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What I learned from Netflix’s ‘The Kiss That Changed Spanish Football’ documentary

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What I learned from Netflix’s ‘The Kiss That Changed Spanish Football’ documentary

From July-August last year, I was in Australia and New Zealand covering Spain’s Women’s World Cup win — and the scandal that followed when the country’s now-disgraced federation president Luis Rubiales gave striker Jenni Hermoso an unsolicited kiss.

From months before the tournament to returning to my home in Barcelona, the experience was surreal. A new Netflix documentary called #SeAcabó: Diario de las campeonas (It’s All Over: The Kiss That Changed Spanish Football) made me relive the calm before the storm I experienced at La Roja’s base in Palmerston North, New Zealand, and the frustration that followed.

It’s worth remembering the turbulence of Spain’s World Cup preparations. When their squad was announced, it didn’t include some of the game’s best players. Fifteen internationals had declared themselves ineligible for mental health reasons until the federation (RFEF) made changes to the way it treated women’s football. Some players went to the World Cup after a nine-month absence from the national team.

There were many internal divisions: between ‘Las 15’, as the players who had sent emails declaring themselves ineligible became known in the media, and others who did not. And also between those who sent the email and decided to go to the tournament anyway, and those who did not.

You would think that climate would make it impossible to win anything but, strangely enough, the opposite happened. Spain made history by winning a knockout game in a major competition for the first time — and went all the way to the final, where they beat England 1-0.

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But that was just the beginning. After full time, coach Jorge Vilda pointed to Rubiales in the stands, who responded by grabbing his crotch and pointing to Vilda, as if the success was theirs alone. That ignored the fact this was an exceptional generation and showed the players had been right to say that people did not believe in them. It was disrespectful to everyone, including England’s Lionesses.

Then came Rubiales’ kiss on Hermoso, his non-apology, the pressure on Hermoso to downplay the seriousness of the incident in a proposed video with him, and a speech from Rubiales in which he blamed “false feminism” for how he had been treated and repeated “I’m not going to resign” five times.

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Rubiales eventually resigned 21 days after the final following a provisional sanction from world governing body FIFA (it then banned him from football for three years). The legal case over the kiss continues, with Spanish prosecutors seeking a two-and-a-half year prison sentence for him, consisting of a one-year sentence for a charge of alleged sexual assault and a further one-and-a-half years for alleged coercion. The trial will start on February 3 next year.

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Rubiales has always claimed Hermoso gave consent for him to kiss her. Hermoso has testified the kiss was not consensual and that attempts were made to force her into saying the opposite. Various Spanish outlets reported that Rubiales denied coercing Hermoso in his testimony before a judge in September last year.


Rubiales will stand trial in February next year (Alberto Gardin/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The main focus of the documentary is on Alexia Putellas, Hermoso and Irene Paredes. Aitana Bonmati, Laia Codina, Teresa Abelleira, Ivana Andres, Sandra Panos, Olga Carmona and Lola Gallardo also feature.

It goes in chronological order from before those 15 emails were sent, explaining how, even after the 2022 European Championship in England, this talented generation felt as if they were being wasted and that Vilda was not giving them solutions when games were not going well.

As The Athletic has reported, and the players discuss in the documentary, Vilda asked them to leave the door to their hotel rooms open until midnight. He stopped them at points to ask them to show them the inside of their bags — to see if they had bought anything. They reproached him for what they perceived as lazy coaching and a lack of professionalism in training.

In a press conference in September 2022, after he had omitted the 15 players from his squad, Vilda said: “I challenge anyone to come out and say there hasn’t been respect or that there’s been a bad mark in my behaviour with them (the players) in all my career.”

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The players say in the documentary that Paredes spoke to Vilda and Rubiales in August 2022 to explain the players’ feelings, and the full conversation was leaked a few days later in the press.

“I was shocked because that conversation was only between me and him (Rubiales),” Paredes explains in the documentary. “He went after us.”

