It's Europe's biggest sporting event and should take in more viewers than the Super Bowl. This Saturday, the 2012 Champions League Final will see Germany's Bayern Munich take on the United Kingdom's Chelsea FC in the soccer match of the year. What's the big deal? Grant Wahl, senior writer at Sports Illustrated, explains.

The images of brutality are grim: 74 Egyptians dead but the scene is not Tahrir square in Cairo but a soccer field in the Egyptian city of Port Said. A riot at a soccer match between the team from Port Said and a team from Cairo is responsible for those fatalities and it has sent shock waves deep into Egyptian society already reeling from political chaos. 

When it comes to forming a national soccer team, conventional wisdom would suggest that the very best players would get their names on that roster. Not so in the United Kingdom. Gordon Farquhar of the BBC explains the incredibly esoteric debate over who gets to play on the "British" Olympic soccer team.

On Sunday homeless men and women from across the globe will meet in Paris, France to compete in the ninth Homeless World Cup. The decade-old event is an international four-on-four soccer tournament that brings together homeless athletes, and also draws attention to the plight of the 100 million homeless people around the world. Games are spectator-friendly, and will take place in the city's center.

Japan and the United States butted heads yesterday in a World Cup final match that stretched into overtime. The U.S. women's team, though ranked number one going into the tournament, was unable to outscore Japan during the final penalty kick shootout. This is Japan's first World Cup victory.

Yesterday was a monumental day for the U.S. Women’s Soccer team. For the first time since 1999, the team earned a place in the World Cup Finals. The team earned their spot after winning a 3-1 match against France. On Sunday, the U.S. will go head-to-head with Japan, who also qualified for the finals yesterday, in a triumphant match against Sweden.

It was a big weekend for the U.S. Women's Soccer Team, after a dramatic shootout victory against powerhouse Brazil propelled them to the World Cup's semi-final. The victory was yet another triumph for Team U.S.A. in a tournament that the country has traditionally dominated. Ever since the cup’s launch in 1991, the U.S. has either won or finished in the top three of the Women's World Cup.

The U.S. was confident it could have won the bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. They lost to Qatar. But recent evidence seems to show that FIFA officials were bribed to award Qatar with the tournament. The FIFA ethics suspended Bin Hammam of Qatar, along with fellow leading official Jack Warner and soccer sponsors have warned that the ethics scandal is hurting the sport. Mel Brennan, a former FIFA delegate for North America, weighs in on the scandal. He believes FIFA needs to be completely overhauled.

Qatar is alleged to have paid more $1.5 million to members of FIFA in order to secure their bid for the 2022 World Cup. Sports correspondent for the BBC, Gordon Farquhar reports. FIFA President Sepp Blatter says he will ask for evidence of the claims that six of his colleagues were involved in allegations of corruption.

Tensions are high in Spain during El Clásico, a football match between the country's top teams, from Madrid and Barcelona. The teams will play each other in Madrid this evening, for the third time in just a few days. Sarah Rainsford, the BBC's Madrid correspondent, talks with us about why the rivalry between the two teams is so intense. 

Soccer's ruling body FIFA has anointed the latest set of World Cup hosts, and the choices may strike people in the West as frustrating and strange: Qatar and Russia!? In Qatar, it was a historic choice: The tiny emirate will be the first Muslim nation to host the largest sporting event of the globe. We're joined by Stephanie Hancock, reporter for our partner the BBC in Qatar, joins us for more on the story. 

Brazil has it in 2014, England in 2018. Is the U.S. next? That's what we'll find out in about two days time, as governing body FIFA announces the next locale for the largest sporting event in the world. Our partner the BBC has alleged that three current members of FIFA have taken millions of dollars in bribes, but they'll still vote on the current bids on Thursday. We're joined by the BBC's Alex Capstick from Geneva.  

When you play Brazil, you are expected to lose. At least in soccer anyway.

Last night the U.S. Men's National Team took on the five-time world champions for the first showcase of international soccer on our soil since the World Cup. For the U.S. team it was something of a victory lap for their impressive finish in South Africa. Coach Bob Bradley filled his roster with familiar faces instead of testing out new talent. Brazil, on the other hand, used the occasion to debut an overhauled squad, keeping just four players from their last World Cup team. A new trio of youngsters, Neymar, Alexandre Peto and Ganso, passed their first test with ease.

In an intense overtime match, Spain prevailed over the Netherlands to win their first World Cup 1-0. Fans have been celebrating all through the night in Spain and South Africa. BBC correspondent, Piers Edwards was at the final match in Soccer City. He describes the overall effects of the World Cup on South Africa.

On Sunday, Spain's soccer team will go mano a mano against the Netherlands, in what should be one of the most exciting World Cup finals in recent history. Neither team has ever won the World Cup, and members of both the Spanish and Dutch teams attended the exclusive Ajax soccer training academy before the age of ten. That training led to very similar impulses on the field, explains our guest, The New York Times Magazine contributor Michael Sokolove. 

A dramatic ten yard header guaranteed the advancement of the Spanish soccer team to the World Cup finals. They defeated Germany 1-0, scoring at 73 minutes into the match.  

The Netherlands defeated Uruguay in the semifinals yesterday, 3-2, to advance to their third World Cup finals ever, and their first since 1978. For the championship, they'll face the winner of today's match between Germany and Spain. Takeaway sports contributor, Ibrahim Abdul-Matin looks ahead to the final World Cup game.

Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams are taking home Wimbledon titles. And in the World Cup, Germany handily beat Argentina 4-0 and moves on to play Spain. Takeaway sports contributor Ibrahim Abdul-Matin recaps a big weekend in sports and says that The Netherlands is the team to beat in the World Cup

It was a sad weekend for U.S. soccer fans, as they watched the Americans fall to Ghana in the World Cup for the second consecutive time.  Ghana scored the game-winning point in the third minute of extra time, beating the U.S. 2-1. The Takeaway sports contributor, Ibrahim Abdul-Matin, reflects on Team USA's perfomance and tells us if the 2010 World Cup can be seen as a successful one for the Americans, and looks at whether it raised the profile of U.S. soccer. However, the tournament isn't over, and Ibrahim says that the great matches are still to come.

It doesn't get more dramatic than yesterday's World Cup match between the U.S. and Algeria. The stakes? If Team USA won, they would be off to the Cup's second round—but if they tied or lost, America's best hope for soccer glory in decades would be on a plane back home.

Team USA had repeated chances to score, missed open goals, and sent balls bouncing off of the goal post.  Then, just over a minute into injury time, Landon Donovan scored the critical goal that would send Team USA into the next round of the World Cup with a 1-0 win.  They now sit atop their Group C division, tied with England. (Watch Landon Donovan's goal after the jump.)