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Tag: Fifa

  • Wenger wants offside law changed to reduce VAR criticism

    Wenger wants offside law changed to reduce VAR criticism

    FIFA’s head of global development Arsene Wenger says he will attempt to make a major change to the offside law.

    He disclosed that it would be a change which could end a run of contentious decisions in the game since the introduction of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR).

    Wenger wants a player to be deemed onside if any part of their body which can legitimately score a goal is level or behind the last defender.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Frenchman was manager of English Premier League club Arsenal for 22 years.

    This will flip the current rule which states the player is in an offside position if any part of their body they can score with is beyond the line of the last defender.

    Usage of video review has been a source of constant criticism since its recent introduction, including concern about the time to take decisions and the precision with which offsides are judged.

    The system sparked another controversy last week in the Premier League when Wolverhampton Wanderers had a goal ruled out against Leicester City.

    That was after Pedro Neto’s heel was adjudged to be fractionally offside in the build-up.

    Wenger will recommend the change during the world football lawmaking body IFAB’s annual general meeting in Belfast on Feb. 29.

    “You will be not offside if any part of the body that can score a goal is in line with the last defender, even if other parts of the attacker’s body are in front,” Wenger told the British media.

    “That will sort it out and you will no longer have decisions about millimetres and a fraction of the attacker being in front of the defensive line.”

    Each of the four Home Nations —- England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland —- has one of the eight votes, with FIFA holding the other four.

    NAN reports that any law change needs six votes in favour to go through.

    If Wenger gets his three-quarter majority, the new law could come into effect on June 1 —- 12 days before the start of the European Championship.

  • FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022: Checkout full draw for second round of African qualifiers

    FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022: Checkout full draw for second round of African qualifiers

    African countries learnt their 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers group stage opponents on Tuesday when the draw for Qatar 2022 was conducted for the Confederation of African Football (CAF) at the Ritz Carlton hotel in Cairo, Egypt.

    The second round of Africa’s qualifiers will kick off in March 2020 and will conclude in October 2021.

    Former Chelsea and AC Milan star Marcel Desailly, born in Ghana, and a World Cup winner with France in 1998, was the most prominent legend that assisted with the draw (40 teams).

    Nigeria’s Super Eagles (in Pot 1) are drawn against Cape Verde, Central Africa and Liberia.

    In Round 3, which is scheduled for November 2021, the 10 group winners from Round 2 will be paired up for knockout matches, with the five winners securing a berth at Qatar 2022.

    The FIFA World Cup 2022 will be played in Qatar between 21 November and 18 December 2022.

    See the full draw below:

    Group A: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Niger, Djibouti

    Group B: Tunisia, Zambia, Mauritania, Equatorial Guinea

    Group C: Nigeria, Cape Verde, Central Africa, Liberia

    Group D: Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Mozambique, Malawi

    Group E: Mali, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda

    Group F: Egypt, Gabon, Libya, Angola

    Group G: Ghana, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia

    Group H: Senegal, Congo, Namibia, Togo

    Group I: Morocco, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Sudan

    Group J: DR Congo, Benin, Madagascar, Tanzania

  • FIFA may stop Premier League of using VAR

    FIFA may stop Premier League of using VAR

    The Premier League may be told to adopt the International Football Association Board (IFAB)’s VAR protocols, or risk their license being revoked.

    The new technology continued to cause controversy on New Year’s Day, when Aston Villa had a goal ruled out for offside, with Wesley’s heel adjudged to be offside.

    The decision is another in a series of incidents from December, which has annoyed fans and pundits.

    And now, according to former Sky Sports commentator, Richard Keys, FIFA are ready to intervene.

    Keys tweeted: “Hearing that FIFA are going to give PL an ultimatum to adopt IFAB VAR protocol.

    “At worst they can take the license away and stop them using it.”

    IFAB’s general secretary, Lukas Brud, said last week that officials on the pitch and monitoring cameras, “should not become “too forensic” over offsides or any other decisions.

  • Infantino urges EPL referees to use VAR monitors

    FIFA president Gianni Infantino described referees as “heroes” and urged Premier League officials to start using pitch-side monitors before making key decisions involving VAR.

