Retrospective 2024: recommended posts to read or reread – 12/31/2024 – The World Is a Ball

I started writing for this blog in 2015. Every year-end, I look back at notable facts and recommend posts for reading or re-reading, from January to December.

This is the tenth time, and I intend to be more succinct than the others, as I don’t think that long texts, on the last day of the 2024 calendar, are to the liking of the majority of readers.

Who should be praised in football, based on what has happened in the last 366 days? (2024 was a leap year, with one extra day.)

• Vinicius Junior. The striker whose flag is the fight against racism, of which he is a constant target in Europe, was disappointed when he was left without the Ballon d’Or. Afterwards, he showed off his wide smile when winning The Best award, becoming the first Brazilian since 2007, among men, to be chosen as the best in the world.
• The Argentine team. The current world champion, with Messi and company, won the Copa América for the second time in a row and remained at the top of the FIFA rankings.
• The Spanish team. Led by midfielder Rodri (elected 2024 Ballon d’Or winner) and showing the world the portentous teenager Lamine Yamal, Barcelona’s jewel, they won the European Championship against the England of Kane and Bellingham. And the new generation, without Yamal, won gold at the Olympics.

And who had an unpleasant year, to be forgotten, in the sporting sphere?

• Neymar. He spent almost the entire year recovering from knee surgery only to get injured again, ending the year with two matches valid per competition and, in them, a mere 42 minutes on the field.
• Atlético-MG. He lost the decisions of the Libertadores (to Botafogo) and the Copa do Brasil (to Flamengo). In light of these setbacks, the Mineiro title doesn’t even serve as a consolation prize. It wasn’t worse because, in the 38th and final round, they managed to escape relegation in the Brazilian Championship (Athletic-PR fell).

Having made this summary, below are texts that I published during the year and that I recommend, due to curiosity and/or relevance to the topic. Something along the lines of “worth reading again”.

In time: an enlightened 2025 full of health, peace, joy, prosperity and with football to give and sell to you, the reader. There is no World Cup, Copa América, Eurocup or Olympics, but its flagship is the FIFA Supermundial, in June and July, the first Club World Cup with 32 teams, including Botafogo, Flamengo, Fluminense and Palmeiras.

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