In many stories at the time, Paredes was portrayed as the instigator of a campaign against Vilda. She gave a press conference on September 1 with Guijarro and Hermoso — alongside Vilda — in which they explained they only wanted basic improvements.

“Between games, we were travelling five hours by bus,” Paredes says in the documentary. “We didn’t have our own dressing room. We couldn’t use the gym, the only one we had, because it belonged to the boys, even if they weren’t there. It was a lot of things.”

The documentary details another national team training camp in September 2022. Following the first lunch, all the players were gathered by Vilda. Chairs were put in a circle and the women were encouraged to air their concerns, according to everyone interviewed in the documentary. The Barca contingent was the most vocal at that meeting, and this is where the division between players started.

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Vilda after the World Cup final (Joe Prior/Visionhaus via Getty Images)

Those who later declared themselves ineligible, such as Bonmati, felt everything had been said unanimously by the players — but were then disappointed by how others didn’t speak up or contradicted them in the meeting.

“We were asked if we wanted to continue defending that shirt,” says Abelleira. “You were in front of someone who was going to decide whether to call you up or not depending on what we said.”

“In that meeting, I had something inside, I was telling myself that I had to speak up,” Ivana Andres, who was Spain’s captain for the World Cup, says. “But there were very radical positions (being taken) that said they couldn’t take it any more and I thought it was a very high price to pay and I didn’t want to miss a World Cup. In the end, I finished that meeting and I didn’t speak.”

“I was in a very different position to the rest of my team-mates because I had been in the national team for less time,” Carmona adds.

“I feel bad that they all couldn’t say what they felt because we all had the same opinion,” Bonmati says.

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“I understood that meeting (was used) as a way of dividing us further,” Paredes says.

It is the first time the players have publicly expressed the divisions that existed within the group. We see how temporary bridges were built between the players and the RFEF — which gave them the minimum guarantees so they would go to the World Cup.

But we also see how Panos was excluded by Vilda despite being the starting goalkeeper for the reigning Spanish and European champions, Barca. Panos says she sent an email asking Vilda to come back for the World Cup and never received a response. Vilda then told a press conference that she had not been called up for sporting reasons.

But what moved me the most — and what makes the documentary so important — is how the aftermath of the kiss on Hermoso is shown.

In a moment of maximum euphoria, at the peak of happiness in her sporting career, having achieved something she thought would never happen, Hermoso stood on the stage to be given her winner’s medal. Rubiales took full advantage of that moment of weakness to ruin it forever, kissing her on the lips.

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In Hermoso’s head, something started to feel wrong. She was happy about the win, but something wasn’t right. Putellas and Paredes say Hermoso approached them to tell them about the kiss, looking for someone to tell her if it was right or wrong.

Hermoso is always the dressing-room joker, the one who is always in a good mood, the DJ, the one who makes her colleagues laugh. In the adrenaline of the moment, Putellas says she thought Hermoso was joking when she said Rubiales had kissed her.

The striker didn’t get the answers she was looking for at first and opted to say no more and keep celebrating — nobody wants to be the party pooper when you have won a World Cup. Then some of the players began to echo what had happened in a live broadcast on social media.

“Who kissed?,” goalkeeper Misa Rodriguez asked during the celebrations, as captured in a live stream from the time.

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“Eh, but I didn’t like it,” Hermoso responded, still celebrating but making clear it wasn’t about her. “And what do I do? Look at me, just look at me (in that moment).”

During the celebrations, Rubiales went down to the dressing room. He came in, made jokes, said they all had a trip to Ibiza paid for when they returned from the tournament and that his wedding to Hermoso would take place there, as multiple videos from the players’ live streams showed. Thinking it was all a joke, the players celebrated. Rubiales went to grab Hermoso to recreate the image of a bride and groom at a wedding, while she made a face of clear discomfort.

The jokes continued until Paredes came down from the World Cup cloud and warned the others. “Girls, this is serious,” she said, as she details in the documentary.