    Infantino told Sky Sports News on Friday, that he was unaware Premier League referees have not been making the final call on VAR decisions.

    The FIFA chief lauded the “difficult” work of referees on the pitch but encouraged them to “accept the help” of pitch-side monitors to enable them to play a more active role in the VAR process.

    “The job of the referee is so difficult, these guys are heroes, we are all criticising them so let’s help them and they have to accept the help.

    “They have a safety net when they are not sure or when somebody who sees the images telling them to go and check. They should go and check.”

    Despite VAR’s controversial start in the Premier League, Infantino says the system is helping football and as the technology improves, so too will the game.

    “VAR is making [football] more just and clean and if we have to wait one minute or two minutes, we have a game-changing decision which is taken correctly instead of wrongly.

    “Of course, VAR will improve, will develop, and will have automatised offsides because that’s what technology will give us today or tomorrow.

    “Offside and handball are these two situations which we need to constantly analyse and see how we can and if we can, these are difficult topics.”

     

  • FIFA bans ex-federation president for life

    FIFA bans ex-federation president for life

    World football ruling body FIFA banned the former president of Panamanian football federation Ariel Alvarado for life on Thursday after finding him guilty of bribery.

    FIFA also and fined him 500,000 Swiss francs (390,821.19 pounds).

    Alvarado was investigated in relation to matches organised by the Panamanian Football Association.

    The investigation was also related to contracts for Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) media and marketing rights between 2009 and 2011.

    The adjudicatory chamber of FIFA’s independent Ethics Committee said it had imposed the ban on Alvarado with immediate effect.

    He was a former FIFA standing committee member.

  • FIFA sues Blatter, Platini to recover £1.56m

    World soccer body FIFA on Monday filed claims in Swiss court seeking to recover 2 million Swiss francs (£1.56 million) that it said were paid inappropriately by ex-FIFA President Joseph Blatter to former French football star Michel Platini.

    “FIFA has today filed claims in the relevant Swiss courts against former FIFA President Joseph Blatter and former FIFA Vice-President Michel Platini, seeking restitution of the 2 million francs unduly paid to Mr. Platini back in February 2011,” FIFA said, adding it was “duty-bound to try to recover the funds illicitly paid by one former official to another.”

    Blatter and Platini, who could not immediately be reached for comment, have maintained they did nothing wrong amid what became part of the biggest corruption scandal to shake the world soccer body, resulting in numerous prosecutions and convictions in the United States.

    Blatter and Platini were both banned from soccer in late 2015 over a payment of 2 million Swiss francs made to the Frenchman by FIFA with Blatter’s approval in 2011 for work he had done a decade earlier.

    Platini, the head of European soccer body UEFA from 2007 to 2015, was originally banned from all soccer-related activities for eight years, though the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) later reduced the suspension to four years. His ban ended this year.

    Blatter’s ban was reduced from eight years to six, a period later upheld by CAS in a decision that concluded the now-83-year-old had “breached the FIFA Code of Ethics since the payment amounted to an undue gift as it had no contractual basis.”

  • See reasons you should watch Club World Cup

    The Fifa Club World Cup kicks off on Wednesday in Qatar.

    The champions of each continent and hosts Qatar meet over 10 days in a knockout competition to decide who is crowned the world’s top club side, with Liverpool going in at the semi-final stage.

    Why you should watch:

    A chance to see Gabigol again

    He may not have set the world alight at Inter Milan, but Flamengo striker Gabriel Barbosa – commonly known as Gabigol – is always worth a watch.

    If you watch the November’s Copa Libertadores final, you will know what we mean.

    The 23-year-old, who has won five caps for Brazil, scored twice in a dramatic final five minutes as Flamengo came from a goal down to beat River Plate 2-1 and win their first Copa Libertadores title since 1981.

    Then he got sent off for sarcastically applauding a refereeing decision.

    He even managed to tempt fate – and then beat it – by touching the trophy on the way out on to the pitch, a move generally considered to be bad luck.

    The chance to watch teams you’ve never heard of

    What if we told you there is a team at the Fifa Club World Cup who played in this season’s French Cup, from a land more than 10,000 miles away?

