It gives me great pleasure to announce the launch of a brand-new eBook today entitled What The World Cup Means To Me. The free eBook, published by EPL Talk sister site World Cup Buzz, features stories from some of the top 21 soccer writers and personalities around the world including Soccernomics author Simon Kuper, BBC World Football Phone-In's Tim Vickery, ESPN's Rebecca Lowe and Tommy Smyth, GolTV's Phil Schoen and many others.

I was listening to a BBC World Have Your Say Podcast where they asked whether the World Cup was as important as Mandela's release.Oh my God! Compare a football tournament with an event that changed not only a country but the entire world...!?!?Don't get me wrong: I love and live football!I have a dead-boring job but make good money, few friends, no girlfriend for many years, no particular talents

For someone like me who has ties to both England and the United States, the decision by FIFA to award the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournaments to Russia and Qatar respectively hurts.

I watched the announcement Thursday morning on BBC World News from my cabin aboard the Norwegian Dawn cruise ship while sailing north west of Cuba on unusually stormy seas.

It gives me great pleasure to announce the launch of a brand-new eBook today entitled What The World Cup Means To Me. The free eBook features stories from some of the top 21 soccer writers and personalities around the world including Soccernomics author Simon Kuper, BBC World Football Phone-In's Tim Vickery, ESPN's Rebecca Lowe and Tommy Smyth, GolTV's Phil Schoen and many others.

No, I'm on TV mum Manchester City striker and BBC World Cup pundit Emmanuel Adebayor suffered on-air embarrassment when his phone rang as he was talking to Gary Lineker live on BBC1. The phone rang twice leaving the Togo international attempting to discreetly turn his phone to silent mode. Spotted on 101GG

Well, the Echo says it's official. Roy Hodgson will be Liverpool's next manager.
It became apparent earlier today that it was only a matter of time. When the various hacks who couldn't wait to stick the boot into Benitez are tripping over each other to praise the hiring (see: here and here, among others), finalizing the move is a mere formality.

Declan Hill, critically acclaimed author of The Fix: Soccer and Organized Crime (uk, us), will be joining me (later today) for Tuesday's EPL Talk Podcast: talking about the ongoing potential for corruption in football; reflecting the issues discussed in his previous appearance; looking toward this summer's World Cup.

By Chris Wright

A Premier League player is being forced to pay a London gang £15,000 every three months in 'protection money' according to an investigation carried out by the BBC World Service's 'World Football' programme.

By Chris Wright

A Premier League player is being forced to pay a London gang £15,000 every three months in 'protection money' according to an investigation carried out by the BBC World Service's 'World Football' programme.

Jo Curtis - a brilliant photographer from Leigh on Sea - was meant to return home from a short trip to Budapest last week. Like so many others, she got caught up in the ash cloud chaos -- and spent hours, and hours and hours on a mission to get back to south Essex.
Here's her story in her own words:
"When my friend and I chose Budapest as a destination for a quick getaway we were looking forward to going somewhere completely different outside the usual Euro zone.

There are plenty of unusual World Cup 2010 stories doing the rounds at the moment but one caught my eye this week and I can't resist commenting on it. The story involves supposed experts in sports performance choosing a word which they believe can inspire England to glory in South Africa.
The word in question is "Cabanga", which means "imagine" in Zulu.

Welcome to World Cup Morning Buzz. Every morning we'll bring you 5-10 of the most interesting stories from other news outlets as the fervor surrounding the kickoff in South Africa gets into high gear. If you have a suggestion for a story we missed leave it in the comments section.

We'll kick things off with a video from the 2006 World Cup some may have missed.

Kicking off the World Cup Buzz podcast's two months of coverage, the Talk network welcomes back Andy Brassell, one of the media's leading experts on professional football in Western Europe. Andy joined me late last week to talk about the nations from his coverage area who will be competing in South Africa as well as offer a pick for this summer's finals.

We know there are many Mexican futbolitas y chicos here but even if you're not, that GuapoVela photo is supposed to entice you into reading this! Nevertheless, we have a video of Memo Ochoa for you below practising his drills as he pits himself against not one but TWO teams!

Back in March, Terry brought you a popular and much needed retrospective on those top UK TV football theme tunes that filled the air of our halcyon days. As he explained at the time, however, his list was devoid of classic World Cup theme tunes - namely because we were saving them specifically for our World Cup Pull-Out.

In the previous thrilling instalment, we embarked on British TV's journey from library music to classic opera in its search for a decent World Cup theme tune. In this concluding part, we embrace synth pop, retro Krautrock and the Great American songbook plus much more besides...
‘America' (BBC World Cup Grandstand 1994)
Leonard Bernstein
After the rip-roaring success of Luciano Pavarotti's Nessun Dorma in 1990, the BBC knew it had a tough act to follow, so for its 1994 outing they went for something similarly enriched in national culture.

Back in March, Terry brought you a popular and much needed retrospective on those top UK TV football theme tunes that filled the air of our halcyon days. As he explained at the time, however, his list was devoid of classic World Cup theme tunes - namely because we were saving them specifically for our World Cup Pull-Out.

Union

So I wake up this morning for a little snack and I put on the BBC World Service on WHYY as I get back into bed. What do I hear? An interview with the Union's Nick Sakiewicz! He talked about the opener at PPL Park selling out in five hours, the tremendous fan base for soccer in Philly, the Union's tough opening schedule and how the excitement surrounding the World Cup might help the club and MLS, adding that, given the excitement surrounding the new team, it was hard to imagine being even more excited.

I had the honor of taking part in a segment of 'World Have Your Say' a show on the BBC World Service. I was part of a panel discussing the impact the hosting of a World Cup has upon a nation, with me providing some perspective on how the '94 Cup effected the United States. I encourage you to enjoy the whole show, but my involvement in the episode begins in the 26 minute mark.

Johannesburg, 16 June 2010: BBC World Cup pundit, Emmanuel Adebayor, was tonight confirmed by The Guinness Book of World Records as the new, World Speed Talking Champion. Unbeknown to the hugely popular Manchester City and Togo striker, the BBC had recruited the services of Doris Stokes, the preferred Medium of the tabloid newspapers, to contact both [.

Arsene Wenger says we will have a new defender by the end of the World Cup:

On the official site, Wenger has stated that, while the club is "not close" to a move at the moment. But he stated that "there will be something happening before the end of the World Cup certainly on the defensive side.

Five years ago today, EPL Talk launched out of nowhere. There was zero marketing budget. All it was could be summed one in one word: passion. From that day until now, all I did was write about the sport and league that has given me so much joy and that I've been passionate about all my life.