Hermoso was awarded the Socrates Award at the recent Ballon d’Or ceremony for her humanitarian efforts (Jose Breton/Pics Action/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The different recordings and testimonies show the different phases Hermoso went through.

According to the documentary, a pivotal moment for Hermoso came in Ibiza. While the team were enjoying a well-deserved holiday as world champions, Hermoso and the players who accompanied her describe how she went through hell, as she felt she was put under pressure by the RFEF to make a statement saying everything was fine.

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As Hermoso, Bonmati and Andres describe, Rubiales tried to pressure her on the plane home from the World Cup, attempting to record a video first with her and then with one of the captains to say everything was fine. Bonmati says she was even asked to appear on TV to reduce tensions, but they all refused.

“Rubiales, Jenni and I had a chat,” Codina says. “He told us that he was meeting a woman and that this woman had spoken to him and told him that nothing was wrong with the kiss, that she should just make the video and that was it.”

The pressure increased. Hermoso received messages from then-national team director and former Newcastle United striker Albert Luque saying that Rubiales didn’t deserve that and that she should take a stand. Those are messages the player herself shows in the documentary, including ones sent to a friend of hers when Hermoso stopped responding.

Prosecutors are seeking a one-and-a-half-year sentence for Luque for the charge of alleged coercion. He denied coercing Hermoso when he testified as a defendant in the Rubiales case in October 2023, according to several Spanish media reports, but admitted to having sent her messages.

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“They told me that it wasn’t going to stay like this,” Hermoso explains to Putellas and Paredes. “Threats. There came a point when I was walking and I had to turn around and look. I was afraid.”

Hermoso says the RFEF’s marketing director, Ruben Rivera, told her to call the federation’s integrity department to say “nothing” had happened. She says: “I didn’t want to, I didn’t know what I was signing”. Prosecutors are also looking to charge Rivera for alleged coercion. In March, he told radio station Cadena SER, “I have never coerced anyone in my life”.

While Hermoso was in Ibiza, Putellas and the other players told her it was better not to think about it, telling her to disconnect and enjoy the holiday. Then, Hermoso started crying.

“When I found out about everything in Ibiza, I felt terrible,” Putellas says. “You were telling us without saying it directly: ‘Help me’. And we were like, forcing you to think that nothing was happening, to say: ‘Forget about it, you’ve had a great World Cup, celebrate’.”

Hermoso faced harassment on social media. When she left her house, photos of her were posted on the internet with comments asking how things could be so bad if she was going for an ice cream.

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The most striking thing about the documentary is that many women, to a greater or lesser extent, may identify with what happened to Hermoso. That goes beyond football, her or Rubiales.

What Hermoso goes through, from the time the medal is hung around her neck until she makes a complaint, is perceived in the documentary as a typical pattern of a woman who has been harassed by her superior at work. You convince yourself that everything is fine and try to continue celebrating, then you break down and cry because you realise that the best day of your life has been tarnished forever.

But it also shows that there are many friends like Putellas and Paredes ready to help someone fight. To help them say “It’s over — se acabó”.

(Top photo: Putellas, Hermoso and Paredes lift the World Cup; Jose Breton/Pics Action/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

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The State of Punditry – part 2: How the world analyses football – and the U.S. lead the way

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The State of Punditry – part 2: How the world analyses football – and the U.S. lead the way

Football coverage is a divisive subject.

Some think the standard of punditry is great, others will tell you it needs some work and some will deride it as awful. The analysis of the analysis never ends.

This week, The Athletic is looking more closely at the state of the industry, starting with yesterday’s piece assessing what is demanded of pundits in the United Kingdom in 2024 and how people consume their work.

Today, we broaden the discussion to see how UK coverage stacks up against the rest of the world, including the proudest of all football nations Germany, Brazil and Spain, together with those pesky upstarts in the U.S..


In Europe, the landscape of punditry can be wildly different. Travel to Italy, Spain or Turkey, switch on a television and scan through the channels and you’ll almost certainly be able to find some football coverage, be it via a football talk show, replays of matches, or on the news.

