Inside Editorial: New world order

When CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb addressed his constituent federations for the first time at the confederation’s annual congress in the Bahamas last week, his speech was all about business, reflection on their progress to date, and setting goals for the next four year cycle. It was about setting the agenda and outlining the challenges. Three hours later, having been elected unopposed for a second term as president, he gave quite a different speech.

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Beitar Jerusalem ordered to end racist ban on Arab players

Guy Levi

By Mark Baber
April 21 – The Israeli Equal Employment Opportunities Commission has demanded that Beitar Jerusalem retract statements the team’s coach made against Arab players joining the team in a move which highlights the failure of the Israeli Football Federation (IFA) to eliminate racist and apartheid practices within its own leagues, just five weeks before FIFA’s annual conference and the debate on the motion to suspend the IFA over its racist policies towards Palestinians.

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Matt Scott: The Premier League relegation contagion

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“Ring a ring o’ roses, A pocketful of posies, A-tishoo! A-tishoo! We all fall down.” Traditional British nursery rhyme

For centuries British children of what we now describe as primary-school age have been singing this popular tune: holding hands and dancing in a circle before falling on their bottoms together. It is widely believed (though it is disputed by some) that the song dates back to the age of bubonic plague,

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Artistic venue selected for FIFA banquet and preliminary World Cup draw

Konstantinovsky Palace

By David Owen at the SportAccord Convention in Sochi
April 21 – A highly cultured venue has been chosen for the FIFA banquet coinciding with the Preliminary Draw for the 2018 World Cup. Russia 2018 chief executive Alexey Sorokin has told Insideworldfootball that the banquet is to be held at the Russian museum of fine arts in St Petersburg. The draw itself – the first official event of the World Cup – has been scheduled for this coming July 25 at the restored 17th century Konstantinovsky Palace.

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