FIFA Archives - Page 193 of 215 - Inside World Football

2022 date shift could still put World Cup on Winter Olympic collision course

Winter Olympic crash

By Andrew Warshaw
September 9 – FIFA have revived the possibility of the 2022 Qatar World Cup being staged in January if it is switched to winter, putting it on a direct collision course with the winter Olympics. The first meeting of the multi-stakeholder Task Force set up to decide once and for all when to stage the tournament discussed three possible time frames, including January/February, even though FIFA president Sepp Blatter has previously ruled that out.

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Prince Ali calls for ‘term’ limits but says Asia must be a long term project

Prince Ali bin al Hussein

By Andrew Warshaw in Manchester
September 8 – FIFA vice president Prince Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan says he in favour of term limits for senior officials even though the idea was firmly rejected by the organisation’s Congress three months ago.

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It’s official: Blatter will stand for another term as FIFA’s big boss

Blatter speaking

By Andrew Warshaw in Manchester
September 8 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter will tell his executive committee later this month that he will definitely stand for a fifth term of office next year, finally formalising what he had all but confirmed during months of public speeches across the globe.

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Prince Ali warns FIFA it needs to get ‘positive’

Prince Ali bin al Hussein

By Andrew Warshaw in Manchester
September 8 – Twenty-four hours before he was due to address many of the game’s movers and shakers at the Soccerex convention in Manchester, FIFA vice-president Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein of Jordan, one of world football’s most committed reformists, warned that the next four years would be “make or break” for the governing body to get its act together.

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FIFA investigator Garcia submits final ethics report into 2018 and 2022 bidders

Michael Garcia3

By Andrew Warshaw
September 8 – The eagerly anticipated FIFA-commissioned report into possible corruption surrounding the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bid process, which took a year to compile, stretches to 350 pages and recommends sanctioning “certain individuals” .

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FIFA task force meets to review issues of TPO

Geoff Thompson

September 5 – A diverse group of stakeholders set up under the auspices of FIFA to get to grips with third-party ownership of players’ economic rights met for the first time this week with a view to coming up with concrete proposals later this month.

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Webb commends Brazilians for ‘landmark’ ban on Gremio for racist fans

jeffrey-webb

September 5 – CONCACAF president and chairman of the FIFA Anti-Racism and Discrimination Task Force, Jeffrey Webb, has moved swiftly to praise the Brazilian expulsion of Gremio from the Brazilian Cup following a section of the club’s fans racially abusing a Santos player.

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Women go legal as they ramp up pressure for grass pitches at 2015 World Cup

Canada 2015

By Andrew Warshaw
September 4 – Lawyers representing many of the world’s leading female footballers protesting against playing next year’s Women’s World Cup in Canada on artificial turf have written to FIFA president Sepp Blatter as well as all six Confederation heads as the campaign for natural grass intensifies.

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Blatter drops out of Soccerex conference to focus on Zurich meetings

Blatter speaking

September 3 – Sepp Blatter has pulled out of opening next week’s annual Soccerex football business conference in Manchester, a huge blow to organisers who have lined up a heavyweight programme of speakers for the three-day event.

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Lawyer calls on FIFA to amend transfer rules to allow free movement of players

FIFA House

By Mark Baber
August 28 – Players who cancel their contracts and move to a new club are frequently being caught up paperwork that prevents them actually playing for their new club while they wait for an International Transfer Certificate (ITC) to be issued. Delays can be long as national association refuse to deliver the ITC on the instructions of the former club, creating difficulties in registering the player with his new club and thus impeding his right to play.

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US law suit calls for a ‘knock out’ rule covering headers in youth football

heading the ball

August 29 – An unusual lawsuit has been filed against FIFA from a group of parents and players in the United States concerned about how football’s world governing body handles concussion treatment.

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FIFA hands match-fixing probe back to Ghana but keeps watching brief

Kwesi Nyantakyi

By Andrew Warshaw
August 27 – FIFA appears to have cleared the head of the Ghanaian Football Association of match-fixing allegations following reports in the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph and the Channel Four television station. The ruling is a huge boost for GFA president Kwesi Nyantakyi (pictured) who is reported to be considering legal action as a result of the claims that emerged during the World Cup and sparked an inquiry by the investigatory chamber of FIFA’s Ethics Committee.

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Barca spending spree over as FIFA enforces transfer ban

barca flag

By Andrew Warshaw
August 20 – Barcelona have been ordered not to make any more signings after this summer until January, 2016, following a decision by FIFA’s appeal committee to re-impose their double transfer window ban for allegedly hoarding under-age players.

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Age is just a number. Refs should be able to whistle longer, says Blatter

ref whistling

August 20 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter believes international referees are being forced retire too early under the current rules, especially when there is no age restriction for players or coaches.

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Garcia and Eckert on cast list for FIFA-hosted ethics summit next month

Michale Garcia left and Joachim Eckert

By Andrew Warshaw
August 20 – FIFA is to host the first ever conference on ethical sports leadership in conjunction with the Brussels-based World Forum for Ethics in Business.