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This is the case in the UK, too, via Sky Sports’ network of channels, but we’re talking free-to-air here in countries where people are arguably far more obsessed with football than your average UK football diehard.

It borders on fanaticism in a place like Turkey and the at-times frantic coverage reflects that. One grim incident recently showcased how seriously football is taken, when pundit Serhat Akin was shot in the foot when leaving a TV studio.

The former Fenerbahce player had been covering the club’s match against Belgian side Union Saint-Gilloise from an Istanbul studio, after which he was approached and shot by a masked man.

Akin posted a picture of his bloodied foot on Instagram with the caption: “They shot my foot, our last word is Fenerbahce.”

Over in Germany things are a bit calmer.

In many ways the coverage is very similar to in the UK, only probably a bit better. Standard Bundesliga behaviour.

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Why? Well, depending on your disposition, they don’t quite have as much forced melodrama that you tend to find with the Premier League.

The punditry industry is not quite as accessible for ex-players, so the notion of former pros that you’d get on, say, a certain national radio station in the UK where certain people will make certain comments to attract attention doesn’t really exist.

Presenters, again, unlike in the UK with Gary Lineker, Alex Scott, or, until recently, Jermaine Jenas, are media professionals rather than players. Pundits include Per Mertesacker and Christoph Kramer, the 2014 World Cup winner who has been an analyst for many years already despite being only 33 years old and still not officially retired (he left Borussia Mönchengladbach in the summer).


Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann speaks with Christoph Kramer (second right) and (right) Per Mertesacker (Tom Weller/picture alliance via Getty Images)

They have a tactics corner on Sky via Dutchman Erik Meijer, the one-time Liverpool striker who spent much of his career in Germany. In a recent interview with The Athletic, Meijer described his reaction to being asked to appear on German television: “The first question I had was, ‘There are 80 million Germans in this country so why do they need to employ a Dutchman? But they wanted a different voice — someone who would say that Bayern Munich were c**p when they were.”

Julia Simic, who used to play for the women’s national team, is also a regular, while pundits who cover the Premier League include former goalkeeper Rene Adler and ex-Croatia international and Fulham and West Ham striker Mladen Petric.

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While Germans do like other sports, such as basketball, handball and tennis, football is the main draw and the coverage can be dense and fanatical, although it tends to be quite considered and mindful of weighty issues. The rise of vloggers and influencers we have seen in the UK hasn’t yet caught on.

Probably the most high profile figure is Wolff Fuss, inflection king extraordinaire. Search for him on TikTok and you’ll find 20 million matches. Fuss has the stage to himself because, in another difference to the UK, co-commentators are quite uncommon in Germany.

If Fuss is the main man, then Lothar Matthaus is the loudest. Not necessarily in volume, but in the decibel level of his opinions (and his outfits… Matthaus caught the eye at this summer’s European Championship with some striking gilets).


Lothar Matthaus (right), complete with gilet (Marcus Brandt/picture alliance via Getty Images)

Matthaus could probably be compared to Gary Neville or Jamie Carragher in that he gives forthright views on “his” club, which in this case would be Bayern Munich. Neville and Carragher constantly attract the attention of Manchester United and Liverpool managers with their views but Matthaus — and his partner-in-crime, Dietmar Hamann — tend to take it a bit further.

In the past year alone, Matthaus has called for Thomas Tuchel to be sacked, questioned the signing of Eric Dier, claimed Jadon Sancho’s influence at Borussia Dortmund had been exaggerated by the media and said he “felt sorry” for Cristiano Ronaldo whose “ego trips” had “damaged the team and himself”.

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Last November, Tuchel referenced Matthaus and Hamann in a press conference after a 4-0 victory over Borussia Dortmund, saying: “Can I quote Lothar and Didi? For a team with no further development and a bad relationship between coach and players, that was alright today, I’d say. I’m sure the experts will tell you the rest themselves.” Nice.

