With a 10:3 ratio in support for migrating the community off of lemmy.world as suggested by @[email protected] in this post, we will run a trial period of migrating the community over to [email protected]

Trial period

We will run a trial period of 2 months on lemm.ee to see how stable the instance is. Since all of you who discussed potential instances only had good things to say about the instance, expect the trial period to just be formality though.

Locking down [email protected]

The FootballAutoMod has been configured to automatically lock down any new posts and tell the posters to repost in the new community. While I could lock the community completely, I think this solution might help inform those of you who maybe don't check in on the community regularly.

Why lemm.ee

It's a moderately large EU-based instance with little to no drama as far as I know. The admin team seems to be competent and maintains a neutral stance with few defederations across the fediverse. The instance also got multiple recommendations amongst our users.

Why are Mexicans obsessed with this working-class English town?

Mexico News Daily / by Alan Chazaro / Aug 24, 2025 at 8:30 AM

What do the people of Sunderland, England — a working-class port city along the wind-whipped coast of the North Sea, approximately 8,744 kilometers away from Mexico City — have in common with Mexican soccer fans? Absolutely everything, it turns out.

That’s because Sunderland Association Football Club is suddenly at the center of a bizarre if not lovable trend among Mexico’s passionate fanbase and is, inexplicably, Mexico’s European team of choice this season. Currently, thousands of Mexican fans (many of whom have presumably never been to, or even heard of, the metropolitan borough in the United Kingdom before adopting the team) are flooding the team’s social media channels with declarations of loyalty, support and unwavering zeal — followed by a parade of Mexican flag emojis.

Mexican fans throw their support behind Sunderland AFC

The comments have provoked Sunderland AFC fan accounts into asking Mexican fans if they’re joking or serious. The responses have been equally comical, with countless Mexican fans responding that they’re eternally committed to Sunderland and aren’t going anywhere. One Mexico fan broke the cadence of Spanish with an attempt at English, responding with a grammatically incorrect but heartfelt “is forever mate .”

It all started as a farce on August 16 when Pasion Celeste, a Cruz Azul fan account on X (formerly Twitter) proposed that Mexican soccer aficionados collectively pick a random team in Europe to fully support: “What do you think if with this start to the European League, all of [Mexico’s] football Twitter grabs an underdog team to support and follow, only for the European club to say, ‘What the hell, why are all of these Mexicans supporting us?’”

So far, it has worked. After voting on relatively unknown teams to choose from, the online assortment of Mexican fans landed on Sunderland — a once historic club that for the past eight years has played in the English lower leagues but has just ascended to the top-flight English Premier League. The message was quickly amplified when a soccer fan account, Somos Analistas, made an official declaration in support of Sunderland, encouraging all of Mexico to back the far-flung, relatively obscure team. The post has since received over two million views, 24,000 re-posts and hundreds of comments pledging Mexican fealty.

Sunderland is staggering under Mexican kit requests

Upon happening, the official Sunderland AFC Instagram account began fielding a mix of requests, questions and steady engagement from Mexican fans. The online team store sold out of most of their jerseys, with Mexican fans asking where they could find more. The spike in Mexican fandom certainly raised curiosity among other fans, as many asked about the connection between Mexico and Sunderland. Mexican fans responded quite facetiously with Spanish comments that translate roughly into “it’s something you’re born with” and “I’ve been a Sunderland fan since the cradle.” Even a few nascent fan accounts like Sunderland Mexico have already sprung up to share Sunderland news in Spanish.

“A bit more awareness of the club around the world is great, and if our club and our history can resonate with more than just the local area, it can only be positive for us and football as a whole,” says lifelong Sunderland fan Sean Mountain. “As a club, we’re likable and already have a massive international fan base. Viva México, cabrones.”

It couldn’t have happened at a better time for Sunderland, who kicked off their triumphant return to the Premier League with a dominant, season-opening win against West Ham United. Prior to this campaign, the Black Cats (or Gatos Negros, as Mexican fans have been calling them) were relegated out of England’s major league circuit for nearly a decade. Sunderland itself isn’t a particularly destination-worthy city in the world of European football, either. What with London, Milan, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Munich, Madrid, Istanbul and various other European epicenters boasting rich traditions and proven excellence. Sunderland lacks the sheer star power of many other European units, too. But that hasn’t stopped Mexican ultras from purchasing jerseys and celebrating the team’s quality players like Swiss captain Granit Xhaka, Spanish striker Eliezer Mayenda, and Mozambican defender Reinildo Mandava.

