Alexander Allen Addo-Atiemo

Do you think there will ever be a time in the future where coed soccer teams in major events such as the FIFA world cup, Olympics, etc. is a thing? Or is it too far-fetched? This is a question that always came up in my in my thoughts during my undergraduate years when I played intramural sports. I always signed up for the men’s league and had a few women friends that played soccer so I signed up for the coed league as well. Competing in the coed soccer is quite different for me as I couldn’t compete as intensely as I wanted. Playing with and against the opposite sex requires a lot more carefulness.

Some sports on the highest levels such as tennis have it in the doubles tournaments, which is very entertaining and competitive. Of course one can argue that tennis does not involve physical contact like soccer does, so it helps the possibility of it happening more realistic as we can see. Most sports with similar guidelines and play like tennis can incorporate this idea and have coed teams. 

As much as some soccer fans may want to see this happen I believe this will never be a thing on the highest level. Leaving it separated as it is the best way to go as the competition level between both sexes is very different. Men play at a much faster pace which extreme energy than the women do. Most men will not be able to play to their full capabilities as they will spend much of the time trying to avoid colliding into the women they are playing against to help reduce injury possibilities.  Coed soccer can just be left at intramural, smaller tournaments and scrimmage level for good competitive fun. What are your thoughts about this? Please comment to share your thoughts.

Growing up in West Africa Ghana, I found myself playing Pro evolution soccer games a lot more compared to FIFA. It was the most common soccer game brand amongst my friends, of course, FIFA was available too but it wasn’t as liked or better said as popular as pro-evolution. This changed over time though as we got older, we found ourselves getting more and more drawn to FIFA games as they started owning a lot more licenses to teams, world cup events, game modes, etc. How did this happen? I find this as a legitimate, good and practical comparison as soccer fans that play the game would only ever buy one of these games.

Pro Evolution is owned by KONAMI, and as most people already know FIFA is owned by EA sports. I found myself playing more pro-evolution back in the day due to the elegant touches the players had, champions’ league modes, and a more realistic feel of the game. In my opinion, I feel like EA sports over the years have found different ways of crippling KONAMI’s pro-evolution, for example last year EA sports managed to take over from Konami two important licenses, primarily the UEFA Champions / Europa League and also the Italian Serie A license.  In addition to this they also have licenses to so many leagues and teams, Ultimate teams, career modes, debuting women soccer, World cup mode, etc. that all make it worth one’s money to buy their game.

Pro Evolution has available patches one can download and install to have most of the features FIFA has but not too many gamers would want to go through the trouble of doing that if they can buy FIFA that already comes with everything they want.  I still find myself until this day using classic controls of Pro evolution even when I play FIFA due to the past foundation I have had with it. What is your experience with these two games? Which of them do you prefer? Comment to share your thoughts.

Women have had it very difficult with popularity and exposure in sports, especially soccer. Soccer video games have been very popular in continents like Europe for so many years. Even with all its popularity out there, women were still not represented in it until 2016 when FIFA 16 introduced the top women soccer players from a limited selection of the top national teams. Some fans had been waiting for this for a while and this was a start to something.  The next year we will see more national teams added but it could not utilize one’s favorite women’s national teams across the board in a more expansive suite of modes.

2018 is when women soccer represented on video games will come alive. FIFA 18 included Women club teams as well from English Women’s Super League, Germany’s Allianz Frauen-Bundesliga and more. This addition of leagues from across the globe helped to boost the visibility of the women’s game, as well as allow for greater choices across FIFA 18’s set of game modes. Other things that were included were women’s Career Mode, female creation suite and Ultimate Team that features women. FIFA 19 followed these great footsteps from FIFA 18 by continuing to add more club teams and improve on all aspects of the game for women teams. FIFA 20 coming out in the fall season will only get better.

Of course, women teams are not allowed to play against men teams in the games as men teams will have overpowering ratings individually,  but a lot of fans are certainly happy about the growing representation of women in soccer video games.  Since its debut representation in 2016, they have had continued support and exponential success. Is there anything else you’d like to see them represent in the soccer video games for women? Share your ideas. 

Soccer video games are one that has revolutionized in terms of technology and development over the years. I remember being a little kid and playing video games on my Sega console. At the time my friend owned a Nintendo 64 which had better soccer video games like FIFA: Road to World Cup 98, FIFA Soccer 64 and World Cup 98. I would always go to his house after school and stay for hours and hours until dark just playing these soccer games. It was quite addicting for a little kid growing up and loving the game of soccer so much. I even found myself skipping some school periods in middle school just to go host soccer tournaments with my friends which we put price money on.

Then there came PlayStation 1 which I got as Christmas gift which had all these varieties of soccer games, ranging from FIFA soccer games to Pro Evolution Soccer. This was a step higher in quality than the previous games I owned. Nothing like bragging to your friends about the new hot soccer game in town which you own and they can play. The next console in line I owned was PlayStation 2 which changed the game for me as graphics and gameplay were life-changing with so many options and modes in the game. It took me a long while to own this console but that didn’t stop me from keeping up with things through my friends that owned one.

November 11, 2006, is when we will see the PlayStation 3 launch. This is the first-ever video game I saved money to purchase. Of course, the money I saved to buy at the time wasn’t enough but my grandparent still made it possible for me to own one right in the early stages after it was released. Soccer game I played on there was mainly the UEFA champions league game 2006-2007. At the time this was nothing short of the word amazing. I went ahead to owned every FIFA and Pro Evolution soccer video game that was made from 2006 until 2014.