Matthaus is probably still tame compared to Rafael van der Vaart, who, since retiring, has very much earned a reputation for making unfiltered and inflammatory comments in his role as a pundit in the Netherlands.

You may recall Van der Vaart had a pop at England’s Declan Rice after the Euro 2024 final on the coverage of Dutch broadcaster NOS, saying: “£100million for Declan Rice, what does he do? He comes to collect a ball only to pass it back to John Stones. He is useless. If you are truly worth £100m then you should be able to play a ball forward.”

This was very much in character for Van der Vaart, whose appreciation for the England team seems to be somewhat lacking given he also decried the whole side as “s***”, also on NOS, after they defeated the Netherlands 2-1 in the semi-finals.

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Over in Spain, you may be most familiar with Spanish football TV punditry from clips of El Chiringuito de Jugones, a late-night debate show in which a cast of big personalities voice their opinions — usually quite loudly and with little sense of impartiality.

In recent years the programme has gained notoriety for interviewing Real Madrid president Florentino Perez after the attempted launch of the European Super League, using the phrase “tic tac” to announce incoming transfer news (imitating the ticking of a clock) and showing three minutes of former Madrid midfielder Guti looking sad after his old side’s 4-0 Champions League defeat by Manchester City last year.

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You will find a more sophisticated level of discussion on TV channel Movistar Plus and streaming platform DAZN. The former features former Madrid and Argentina player turned pundit Jorge Valdano while presenter Miguel Quintana and former Equatorial Guinea international Alberto Edjogo-Owono, who spent his career in the Spanish lower leagues, are two respected voices on DAZN.

But the way fandom works in Spain — in particular with the big two clubs, Barcelona and Madrid — means those pundits are often labelled the enemy of one or other team, despite trying to be impartial.

In Spain, there is also a deeper layer of scrutiny towards refereeing and why decisions do or do not happen (possibly linked to the above). There is no equivalent of Match of the Day, perhaps because there is not much interest in analysing games like Osasuna versus Getafe from a tactical perspective. And the tactical insight mainly comes from social media rather than mass media.

As for other prominent pundits, Guti has made a name for himself on DAZN, while Gaizka Mendieta and Juanfran Torres are also regulars on television.

Often more in-depth analysis can be found on late-night radio shows such as El Larguero on Cadena SER or Cadena COPE’s El Partidazo — both of which go on until the early hours and continue to attract huge audiences, as The Athletic’s Laia Cervello Herrero explored earlier this year. Even then, debates can get heated given the nature of football in Spain.

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You might think the tone would be fairly outrageous in a football-mad country like Brazil, but while passions undoubtedly run extremely high and some coverage can be melodramatic, there is also room for reasoned debate.

The biggest difference in Brazil is the volume of the commentators, who are the stars of the show.

“The commentator really goes for it,” Natalie Gedra, a football reporter for Sky Sports in the UK who previously worked for ESPN and Globo in Brazil, tells The Athletic. “Brazilians cannot understand countries who don’t scream ‘GOOOOOOAAAAAAL!’ There’s also a tune that comes with it, either the club’s anthem or a song that’s related to the national team.

“Visually it’s different too — for example, you will have a gigantic ball going back and forth on the screen between transitions of replays. I remember watching World Cups growing up and they had a little mascot who would show up on the screen and dance around.”

Having ex-referees as pundits, for example, has been a well-established practice in Brazil for at least a decade, formerly in the commentary box but now more as studio analysts. Oh, and the studios are always at TV HQ, not on site at stadiums.

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Talking of the commentary box, it’s typically filled with three people – a commentator, i.e. the star, a journalist and a former player.

“They have more ex-players now, but a lot of journalists are co-commentators or pundits on both pre and post-match shows,” Gedra adds. “Everyone knows the commentator; they’re massive stars.”

Reflecting how their best players tend to head to Europe, Brazil’s most famous ex-players aren’t really part of the TV coverage over there, other than for World Cups. Ronaldo worked on the 2014 World Cup and, most famously, Pele was a commentator for the 1994 World Cup.

