Here’s to the next chapter

We started a football report in 2009 to tell the stories that move us about the game we love.

In the years since, we’ve been very fortunate to tell many of them, all across the globe, and to connect with a tremendous community of football lovers—many of whom we now count as dear friends.

This sport has many virtues, but none quite so magical as the ability to forge powerful connections.

It may seem hollow to some, but football builds common ground and understanding like no other language. It does so across oceans, cultural fault lines, and even battlefields. It proves that in an age increasingly defined by calls of division and isolation, there are forces that bind us together that can never be overcome.

Football is more than a game. It is a way of understanding ourselves and our world.

A firm belief in this notion led us to start the hashtag #whereisfootball a few years ago. We asked our community to upload pictures from all over the world, showing what the beautiful game looks like in their backyard. Together, we’ve created a stunning catalogue of over 20,000 photos from every corner of this Earth. It’s a kaleidoscope of football that truly showcases the depth and breadth of the world’s love for the world’s game.

In the years following, Where Is Football became its own entity, with separate social accounts and its own website, which we’ve run (sometimes not so diligently) in tandem with AFR. We’ve gone all over the world to gain a first-hand understanding of just how incredibly diverse and rich this game is.

But, while the sites lived separate lives, their impetus, in many ways, remained the same: An unquenchable thirst for the stories that make football more than just a sport, but the powerful language of expression, connection, and culture that we know it to be.

In truth, we always felt like we were running two different sites with one heartbeat.

So, today, after eight years of AFR, we’re going all in on Where Is Football.

Our mission, team, and dedication remain the same, as ever. Where Is Football will continue to be at the heart of the sport and all of its elements. That means the pure joy of the game. The passion of fandom. The expanding presence in fashion and street culture. The overlap with creativity, design, and photography. The inextricable link between football and politics. The artistry and ritual of the beautiful game. The sublime things we witness every single week, on and off the pitch.

We want to thank you for eight magical years of AFR. Everything that’s ever been on the site (our archive is here) will make its way over to Where Is Football.

We hope you will, too, wherever you may be.

Thanks for being a part of the adventure, and here’s to the next chapter.