It’s been a bit of a mad week, all told. As if we didn’t know it in our bones already, this was a week that proved once and for all that football isn’t just a mere game. It taps the emotional core at the heart of nations and steeps entire populations in collective zeal.

They say if the people of China all jumped up and down at the same time, the earth would spin off its axis and shed its oceans to the winds. Football’s the only thing in the world that could make people do that. Not even Susan Boyle.

And, possibly, the Chinese government I suppose. Did you see the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony? Amazing. That’s what people can do if they’ve got a government that’s really, really good at getting lots of people to do things at the same time.

Anyway, yes, outside of a supremely effective centralised government turning round to its people to say, “And…. JUMP!”, football’s the only thing that could do that.

It’s not just a sport; it’s a force of nature. The force of the people.

A bit like Roy Keane - would you want to be this reporter?

This week we witnessed Algerians taking to their cars and causing gridlock across all the world’s major cities after their team’s dramatic victory over Egypt. And riots in Cairo as a result. We saw Slovenia, not long on this planet as an actual country, overturning its giant neighbour Russia and defying at last the golden international touch of Guus Hiddink (Hiddink for the Anfield hot seat, anyone?). And Ronaldo WILL be going to the ball. Rooney’s of the world beware.

Then there was that game in France, of course. Ireland were palpably cheated. Cheaty cheaty France. Naughty boys. Not that Roy Keane thinks so I guess. And he’s right. Any talk of a replay was always fanciful and it’s not something that should have even been suggested. That’s exactly what I argued in this week’s Big Shout in the FIFA 10 podcast with Stevie Morgan, seasoned sports broadcaster and unutterable buffoon. Press the play button to have a listen. Or just go get it in iTunes, of course.

And if football is a force of nature, there’s only one videogame on the planet that comes close to replicating it. It’s with great pride that we can point you at FIFA Earth this week and tell you this weekend will see FIFA 10’s 100 millionth online game played.

100,000,000! It’s even better if you write it with the zeros.

As I announced on the podcast, I will give away a FIFA 10 football shirt to mark the occasion. The rules are simple. Twitter me a screengrab of the FIFA Earth counter over the weekend. The person to send me a screengrab showing the counter the closest to the 100,000,000 mark will get themselves the shirt. Simple!

Here I am: @EARom - Twitter.

The madness never stops in the weekly FIFA 10 Goal of the Week competition of course. We can now show you the stunning efforts from Round 4 of the competition, the winner of which took home a lovely prize. Check out the Top 5, as well as the Best of the Rest from that round, by clicking the links below.

VIDEO: Goal of the Week - Round 4: Top 5
VIDEO: Goal of the Week - Round 4: Best of the Rest

And remember: You think the winners were no good? Get voting! Think you can do better? Get entering!

After all, this week you could win yourself a pair of adidas AdiPure II boots, FIFA 10 branding stitched in, exactly as you’d see on the end of Frank Lampard’s pegs at Chelsea.

FIFA 10 is all about winning. It’s not just the Goal of the Week that could land you some righteous swag. If you play on Xbox 360, you can now enter the Gillette Champions of Gaming tournament for a chance to win a trip to Florida to meet - and play - some of the world’s biggest sports stars.

Everyone in every eligible country should now have a new menu item in their game. Follow the menu item, play some ranked games online and see how you do. There’s nine individual weeks of qualification rounds, so keep trying!

Find out about Gillette Champions of Gaming here.

For PS3 owners there’s the FIFA Interactive World Cup of course, and that’s been available to you to join in the game since day one. If you’re in the UK, though, you might fancy your chances at one of many live knock-out tournaments happening around the country, which we announced on this very blog this week, right here.

And finally…

FIFA 10 has been nominated in the Best Team Sports Game category for this year’s Video Game Awards!

Go cast your vote! (For FIFA 10)