“There are some ex-players, like, for example (Walter) Casagrande, who played for Corinthians. He was the most prominent for many years,” Gedra says. “He was a bit of a pioneer, he had a big profile and didn’t back down from making big statements, but he was also very articulate.

“The main Brazilian football names don’t become pundits in Brazil, but Pele in 1994 is by far the most famous example. There is a picture of him celebrating in the commentary booth with commentator Galvao Bueno which is one of the most iconic images in the history of Brazilian television.

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“Galvao Bueno is probably the biggest name in the history of Brazilian TV, he’s absolutely huge and the voice of many of the biggest sporting moments, like all the World Cups. Yes, people love or hate him but everybody knows who he is.”

Commentators in the UK don’t have anywhere near as big a profile. No wonder Guy Mowbray has started doing Gladiators.

Another difference is in the make-up of the post-match chat. Gedra has observed that Brazil’s coverage is less data-orientated than in the UK, although the tone depends on the channel. Globo, the free-to-air channel, have largely monopolised coverage but they are now under threat from newer players such as Sport TV, ESPN and TNT Sports. YouTube channels are also growing.

“I worked for ESPN and I think they got the tone just right, very analytical and not too spectacular or passionate,” Gedra says.

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Unspectacular is definitely not a word you would use to describe the stylings of Alexi Lalas, one of the most prominent broadcasters in the U.S., whose brash persona brings a love-it-or-hate-it quality.

He works as an analyst for Fox Sports, has a podcast called Alexi Lalas’ State of the Union and doesn’t care if people like him or not. But his bold, direct and outspoken opinions have made him an influential figure in the U.S. and beyond.

Lalas is another who doesn’t seem to especially like English players, saying during the Euros that Gareth Southgate’s team were “insufferable as they are talented”.

“But I’m in the entertainment business,” Lalas told The Athletic earlier this year. “I am a performer. When you say that, sometimes people cringe. By no means am I saying that I can’t be authentic and genuine. But I recognise the way I say something is as important as what I say.

“When I go on TV, I put on a costume and when that red light goes on, I don’t want people changing the channel.”

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Lalas’ audacious approach is a bit of a leap from the English-style NBC coverage that rose to prominence a few years ago. A number of ex-Premier League players headed Stateside and made names for themselves, such as Robbie Earle and Robbie Mustoe — while having decent careers in England, neither was a household name when playing for Wimbledon and Middlesbrough respectively.

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The pair, who have their own podcast called The 2 Robbies, gave NBC’s coverage a familiar feel alongside commentator Arlo White and pundit Lee Dixon, while former Stoke City defender Danny Higginbotham is another face of the channel having moved Stateside. “What we’ve tried to do from the start is talk in a normal way about football,” Earle told The Guardian in 2017. An underrated concept.

Fox Sports also employ recognisable names from UK TV coverage including commentator (sorry, ‘play-by-play announcer’) Ian Darke, former Newcastle defender Warren Barton and ex-Sky Sports reporter Geoff Shreeves. Fox also use Mark Clattenburg as a refereeing analyst.

Undoubtedly the most renowned U.S. soccer coverage, though, is on CBS Sports via its hugely popular Golazo Champions League show, complete with the instantly recognisable line-up of Kate Abdo, Thierry Henry, Micah Richards and Jamie Carragher, whose on-screen chemistry make them a social media staple on every matchday.

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Left to right: Kate Abdo, Thierry Henry, Jamie Carragher and Micah Richards have been a hit on CBS (Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)

Pete Radovich, the coordinating producer of the UEFA Champions League coverage on CBS Sports, told The Athletic in September on how he came to realise that the network’s Champions League Today studio now owns the global conversation on major nights of European football.

“Thierry Henry, in no uncertain terms, says he gets asked more about CBS now than Arsenal,” he said. “That to me is wild.”

