Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany have combined for a Women’s World Cup 2027 bid that they promise will set the standard for years ahead and provide pathways for women in the game and society. Insideworldfootball talks exclusively to DFB general secretary Heike Ullrich and Royal Belgian Football Association president Pascale Van Damme.
March 27 – FIFA allowed member associations just 20 days to bid for a consolidated package of five men’s and women’s U-17 World Cups that Zurich ultimately awarded to Qatar and Morocco.
March 27 – FIFA have threatened the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) with suspension after a local court postponed the federation’s annual general meeting.
March 20 – The Danish Football Association (DBU) have said they expressed interest in hosting the U-17 World Cup, but never heard back from FIFA who awarded the next five editions of the tournament to Qatar, claiming the decision “followed a global call for expressions of interest.”
March 20 – The Morocco, Portugal and Spain bid for 2030 have formally released advanced plans for hosting and the visual identity for the bid and its YallaVamos slogan – ‘for football, for the world, for tomorrow’.
March 19 – In a letter to FIFA, the Palestine Football Association (PFA) has demanded that Congress consider “appropriate” sanctions against the Israeli Football Association (IFA) and its clubs because of “unprecedented international human rights and humanitarian law violations” in the war on Gaza.
March 18 – FIFA President Gianni Infantino has secured a 33% pay rise to run world football and now earns an eye-watering CHF 4.13 million ($4.66 million). FIFA grants its national federations $2 million annually.
March 18 – The Official FIFA Women’s world rankings have undergone a reshuffle following the recent international break, as the US Women’s National Team suffer an all-time lowest placement despite lifting the W Gold Cup earlier this month.
March 15 – In a surprise move, global governing body FIFA has awarded five expanded U-17 World Cups to Qatar and five 24-team U-17 Women’s World Cups to Morocco, highlighting Qatar’s enduring influence in the game and the organisation’s insatiable expansion drive.
March 15 – Norwegian club Frederikstad have voted to pressure their national federation to boycott the 2034 World Cup in Saudi Arabia that FIFA is expected to award to the Arab Kingdom this year because there are no other bidding candidates.
March 12 – FIFA is facing more pressure from human rights groups over its failure to suspend Israel from international competition.
March 11 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino has again raised the idea of setting football transfer fees by algorithm instead of clubs negotiating a market value price for contracted players.
March 8 – FIFA did not prosecute a single doping case from more than 2,600 samples taken from players at its tournaments in 2023.
March 4 – Football’s lawmakers have approved a series of changes ahead of the 2024/25 season, impacting all major leagues across the globe.
March 4 – FIFA President Gianni Infantino has ruled out blue cards being shown to players sent to sin bins.