IT’S that time of year, once every four years, when football stops for the World Cup.

Except it doesn’t really, and this time around it is not even that time of year.

It is safe to say that this version of the World Cup has caused some controversy. In many ways, it has been a World Cup that is not for everyone.

There have been moral dilemmas for fans, not just around whether to go to a tournament many might not feel welcome at, but even around whether to watch or acknowledge the games at all.

Though it is still dominating our TV screens and our other media, the Qatar World Cup is not the only sporting show taking place, and it’s not even the only football show.

Association football’s men’s World Cup came at a time when several other similarly global tournaments had been played in their respective sports including rugby league, T20 cricket, and women’s rugby union.

Autumn is also a rich time of year generally for sports, with summer seasons coming to an end while the winter seasons are already under way. The recent overlap between baseball and American football, and cricket and football is perhaps the prime example of this.

This means there is plenty of action to choose from, both watching on TV and in person.

In terms of association football — or shall we say soccer — attention at the end of last week may have been on the big game between England and the United States at the World Cup, but in both of those nations soccer has carried on at club level domestically in various forms or another.

In England, non-League games continue apace. The past few years have been perilous for lower leagues and their clubs, but volunteers and participants up and down the land are still working hard to help their teams come through on the other side.

With no Premier League games hogging the TV schedules and no overly expensive ticket prices to be paid, there is no better time to get down to watch a local team where prices are more reasonable for both tickets and refreshments. And you can almost always get a front-row view of the action.

Even EFL Leagues One and Two are continuing to play, with fixtures resuming on Friday. That’s because this weekend one of the most prestigious cup competitions in the world of sport continues when the second round of the FA Cup is played with games up and down the country.

Participants in this round in the men’s competition include names such as Charlton Athletic, Derby County, Ipswich Town, Bristol Rovers, AFC Wimbledon and Barnsley.

In the United States, while their national team players were looking ahead to a possible upset against England, qualifying continued for the country’s own version of the FA Cup, the US Open Cup.

The tournament proper begins in 2023 around the same time as the start of a new Major League Soccer season in late February and early March, but before then, regional games take place across the vast country between local amateur and semi-pro clubs hoping to get their shot at one of the MLS or USL (the closest to an EFL equivalent) teams next year.

Games played last weekend saw wins for teams such as Lansdowne Yonkers, South Carolina United Heat, Orange County FC and Inter San Francisco.

As is evident here, some of the names in the American lower leagues remain much more inventive than the bland monikers creeping into MLS.

Back in Europe, there is some top-level professional football to take in. Last week there were games in the Uefa Women’s Champions League. There was also a 3-3 thriller between Liverpool and Reading in the Women’s Super League, which resumes with a full set of fixtures next weekend after FA Cup games tomorrow.

Elsewhere around the world leagues such as the Indian Super League and Chinese Super League continue to be played.

So even if this World Cup isn’t your cup of tea, there is still other football and other sport taking place across Britain and around the world.