The show’s razor-sharp use of social media and its mix of humour, analysis and engaging post-match interviews with managers and players is a winning formula, while most importantly the quartet’s camaraderie feels natural, warm and unforced.

Americans showing the world how to make excellent football soccer coverage? It’s a brave new world.

(Top photos: Getty Images; design: Dan Goldfarb)

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Former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines calls out ‘deranged’ co-hosts of ‘The View’ over Capitol Hill bathroom ban

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Former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines calls out ‘deranged’ co-hosts of ‘The View’ over Capitol Hill bathroom ban

Former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines blasted the co-hosts of “The View” on Wednesday, calling them “deranged” and “out of touch” after they spoke out in defense of Delaware Rep.-elect Sarah McBride over a resolution that would ban transgender women from using women’s restrooms at the U.S. Capitol.

Gaines, a 12-time NCAA All-American swimmer who has publicly spoken out against trans inclusion in women’s and girls sports and advocated for protecting women’s spaces, posted a message on X calling out the group for speaking out on an issue that does not directly impact them.

Former competitve swimmer Riley Gaines speaks during a campaign rally for Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump at Desert Diamond Arena on August 23, 2024, in Glendale, Arizona. The rally, held in partnership with Turning Point PAC and Turning Point Action, came two weeks after Democratic presidential nominee U.S. Vice President Harris held a rally at the same location.  (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

“I wonder if the deranged, out-of-touch women on The View would be comfortable letting Mr. McBride change in a locker room inches away from their own daughters,” she wrote in a post on X which accompanied a clip of the show. 

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“It never matters until it affects you personally.” 

Gaines competed against former UPenn swimmer Lia Thomas, a transgender athlete, at the NCAA championships in 2022, where she said the NCAA had opted to give Thomas the fifth-place trophy for the “photo op” despite them tying in the women’s 200 freestyle.  

Thomas would go on to win a national title in the women’s 500 freestyle. 

Gaines was responding to a segment of Tuesday’s episode of “The View” where the co-hosts reacted to a resolution by Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., to ban transgender women from using women’s restrooms at the U.S. Capitol in response to McBride, the first openly transgender federal lawmaker set to join Congress in January.

RILEY GAINES REPEATEDLY TEARS INTO AOC FOR TAKING PRONOUNS OUT OF X BIO AFTER ADVOCATING FOR TRANS ATHLETES

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“I don’t understand how this is [Mace’s] welcome to someone who is coming to make a difference in the country,” Whoopi Goldberg said.  

Rep.-elect Sarah McBride

Rep.-elect Sarah McBride, D-Del., poses for a photograph after joining other congressional freshmen of the 119th Congress for a group photograph on the steps of the House of Representatives at the U.S. Capitol Building on Nov. 15, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

“It’s not a welcome, it’s flipping her the middle finger. Because she is the one person in the House that this will affect,” Sara Haines responded, adding, “And this woman that came and sat at our table is one of the most decent, amazing politicians I’ve ever seen. Her messaging resounded across the boards.”

Alyssa Farah Griffin chimed in, calling the attempt to ban McBride “gross.”

“It is a new member of Congress, who ran as a centrist democrat, talked about issues – pocketbook issues. She said at our table ‘I am not a spokesperson for my community. I’m running to deliver for Delaware.’ And Nancy Mace is trying to goad her into a fight she did not sign up to be part of. She’s trying to pigeonhole her into ‘You have to be this culture warrior, who makes this your whole identity’ purely because Nancy Mace doesn’t like how she chooses to exist.” 

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Mace speaks to reporters in Capitol hallway

U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) arrives for a House Republican caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol on November 19, 2024, in Washington, DC. Mace introduced legislation that would require House members and staffers from “using single-sex facilities other than those corresponding to their biological sex.”  (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Gaines said in a separate post on X Wednesday that she would be “happy” to join “The View” for a conversation after disagreeing with Goldberg’s numbers regarding trans athletes competing in public schools. 

Fox News’ Liz Elkind contributed to this report. 

