Peter Beard, Photographer of Africa and Supermodels. 

A cool run-down of the history of the game that spread through England, the British Empire, and the rest of the world and first codified in a little book of rules in 1863.  By Melvin Bragg and ITV Britain.  It was crazy back in the day…!

Part 2 after the jump…

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These Adidas Originals Chile ‘62 were dropped to coincide with the 1962 World Cup in Chile .

The first football shoe / cleat that was specifically designed for frozen pitches.

Available at JDSports.

images via JDSports 

FIFA announced an agreement with the African Union of Broadcasters Wednesday that guarantees all 64 matches of the upcoming 2010 World Cup to be televised live throughout Africa (41 countries in all) in English, French and Portuguese.

And while the exact terms of the deal were not disclosed by FIFA, they are expecting the television and marketing revenue to hit the $3.2 Billion range.

Via FIFA.com

“The AUB has shown considerable strengths in uniting broadcasters under one umbrella to ensure that all sub-Saharan Africans will be able to have access to the radio and TV coverage of and around the 2010 FIFA World Cup. We always promised that 2010 would be an African World Cup and with today’s cooperation agreement we have made a big step towards achieving this goal,” said FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter.

image via Flckr

The “2018 World Cup Bribery Wars” heat up, as Australian billionaire Frank Lowry joins the FIFA 2010 Organizing Committee comprised of 31 fatcats executives who will also pick the 2018 host country. No Englishmen are on this committee, which probably sinks their chances. Lowry himself has no soccer experience, but that shouldn’t matter since he is the wealthiest person in Australia.

Bill Archer at Bigsoccer has the full story with multiple links, including Sepp Blatter, Jack Warner and Mohammed bin Hammam’s inevitable roles.

Image via Transparencyinsport

Wyler Geneve signs agreement to produce the official watch of the Italian national soccer team. Not usually into watches, but this is pretty pimp.

Image via WorldTempus

Declan Hill is an investigative journalist who has worked for the CBC, BBC, and on several “PBS Frontline” documentaries. He has just written a book called “The Fix: Soccer and Organized Crime” which tells the story of an investigative journalist who sets out to examine the world of match fixing in professional soccer.

Several news outlets have reviewed the book and reported the more explosive allegations, including the author’s assersion that the Brazil-Ghana World Cup 06 match was fixed (Ghana lost 3-0). An article in today’s Toronto newspaper features the author responding to the paper’s doubts about his claims. Whether all his assertions can be proved or not, this guy has the cajones to wade into some very dangerous waters, showing the dark side of the game (crime syndicates, “fixers”, agents, FIFA) and he’s upsetting plenty of people (the Ghanian FA is suing him). Compelling.

Image via DeclanHill

A book about Zinedine Zidane set to be published next week has revealed that the French legend deeply regrets his infamous 2006 head-butt on Marco Materazzi.

Among the secrets in the book, there is a confession by Zidane to his cousin Akbou who lives in Algeria.

The pair spoke about the incident in Algiers in December 2006, and Akbou, a pharmacist of 40 years, said to Zidane that he had “done well” to respond to the provocation of Materazzi.

However, the former number 10 replied: “Do not ever say that I did well to head-butt Materazzi. I did not do well and I am sorry.”

Image via BBC

We’re about two years away from World Cup 2010. I’m a huge fan of the game and have always wanted to attend a World Cup since I watched Italy win in 82. However the current World Cup 2010 news is not good at all: The South African stadium contruction is way behind schedule because of strikes, there’s a huge shortage of hotel space, transportation is poor, local violence and cultural tension in SA is way up, airfares on US carriers are skyrocketing, Blatter is talking to several backup (and more convenient) countries, and the world economy is in the tank. For the first time, I am thinking I don’t want to go - I don’t want to spend the money, I don’t want to be in an unsafe environment, I don’t want to risk anything happening down there so far from the US/Europe. Maybe a trip to London and watching in some pubs would be an overall better option. Maybe I should take the money and buy a 60 inch hi-def Samsung and watch from my couch. I am leaning against the trip…

But what do you think? Are you planning on going to South Africa, assuming it will be there? Would you prefer another locale? Are my concerns about the danger of the place real or not? Where do you plan on watching the World Cup? Thoughts?