EURO 2021

Already considered one of soccer’s greats at age 24, Lionel Messi on Monday became the first to win FIFA player of the year three times in a row. The Barcelona and Argentina forward received the FIFA Ballon d’Or award for 2011, beating club teammate Xavi Hernandez and Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo. “It’s a huge honor,” Messi said after accepting the trophy from retired Brazilian great Ronaldo. The only other three-time winners are Ronaldo (1996-97, 2002) and Zinedine Zidane (1998, 2000, 2003). The FIFA award was renamed last year when it […]

An international sports boycott of Myanmar was debated during a discussion led by a representative of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association in Seoul. On 23-25 August 2019, ‎human rights activists from across the world gathered at the conference on ‘Protection of Rohingya Survivors and Accountability for Genocide’ held at the Sogang University, one of the leading universities of South Korea, established by the Jesuits. The opening keynote speech was delivered by Professor Yanghee Lee, the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar. Co-founder of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association […]

The FIFA Football World Cup will kick off on 14 June.‎ The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association has participated in several events preceding the big event. Co-founder of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association Rafal Pankowski was invited by the prestigious Cambridge Union debating society to speak at a debate on the forthcoming World Cup in Russia, including the challenges of racism and xenophobia‎, on 10 May. – ‘Should we boycott the World Cup in Russia?’ – asked the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ representative during the Cambridge debate. – ‘It would be a better idea to […]

Co-founder of the anti-fascist ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association Rafal Pankowski was awarded the prestigious annual Human Rights Distinction by Poland’s Ombudsman Dr Adam Bodnar in a ceremony held in Warsaw’s Old Town on 25 September. The celebratory speech was delivered by Marian Turski, a Lodz Ghetto and Auschwitz survivor who is Chairman of the Council for the Museum of the History of Polish Jews and Deputy Chairman of the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute as well as a member of the International Auschwitz Council. – ‘I am honoured and grateful […]

Republic of Ireland v Bosnia – Monday 16th November Bosnia rescued a draw with a late equaliser on Friday night after Edin Dzeko cancelled out Robbie Brady’s 82 minute opener in thick fog. Republic of Ireland manager Martin O’Neill suggested that they are not going to play for an edgy 0-0 to capitalise on the away goal. He said: “We have to try and win the game. If we set out with any other sort of mindset, we could be in trouble. The ultimate goal does not change and is […]

Norway v Hungary – Thursday 12th November Hungary have not won in the past nine games against Norway, and won’t find it any easier this time around. A glance at their relative group opponents says it all; Norway finished third behind Italy and Croatia, whilst the Hungarians lost out to Northern Ireland and Romania. Moreover Norway were very close to qualifying automatically, letting their lead slip against Italy in their final match. They’ll feel that they’ve earned a place at the finals already, and will have too much for a […]

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association brought together creme de la creme of Polish sports journalists as well as Members of Parliament, former sports champions and representatives of key institutions to participate in an awards ceremony and an informed discussion on sports and discrimination on the eve of the UN Anti-Racism Day. The ‘Stop racism in sports’ competition for professional print, radio and television journalists covering issues of racism and discrimination was held under the auspices of Elzbieta Radziszewska MP, Deputy Speaker of the Polish Parliament (Sejm) and former Minister of Equality. […]

Riding the wave of enthusiasm caused by Euro 2012 many Poles started dreaming. When will an event of this kind take place in Poland again? An analysis conducted by sport redactors it shows that it would be relatively easiest go obtain rights to organize the summer Olympic Games in Warsaw in 2024. It is also possible to organize the football Mundial, but not before 2030. An analysis by Michał Kiedrowski. Poland surely has some assets to organize football Mundial or summer Olympic Games in future, but it won’t happen within […]

In Group D the fans will be watching a classical match between France and England. Les Bleus, the 16th team in FIFA ranking will measure their strength with Sons of Albion who in that ranking are on position seven. It is very difficult to foresee in what shape players of both teams will arrive at the tournament. At some of the previous events of this kind they accustomed their fans to very unstable play. Both French and English have won their elimination groups. The expectations of both teams’ fans are […]

In the second, definitely less interesting match in Group C, the teams of Ireland and Croatia will measure their strength. The 18th team in FIFA ranking secured themselves the right to participate in European Championships in Poland and Ukraine after victorious playoffs with the team of Estonia. Croatians had also to play an additional match, taking up the second place in their group just behind Greece, but they defeated the Turkish team and were decidedly better than their rivals. It will be an encounter of two very well matched teams […]