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

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Freddie Freeman grand slam ball to be auctioned. Could bring 'life-changing money' for Venice family

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Freddie Freeman grand slam ball to be auctioned. Could bring 'life-changing money' for Venice family

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind for Zachary Ruderman.

He’s the 10-year-old Dodgers fan who ended up with one of the most significant baseballs in team history — the one his favorite player, first baseman Freddie Freeman, hit for a walk-off grand slam during the 10th inning in Game 1 of the 2024 World Series against the New York Yankees.

Since then, Zachary has seemingly become one of the most famous people living in Venice.

“It’s a lot more attention than my son has ever had,” his father, Nico Ruderman, said. “He’s spoken to so many media outlets, so many interviews. People recognize him. I mean, literally everywhere we go people stop him and want to take pictures with him. He’s really actually been loving it. It’s been a fun experience for him.”

That experience is entering a new phase. On Wednesday, SCP Auctions announced the ball will be up for bid from Dec. 4-14. Coming just weeks after the Dodgers won their eighth World Series championship — with Freeman hitting four home runs and winning MVP honors, all on a badly sprained ankle — SCP founder and president David Kohler said his company thinks “the sky’s the limit” for what the auction could bring.

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“We think this is gonna bring seven figures,” Kohler said. “We think it’s one of the most historic baseballs ever, with the moment of this World Series, the first walk-off grand slam, the whole story of Freddie Freeman, the Dodgers, Game 1, extra innings. Just everything about it. I mean, it’s one of the most historic moments in sports and we feel that people are going to appreciate that.”

Last month, Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani’s 50th home run ball was sold by Goldin Auctions for a record $4.4 million. Could the Freeman ball be worth even more than that?

Zachary Ruderman holds up Freddie Freeman’s grand slam ball with his parents, Nico and Anne, at his side.

(Courtesy of Nico Ruderman)

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“It could be. You never know,” Kohler said. “We’re gonna find out. Certainly the Ohtani ball was very, very significant and Ohtani is beloved, but this is more of the history of the game of baseball and just the moment — seeing that happen was just incredible.”

Zachary, along with his father and mother Anne, were part of that moment. After Freeman blasted his game-winning shot into the right-field pavilion, the ball rolled next to Zachary’s feet. The fifth-grader batted it over to his father, who pounced on it, stood up and handed it back to his son.

“They’re just amazing memories,” Zachary said Thursday, looking back on that night. “Like after we got it, no one was mad. No one was trying to take it from us. Everyone was just super happy.”

His father added: “We just feel so lucky and honored to be a small part of such a huge moment in Dodger history.”

The experience was so special that at first the family had no intention of parting with the ball.

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“That night when we caught it we were like, ‘We’re gonna keep this forever,’” Ruderman said. “The problem is, if we keep it, we’re not gonna keep it in our house. I don’t want to pay for the insurance for it, so it would just be locked up in some safety deposit box. Nobody would ever see it.

Zachary Ruderman holds his Freddie Freeman grand slam ball while posing with L.A. City Councilmember Traci Park at City Hall

Zachary Ruderman holds his Freddie Freeman grand slam ball while posing with L.A. City Councilmember Traci Park at City Hall.

(Nico Ruderman)

“Maybe [the auction] brings life-changing money and pays for education for our son, and also allows somebody with the resources to actually display it and show it to the world. We’re really hoping that whoever buys it agrees to display it at Dodger Stadium for some time so everybody can see it. That’s really our wish.”

Even with all the incredible experiences he’s had because of the ball — including his favorite, speaking in front of Los Angeles City Council at City Hall and receiving a certificate of congratulations from Councilmember Traci Park earlier this month — Zachary said he’s “really excited” about the auction.

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“It’s probably going to be a pretty fun experience,” Zachary said.

“We’ve had our fun with the ball,” his father added. “At this point he cares more about the memories, the pictures. He loves reading all the articles and watching all the news stories about it. That’s what’s fun for him, not the item itself.”

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