wc Archives

The players were greeted by their families at the airport in Pyongyang, many overcome with joy, some in tears

Sports

N. Korea players celebrate U20 World Cup victory in Pyongyang

North Korea's young women's football team received a thunderous homecoming after their title win at the 2024 Fifa U-20 World Cup.

AFPSeptember 28, 2024

The team took a victory lap in front of thousands more fans at Wankhede Stadium

Sports

India’s World Cup winners return to PM Modi praise, victory parade

India’s T20 World Cup winners returned home to a heroes’ welcome Thursday, greeted by huge crowds of euphoric fans and praised by a grinning...

AFPJuly 4, 2024

Spanish football star Jenni Hermoso (C) testified about the kiss she received from Luis Rubiales

Sports

Spanish star Hermoso testifies about Rubiales’s World Cup kiss

During the incident on August 20, the then head of Spain's RFEF football federation held her head in both hands and forcibly kissed her...

AFPJanuary 2, 2024

A diplomatic spat began after the match, when Venezuelan players accused Peruvian police of beating them when they went to greet fans

Sports

Venezuela accuses Peru of ‘kidnapping’ football team in post-match spat

Venezuela accused the Peru's government of "kidnapping" its football team, saying Lima has refused to allow the team aircraft to refuel.

AFPNovember 22, 2023

Refugee goalkeeper Pyae Lyan Aung flashed the three-fingered gesture, a popular protest symbol, as his team lined up to face Japan

World

Exiled, but no regrets for Myanmar footballer two years after protest

Refugee goalkeeper Pyae Lyan Aung fears for his safety if he returns home to Myanmar but he says he has no regrets about raising...

AFPNovember 16, 2023

Every autumn New Delhi is blanketed by a carpet of acrid smog, primarily blamed on stubble-burning by farmers in the neighbouring agrarian states

World

Smog-ridden New Delhi extends schools shutdown

Authorities in the smog-ridden Indian capital New Delhi on Sunday extended an emergency schools closure by a week.

AFPNovember 5, 2023

In this photograph taken on September 14, 2023, a worker polishes cricket balls at a workshop in Meerut in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh

Business

Sacred cow: Ball makers break taboos for India’s favourite sport

Stitching together cricket balls is a wearisome task for leatherworker Bunty Sagar, whose labours are frowned upon by many fellow Indians even if he...

AFPSeptember 26, 2023

A worker crafts a Kashmiri willow wood cricket bat at a factory in Kashmir's Sangam village, on August 19, 2023

Business

Axed: Rampant logging hits India’s batmakers for six

When the Cricket World Cup opens in India next month several players will carry Kashmiri willow wood bats, but manufacturers say over-exploitation of trees...

AFPSeptember 26, 2023