    Hienghene Sport are only the second team from outside Australia or New Zealand to win the Oceania Football Confederation Champions League and qualify for the Club World Cup. They beat fellow New Caledonian side Magenta in the final.

    For some context on the quality of that tournament, the runaway top scorer Ross Allen – who scored 11 times for Team Wellington – now plays for Guernsey FC in the eighth tier of English football.

    New Caledonia is a French overseas territory in the Pacific – who voted no to independence in a referendum last year – but have been a full member of Fifa since 2004.

    As a result of their special status, the New Caledonia Cup winners qualify for the Coupe de France, with Hienghene Sport losing at the first hurdle in 2013, 2015 and last month – all halfway across the world.

    Oh yeah, Liverpool are playing too

    Liverpool have the chance to be crowned champions of the world for the first time.

    The Reds, despite winning six European Cups, have never won a world final. They lost the 1981 Intercontinental Cup to Flamengo and again in 1984 to Independiente – and refused to take part in 1977 or 1978.

    They have played in one Fifa Club World Cup – losing 1-0 in the final to Sao Paolo in Japan in 2005 after beating Costa Rican club Saprissa 3-0 in the semi-finals.

    Their semi-final next Thursday – the day after a different Liverpool team face Aston Villa in the Carabao Cup in England – could be against Mexican side Monterrey, who won this year’s Concacaf Champions League.

    Liverpool will then play again on Sunday, in either the final or the third-place play-off.

    The Club World Cup trophy has gone to Europe in each of the past six years, with Real Madrid winning the past three finals. The holders do not automatically qualify, so Real cannot defend their title.

    The only European team to fail to win in the past 12 years was Chelsea in 2012. Manchester United won the tournament in 2008.

    Dress rehearsal for the World Cup

    The (actual) World Cup will be in Qatar three years from now – also in December. So this is a chance to see how the tiny country can cope with hosting a tournament with fans coming from around the world.

    Qatar will host next year’s Club World Cup too, with even Fifa describing these as “valuable test events” for 2022, “allowing for testing under similar climatic conditions”.

    The temperature in Doha on most days in early-mid December last year reached 26C.

    Liverpool’s two games will take place at the 48,000-seater Khalifa International Stadium – which is a 2022 World Cup venue. They were meant to be at the Education City Stadium in Doha but the new ground has not been signed off in time, so the games were moved at late notice.

    BBC

  • Liverpool name strong FIFA Club World Cup squad

    Liverpool name strong FIFA Club World Cup squad

    Liverpool have named a strong 23-man squad for the Fifa Club World Cup – which clashes with their Carabao Cup quarter-final at Aston Villa.

    Eighteen of the 19 players named in Jurgen Klopp’s two Premier League matchday squads over the past week will travel to Qatar.

    Youngsters Rhian Brewster, Curtis Jones, Harvey Elliott and Neco Williams have also been named in the party.

    It means the quartet are set to miss the cup match at Villa.

    The selection confirms that Liverpool are concentrating their senior player resources on the Club World Cup as they deal with a schedule clash.

    Klopp’s side will play at Villa on 17 December at 19:45 GMT and will compete in the Club World Cup semi-final in Qatar the following day at 17:30 GMT.

    The Premier League leaders are fielding different teams in two separate competitions within 24 hours because they said alternative dates were not considered “suitable without compromising the scheduling of the competition itself or placing an undue strain on our playing staff”.

    Goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher, named on the bench as Liverpool beat Everton 5-2 on Wednesday, is the only player to have featured in a Liverpool first-team matchday squad this week who will not be at the Club World Cup. Andy Lonergan is instead travelling to the tournament as one of three goalkeepers alongside Alisson and Adrian.

    Centre-back Joel Matip and midfielder Fabinho are both injured and have not been included in the Club World Cup squad.
    Liverpool squad: Alisson, Van Dijk, Wijnaldum, Lovren, Milner, Keita, Firmino, Mane, Salah, Gomez, Adrian, Henderson, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Lallana, Lonergan, Shaqiri, Brewster, Robertson, Origi, Jones, Alexander-Arnold, Elliott, Williams.
  • China to host expanded Club World Cup in 2021

    China to host expanded Club World Cup in 2021

    China will host the first edition of the new, expanded 24-team Club World Cup in 2021, FIFA President Gianni Infantino told reporters on Thursday following a meeting of the global soccer body’s decision-making council in Shanghai.