An now we have PlayStation 4 in which soccer video games until date have been better and better over the years with incredible improvements and development in graphics, modes, game-play, etc. Technology has made all this possible as I will continue to be a loyal fan of all that there is to it with the game of soccer. Do you have a sports game like that? If so, what sport is it ?

The noticeable pay gap between women and men has been an ongoing issue at the workplace and has recently received increased spotlight. Women have come a long way to prove their worth, break molds as well as change stereotypes. Though not initially apparent, this topic is prevalent in sports as well. Even in the recent success of the women’s senior national soccer team in the Women’s World Cup, there is still a pay disparity. This is their second World Cup win in 8 years and despite the men not having won a single World Cup, the men still earn up to 38% more than the women.

Though it may initially seem unjust, the fact is most soccer fans tend to be more attracted to men’s events which helps generate substantial revenue to the detriment of women. For example, during some group stage games during this last women’s world cup some games had the stadium half full compared to the last men’s World Cup in which each game was almost sold out. Who can we blame for this? Are the fans, marketers, sponsors, U.S Soccer Federation, team owners, players responsible? I’ll leave you to answer that. In the US this is an exception, as the Women’s team brings overall more revenue compared to that of the men’s team. Despite this US women’s soccer players are still making less than the men.

This has gained traction to the extent that a lawsuit has been filed against the US Soccer Federation requesting them to take charge and make the changes necessary to achieve pay equality. This lawsuit has the support of many of the higher ups [senators] to the extent of their willingness to withhold funds for developmental projects for the FIFA Men’s World Cup Tournament in 2026 hosted by the US, Mexico and Canada (with predominance in the United States).In my personal opinion, soccer fans are the problem and have contributed to this pay gap. Even though women’s soccer typically goes at a slower pace than that of men’s soccer, true soccer fans should support no matter the gender. The U.S Soccer Federation will have to work their end with transparency to ensure this happens as well.  With equal support behind both sides of this equation, together we can make this pay equality happen.

Every professional competitive sports team has some rivalry going on with another team, one way or another. Being a dual citizen leaves me conflicted when the Ghana national team and the United States national team play each other. These two senior national teams have played a total of 5 games, which is honestly not as many as anyone would have thought. I am sure there have been plenty of encounters on the other lower national teams, but I personally only keep track of the senior national teams.

The very first encounter they had was on June 17th, 1983 during the presidents’ cup which I didn’t witness and cannot talk much about since I hadn’t been born yet. Now, with the subsequent encounters, I certainly have been around for and watched every second of it. On June 22nd, 2006 during Ghana’s first-ever appearance in the FIFA World Cup, the two teams played each other once in the group stages, in which Ghana came out with a hard-fought victory by winning by 2-1. The Next encounter happened on June 26th, 2010 in which the two teams faced off in the knock out stages of the FIFA World Cup 2010 tournament( round of 16). Ghana got the upper hand again with a 2-1 convincing win. This win sent the United States home. The second to the last encounter was on June 16th, 2014 (FIFA World Cup 2014) in the group stages. The United States won which left a bitter taste for a lot of Ghanaians. Finally, an international friendly on July 1st, 2017 saw the United States winning again by a close 2-1.

After tallying this up, the United States has a 3-2 lead. This shows how close and competitive the games are when these two national teams face off. This is a personal rivalry to me as I support both teams, but before a match starts every time, I end up choosing a side to be on and support with full force. To be in this position is very difficult at times, but for the love of the game one just has to enjoy the quality of the competitiveness between the two once there is a whistle blown to kick-off.

I say soccer rules for several reasons. Besides it being the best sport in the world that involves a great deal of teamwork, the top players are known to be handsomely as well. If today I asked a question to be answered, which would be for people to name out the top 10 paid athletes in the world? I can predict that most of the answers will mainly be basketball, football, and baseball players. A soccer player will be the least of most people’s answer, although I could be wrong but just saying this out of a general observation.

Now to answer the question, I bet this will be quite surprising to most but out of the top 10 paid athletes, the top 3 are soccer players. A soccer player is more paid than a LeBron James, a Stephen Curry, an NFL quarterback? The answer is yes! Most certainly. Sitting at number 1 with a total yearly pay of $127million, including salary/winnings and endorsements is the Argentine Lionel Messi who plays for FC Barcelona in Spain. The second-highest-paid athlete is the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo who plays for Juventus F.C. in Italy, with a total yearly pay of $109Million, including salary/winnings and endorsements. The last soccer player in the top 10 who is ranked third is the Brazilian Neymar who plays for Paris Saint-Germain F.C. in France, with a total yearly pay of $105 million, including salary/winnings and endorsements.

Just so you have an idea how these numbers compare to the rest of the athletes in the top 10 here we go, Canelo Alvarez (Boxer) at $94 million, Roger Federer (Tennis) at $93.4 million, Russell Wilson (Football) at $89.3 million, Aaron Rodgers (football) at $89.3 million, LeBron James (basketball) at $89 million, Stephen Curry (basketball) at $79.8 million and the tenth athlete being Kevin Durant (basketball) at $65.4 million. Now, this is why soccer rules!