Brasil pic.twitter.com/aFD21PkzbN #R2C #WorldCup - Sportstec (@Sportstec) June 15, 2014 And in this photo, taken from Sportstec's Facebook page, we see Argentina making use of the software on a tried and true MacBook Pro. And here's Australian defender Alex Wilkinson getting some Sportstec studying in earlier this month. RT @Socceroos: Live now with @alexwilkinson84 here in Porto Alegre #AskWilko pic.twitter.com/QyAvBr385O #SportstecFamily - Sportstec (@Sportstec) June 16, 2014
Univision to end free streaming of World Cup games
Many people in the US, even those who don't speak or understand Spanish, have been using the Univision Deportes app to watch the World Cup. To a certain degree, this was due to the fact that Univision's service was completely free for anyone to enjoy, meaning it didn't require any authentication through a cable or internet service provider. Unfortunately, that's all changing as of tomorrow. Starting with the Quarter-Finals, which kick off on July 4th, Univision is set to begin requiring a cable login (from a participating provider) to stream matches leading up to the Final -- something WatchESPN has done since the beginning of the tournament.
Marvel Heroes has great plans for you this Fourth of July weekend
Do you have a few days off this weekend for superhero action? Marvel Heroes has a trio of events lined up for players this weekend who have an abundance of time on their hands. The main event this weekend is a "Red, White, and Loot" boost to rotating game modes. Marvel Heroes will increase loot drops between four game modes depending on the time of day. There will also be BBQ-themed drops all over the game (because HULK LOVE HOT DOG!) and an extended Soccer Showdown event that neatly coincides with the World Cup.
1.7 million people were using WatchESPN during the US vs. Germany World Cup match
If Ann Coulter is correct, that following soccer is un-American, unmanly and unworthy of a species with opposable thumbs, then clearly, you're all a bunch of girly men. At some point during the USA vs. Germany match that aired earlier today, 1.7 million visitors using WatchESPN. And that's not even counting folks who watched on television or through other means. As TechCrunch notes, that 1.7-million figure is even more than the 1.1 million concurrent viewers who tuned into the Super Bowl earlier this year (to be fair, of course, more people had to watch this match at work because it aired at 12PM Eastern, not on a Sunday night). Even more impressive is the fact that ESPN managed to rack up all these simultaneous visitors despite having technical difficulties that left some viewers unable to log on during the first half. "We did investigate some limited issues due to unprecedented demand during the first half," an ESPN rep told TechCrunch. See, there ya go: Americans like soccer, after all (especially when Americans are playing). How you like them apples, Ann? Update: An ESPN rep has issued a correction, saying 1.7 million people were using WatchESPN at once, not watching the USA vs. Germany match specifically -- we guess a few of you may have taken the opportunity to pull up Portugal vs. Ghana on a second screen. Image credit: Getty