    Infantino said the competition would take place in June-July of that year and that the format, slot allocation and criteria for selecting the teams would be decided in the next few weeks.

    Infantino did not give an exact breakdown of slots but said there would be eight teams from Europe.

    The competition is also expected to feature five or six teams from South America, one from Oceania, one from host nation China and three each from the other continental confederations.

    Infantino also announced that the hosts for the 2030 World Cup would be chosen in 2024, although he said the Council did not discuss the possibility of allowing

    Asian countries to bid something which would require a change of FIFA rules on the rotation of World Cup hosting.

    “It is a historic decision for football,” Infantino said of the decision to choose China for the new-look competition, adding there are no other candidates.

    “The new (tournament) will be a competition which anyone who loves football is looking forward to. It is the first real and true (Club) World Cup where the best clubs will compete,” he added.

    Infantino said the new tournament would have a “major impact” financially.

    “It will allow us to generate significant revenues but I want to underline this, very, very clearly …..FIFA will have zero out of this because we will reinvest this in football,” he said.

    The tournament has faced strong opposition from European clubs who say there is no room in the current international calendar.

    The Club World Cup currently consists of seven teams and is held every December. Qatar will stage the final two editions, including the one this year.

    Infantino said the bidding process for hosting of the 2030 World Cup would be launched in 2022 with the decisive vote at the FIFA Congress two years later.

    Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Paraguay have announced a four-way bid which could have sentimental value as Uruguay hosted the inaugural World Cup in 1930.

    The four British associations are contemplating a joint bid along with Ireland, while Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece and Romania are also planning a joint bid as are Spain and Portugal.

    Asian countries are currently ruled out because Qatar will stage the 2022 World Cup and current regulations prevent the same continent from hosting either of the subsequent two tournaments.

    “We did not discuss that we just discussed the timeline,” said Infantino when asked if the council had considered changing the rule.

    However, he added: “As FIFA president. ……the more bidders we have for the World Cup, the happier I am.”

    Infantino said FIFA would invest one billion dollars in women’s football during the current four-year cycle, double the amount originally planned.
    He said the extra would be taken from FIFA reserves.

  • Swiss parliament re-elects attorney general Lauber amid FIFA scandal

    Swiss parliament re-elects attorney general Lauber amid FIFA scandal

    The Swiss parliament on Wednesday approved Attorney General Michael Lauber for a third term, opting for continuity in spite of disciplinary proceedings against him triggered by his handling of a soccer corruption probe.

    The narrow vote keeping, Lauber, attorney general through 2023 contradicted a parliamentary committee’s recommendation against his re-election this month.

    It had said a scandal surrounding undocumented meetings he held with FIFA President Gianni Infantino had damaged the reputation of Switzerland’s highest prosecutorial office and put federal attorneys’ ability to act at risk.

    Lauber held at least three confidential meetings in 2016 and 2017 with Infantino while his office was carrying out an investigation into several cases of suspected corruption involving Zurich-based FIFA.

    The prosecutor has defended his office’s handling of the case.

    While Lauber had acknowledged two meetings with Infantino that occurred in 2016, he had denied a third meeting reported by media, prompting a disciplinary probe.

    He later said he did not recall the third meeting but that it must have occurred based on diary entries and text messages.

    With 129 votes, Lauber eked out the majority he needed to stay in his role after some lawmakers spoke out in favour of keeping his office running smoothly and not prejudging his actions before the disciplinary probe wraps up.

    “It is important to me as a member of parliament that institutions continue to function properly,” said Christian Luescher of the pro-business Liberals, warning against making the attorney general’s office a political football.”

    A tense-looking Lauber watched from the visitors’ gallery during parliament’s debate, his jaw working furiously.

    “I am grateful to parliament for the confidence it has placed in me.

    “Strengthened by this election I will continue to commit myself to an effective, independent and modern prosecution,” he said after the vote.