Sunderland’s players return the love from Mexico

About a week after the Mexican fans stormed their way into Sunderland’s ranks, the team’s social media director conducted a video with a selection of players on the team in which the players (none of whom speak Spanish) welcomed Mexico and its fans by answering basic questions about Mexico’s history, culture and soccer legacy. The team’s official accounts posted the video with a playful “¡Vamos, Muchachos!”. Shortly after, Sunderland’s fans decided to return the favor to Mexico and randomly picked a team of their own — Nexaca, a first-division team based in Aguascalientes that was recently purchased by Mexican actress Eva Longoria — to support. Perhaps the pick wasn’t as random, since Necaxa coincidentally shares Sunderland’s colors of red and white, but still, it’s the sentiment that counts.

There’s a surreal magic that can transpire on the canvas of a soccer pitch. At times logic-defying, the sport has a way of breeding the irrational, the inexplicable, the fantastic. Though it may not always seem obvious for the casual observer, soccer allows for a border-traversing artistry, a fluid interconnection among those as distant as Mexicans and Brits.

Perhaps nothing sums it all up better than Sunderland AFC themselves, who formally welcomed their Mexican fans on the internet with a blend of Spanish and Mackem vernacular: “¡Hola, Mexico! We’re proud to have your passion with us this season — Ha’way the Lads!"

Alan Chazaro is the author of “This Is Not a Frank Ocean Cover Album,” “Piñata Theory” and “Notes From the Eastern Span of the Bay Bridge” (Ghost City Press, 2021). He is a graduate of June Jordan’s Poetry for the People program at UC Berkeley and a former Lawrence Ferlinghetti Fellow at the University of San Francisco. His writing can be found in GQ, NPR, The Guardian, L.A. Times and more. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, he is currently based in Veracruz.

Suleiman al-Obeid was killed on Wednesday when Israeli forces attacked civilians waiting for humanitarian aid, the PFA said.

‘‘During his long career, al-Obeid, 41, scored more than 100 goals, making him one of the brightest stars of Palestinian football,” it said. His talent on the pitch earned him the nickname of “the Palestinian Pelé” – a nod to the legendary Brazilian widely hailed as one of the greatest players of all time.

Born in Gaza on 24 March 1984, Obeid began his footballing career with Khadamat al-Shati, later playing for Markaz Shabab al-Am’ari in the occupied West Bank, and Gaza Sport. A fixture in the Palestinian national side after his debut in 2007, Obeid gained 24 caps and scored twice, the PFA said, most memorably with a scissor-kick against Yemen during the 2010 West Asian Football Federation championship.

Bundesliga 2 side Fortuna Dusseldorf has pulled out of signing Israel striker Shon Weissman in response to fan anger about his social media posts on the Gaza war, German tabloid Bild has reported.

Fan furore erupted online on Monday when news emerged that Weissman was on the cusp of joining Dusseldorf from Spanish side Granada FC.

Bild reported that Weissman called for Israel to “wipe Gaza off the map” and to “drop 200 tons of bombs on it”.

The 29-year-old had also liked posts saying “there are no innocents [in Gaza], they don’t need to be warned”.

Best advice, avoid watching the matches in the US; go watch the Mexico and Canadian matches.

@[email protected]

Could you change the name of the community to 'deleted football' so idiots like me don't keep postingnhere as this community comes up on top every time

This is just a quick thought.

Over the past few years we saw a new kind of 10 as the dominant force, the athletic pressing physical player. Your Mason Mounts and Connor Gallaghers etc. Players who would regain possession, more valuable out of possession than the traditional 10 who would create chances and be a vital cog in possession.

Players like Isco became rare.

But now we've got anpther new wave of players. Athletic runners as the recent pressers were but more aggressive in the traditional way, making runs into the box during attacks instead of sitting outside the box waiting to pounce back on the change of possession. Think Jude at Madrid, McTominay at Napoli.

In bw these we also had players like Damsgaard which had the potential to define a generation but didn't.

I'm not saying one or the other is now meta, just that we've currently got more molds than before which can be plugged in different playatyles.

The instance this community moved to is shutting down, and for some reason the voting options didn't include moving the community to lemmy.world. So now it's moving yet again to some other instance.

Given this turn off events, why not just resurrect it here?

The greatest national team in football history will now be led by the most successful coach in the world. Carlo Ancelotti, a synonym for historic victories, was announced this Monday (12) by the president of the CBF, Ednaldo Rodrigues, as the new coach of the Brazilian National Team. He will lead Brazil to the 2026 World Cup and will already coach the team in the upcoming friendlies and matches of the Qualifiers against Ecuador and Paraguay, next month.

Carlo Ancelotti leaves Real Madrid as the most decorated manager of the club's history with 15 trophies (3 Champions Leagues, 2 La Liga, 2 Copa Del Rey, 3 Club World Cup, 3 European Super Cup and 2 Spanish Super Cup) in 6 years

The winds have changed direction pretty quickly.

cross-posted from: https://reddthat.com/post/36423536

The second division in particular might be the tightest league in world football consistently. And the most entertaining plus wide league.

Here in the top division there's a lot of cool projects and storylines going on too.