FIFA World Cup 2014 Opening Ceremony Snaps

Which Teams Will Be Having Sex At The World Cup?

It's a long-held myth that athletes should refrain from sex before a competition, for fear of exhaustion or a lack of testosterone. Nearly all scientific studies agree that there's no danger, but the belief persists. To that end, managers for a number of countries have banned their players from having relations with loved ones (or otherwise) at the World Cup.

Citing public statements, we've broken up the World Cup field into those nations that will be celibate and those that will be boning like bunnies. It'll be fun to come back and look at this list once the tournament's over.

The land of sun, sex, and soccer couldn’t be more down about the World Cup.

The morning after Carnaval this year, garbagemen in orange pennies walked the foggy beaches, sweeping together mountains of trash along Rio de Janeiro's famous coastal promenades. As they cleaned up from Brazil's annual mass party they sang in unison, while hung over passersby trudged through sand and shared with them wry smiles: "Packed airport, stopped traffic, chaos all over, ai ai, ai, ai ai ai / People on all sides, all hotels full, metro choked, ai ai ai, ai ai ai / Imagine during the Cup!" They had their work cut out for them: The majority of Rio's garbagemen had gone on strike during the celebration.

But just hours later, the scene on the freshly cleaned Ipanema Beach returned to the product Brazil sells best: no-worries happiness. Sweaty Brazilians in skimpy bathing suits gathered their beach chairs into semicircles facing the blue-green waves as they filled each others' cups with beer, laughing loudly about their Carnaval shenanigans as smiling vendors hawked fruit salad and traveling musicians kept everyone tapping their sandy toes to samba's catchy rhythms.

The Winners of the 2013 FIFA Ballon d'Or Awards

Monday's FIFA Ballon d'Or 2013 ceremony at the Kongresshaus in Zurich was nothing short of spectacular. In order to properly look back on the event, we've put together a collection of images covering all corners of the evening.
The winners have all been named at this year's ceremony celebrating what was a memorable 2013 in the world of footbal.  

 This year's FIFA FIFPro World XI: Manuel Neuer, Philipp Lahm, Dani Alves, Thiago Silva, Sergio Ramos, Andres Iniesta, Franck Ribery, Xavi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Lionel Messi.