MAM
Fifa, Hollywood team up for movie trilogy
ZURICH: Now fans of football can feast on action on the silver screen with the help of tinseltown magic. Fifa and some of the leading producers in the US film industry have announced a co-operation agreement.
This will set the pace for the ‘worlds favourite sport’ to be at the centre of a major Hollywood trilogy. The first film is scheduled to be launched next year.
Producer Lawrence Bender, who has produced virtually all Quentin Tarantino’s films to date including the Oscar winner Pulp Fiction has joined forces with producers and former media and sports industry executives Mike Jefferies and Matt Barrelle. They are developing what is being billed as the most powerful football movie of all time.
The contract was signed yesterday between Fifa president Sepp Blatter and Bender. Goal! tells the fictional story of a Latino soccer player who rises from the slums of Los Angeles to join a small northern English club and eventually plays in the World Cup. The sequel in expected in 2005 and the third film in 2006. Reports have stated that Bender has likened the series to the Sylvester Stallone Rocky films which dealt with boxing. The budget for the first film has been pegged at $30 million.
With this agreement Pelé’s words have proven prophetic. “Football is entertainment, and the entertainment industry will increasingly notice football in the future”. Meanwhile an AP report indicates that Fifa will not have any direct financial involvement in the movie. Its role will involve endorsing and marketing the film, introducing film makers to its sponsors and providing technical support.
Talks for cooperation are at an advanced stage with English Premiership clubs, including Chelsea, Newcastle, Manchester United and Liverpool the report states. Actors chosen will attend an intensive training camp in the UK in mid-October.
Apple rarely announces minor updates with much fanfare, and iOS 26.4 is no exception. No dramatic redesigns, no flashy keynote moments. What it delivers instead is a focused set of improvements that sharpen the experience you already have. If that sounds underwhelming, spend a week with it. You will change your mind.
Apple Music Learns to Listen Better
The biggest shift in this update lives inside Apple Music. Apple has brought AI-powered playlist generation to the app, and it works on mood rather than genre. Type something like “rainy evening at home” or “running late on a Monday,” and it builds a playlist that actually fits. This is not algorithmic guesswork dressed up in new clothing. It genuinely reads the intent behind vague descriptions and responds well.
Alongside this, a new concerts feature scans your listening history and surfaces live events happening near you. It is a smart bridge between your digital music habits and real-world experiences. Apple is quietly making the case that a music app should do more than just play songs.
Shazam also gets a meaningful upgrade. It can now identify songs without an internet connection. This might sound like a minor convenience, but anyone who has tried to Shazam something at a crowded venue with patchy signal will tell you it is anything but minor. The feature works locally on-device, which also means it is faster.
CarPlay Gets Smarter Controls
CarPlay has been updated with deeper integration for intelligent voice assistants. The goal is to reduce how often drivers need to look at a screen or tap anything at all. You speak, things happen. It is a clear step toward making the driving experience safer without stripping away functionality. The integration feels natural rather than bolted on, which is a harder thing to achieve than it sounds.
The Fixes You Feel Every Day
This is where iOS 26.4 earns its keep. Keyboard responsiveness has been improved, and the difference is noticeable immediately. Typing feels more accurate and less combative. Accessibility features have been refined across the board, with better contrast options and adjusted spacing that makes the interface easier to read without forcing you into larger text sizes.
The Health app has also been updated. It now surfaces more actionable insights from your daily data rather than just displaying numbers. If your sleep patterns have shifted or your activity levels have changed, the app now contextualises that clearly instead of leaving you to interpret raw figures on your own.
These are the kinds of changes that do not photograph well for a press release. They also happen to be the ones that make your phone feel genuinely better to use.
A Few Other Additions
New emojis have been added in this update. They will find their way into your conversations faster than you expect. Family Sharing has also been updated, with more granular control over shared payments and subscriptions. If you share an Apple account with family members, this puts clearer limits on who can spend what, which has been a long-requested fix.
What This Update Actually Represents
iOS 26.4 is Apple doing what it does best when it is not trying to make headlines. Every addition here serves a clear purpose. The AI music features are genuinely useful. The CarPlay improvements address a real safety concern. The small UI fixes accumulate into a noticeably smoother daily experience.
There is no bloat. Nothing feels experimental or half-finished. That discipline is harder to maintain than it looks, especially as operating systems grow more complex with each passing year.
If you have been holding off on updating, this is the one worth installing.
