We will all, no doubt, be glued to our TVs and radios for every World Cup match. But how will we get our fix in between matches? Online, of course. Here’s our top five World Cup websites in no particular order, providing the best, in our view, coverage, news and opinion. Find your favourite and bookmark it now (AND BOOKMARK US AS WELL!)
1) BBC
As you would expect from an organisation so heavily funded by the UK population, the BBC have gone all out on the World Cup section of the BBC Sport website. Like the rest of the BBC site, it’s clear, easy to navigate and packed with up to the minute news. The team the BBC are sending to South Africa is massive, so you can expect decent coverage throughout in the form of articles, blogs, video and audio. It’s a one stop shop for the World Cup. They also have this nice video to get you in the mood:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJt5xc3SZ3g[/youtube]
2) Sky Sports
The Sky Sports website is not as well designed as the BBC but offers much the same quality in terms of news and video. Very much so in terms of video, in fact. As Sky don’t have any rights to live games, you can expect them to go big on highlights and this is where you’ll be able to catch up on the goals you’ve missed. Sky also like their statistics, so expect a big section on that if it’s your thing as well.
3) WorldCupBlog
We found this completely by accident but WOW is it full of World Cup stuff! It’s got articles, video, history, interesting facts and trivia, squad profiles and we particularly liked this post - 10 Things To Do in The Month Before World Cup 2010 Kick Off. You really could spend hours browsing through what they have to offer – we know, we have! – and it’s updated very regularly. They have every side’s provisional squad on there right now, go take a look.
4) Kwaitoball – from TwoFootedTackle
TwoFootedTackle is one of our favourite football blogs and they’ve built a dedicated World Cup site in Kwaitoball. If what you are after is thought provoking opinion then this really is the site for you. It’s very down to earth, like listening to your mates down the pub. It’s also very easy on the eye. It’s got the latest news on there too, but it’s delivered in a much less stark manner, with comment thrown in to add spice. It may annoy you or you may agree, but it will entertain you. We like it.
5) FourFourTwo
A long established print magazine with a quality online presence, FourFourTwo combines the quality news coverage offered by the BBC and Sky Sports with the opinionated blog style of Kwaitoball. FFT offers something different in doing that – it’s like easy listening…but online…and without sound. Well, we know what we mean! Their news coverage is succinct and written in a friendly style, while their blog section is truly witty in its creation. Less thought provoking than Kwaitoball perhaps, but more likely to give you a giggle.
Honourable Mentions
Those are the five sites we’ll be reading during the World Cup for the most part, but we’ll be dipping in to these sites as well, for various reasons. They all have something to offer.
- FIFA Official Site – Nothing like getting it from the horse’s mouth…or something…
- Soccerlens – A little dry for our taste, but offers TV and podcasts!
- Guardian World Cup Site – For some reason we keep coming back to the Guardian – and The Fiver is great!
What sites or blogs do you recommend that we may have missed? Or do you have one of your own you’d like us to check out and link for you? Let us know in the comments.
