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Tag: Fifa

  • Emiliano Sala: FIFA investigates transfer payment

    Football governing body, FIFA, is investigating the transfer payment for Emiliano Sala after Nantes made a claim against Cardiff City.

    Premier League side Cardiff were due to pay the first of three instalments for the £15m striker on Wednesday.

    Argentine Sala, the Bluebirds’ record signing, died aged 28 in a plane crash in the English Channel on 21 January.

    “We can confirm we have received a claim. We are looking into the matter,” said a spokesman for world football’s governing body.

    As Sala’s move was an international transfer, it had to go through FIFA’s mandatory system.

    The International Transfer Certificate (ITC) was completed but there were issues with the separate matter of Premier League registration.

    The ITC was registered with the Football Association of Wales and confirmed Sala as a Cardiff player, which meant the Welsh club were liable to pay Nantes the transfer fee.

    A Cardiff spokesman said: “Cardiff City remains committed to ensuring fairness and accountability with respect to the agreement between Cardiff City and FC Nantes, but first and foremost the relevant authorities must be allowed to determine the facts surrounding this tragedy.

    “It is inappropriate to comment further at this stage.”

    Cardiff were due to make the first of three instalments on 20 February, but they agreed with French Lige 1 side Nantes to extend the deadline by a week.

    Nantes wrote to Cardiff on 5 February requesting the first instalment.

    But Cardiff said they were withholding payment until crash investigations were complete and they were satisfied about “anomalies” around the deal.

    Chairman Mehmet Dalman said Cardiff will be “honourable” with Nantes if they are contractually obliged to pay.

    French side Bordeaux are due 50% of his fee because of a sell-on clause when they sold Sala to Nantes in 2015.

    His body was recovered from the plane wreckage but pilot David Ibbotson remains missing.

  • FIFA bans referee from Tanzania for life

    FIFA bans referee from Tanzania for life

    Oden Charles Mbaga, a referee affiliated to the Tanzanian federation, has been banned from football for life for accepting bribes, world governing body FIFA said on Tuesday.

    The adjudicatory chamber of FIFA’s Ethics Committee found Mbaga guilty of offences from 2009.

    Mbaga has been fined 200,000 Swiss francs (199,900 dollars) in addition to his ban.

  • Poland 2019: FIFA begins Visa pre-sale phase of tickets

    Poland 2019: FIFA begins Visa pre-sale phase of tickets

    Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) on Tuesday said football fans would soon have the opportunity to secure seats for the 2019 FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Poland.

    FIFA, in a statement on its website, indicated that the sport’s fans in Poland and all over the globe would have this opportunity from midday on Tuesday until Mar. 5.

    The world football governing body however pointed out that this would be for Visa cardholders.

    “The Visa cardholders will have an exclusive opportunity to apply for tickets for the first-ever FIFA competition to be hosted on Polish soil.

    “Visa became a FIFA Partner because of the global reach of football and its ability to unite people from around the world through their common love of the game.

    “The company is delighted to be able to offer fans the first chance to apply for their match tickets.

  • FIFA rankings: Nigeria retains 4th position in Africa

    Nigeria has retained her fourth position in Africa but dropped two places from her previous 44th position in FIFA Coca Cola World Rankings released on Thursday.

    Nigeria also retained her 1,427 points from the previous list in December.

    The first ranking of the year also saw Asian champions, Qatar, climb to 55th in the world, gaining 38 places and reaching their best position since 1993.

    According to FIFA statement, the Asian Cup has been responsible for the notable changes in the rankings, with the scarcity of games in other confederations leaving the top 20 unchanged, and Belgium still in pole position.

    Further down the table, Qatar is not the only team to have ascended in spectacular style.

    Fellow finalists, Japan (27th, up 23) have also soared up the order, while Korea Republic (38th, up 15), United Arab Emirates (67th, up 12) and Jordan (97th, up 12), all registered double-digit gains.

    There were also significant upward moves by the likes of Iraq (80th, up 8), Iran (22nd, up 7) and Uzbekistan (89th, up 6).

    Another consequence of these changes is that Asia has boosted its numbers in the Ranking’s top 50.

    The Asian Football Confederation is now represented by four teams up, one on the last edition, and now stands level with Africa, whose numbers have been depleted by Congo DR (51st, down 2), dropping out.

    Meanwhile, Senegal retains her top spot among CAF teams with 1,505 points and 24th in the world with Tunisia following closely with 1,493 points on 28th place.

    Behind is Morrocco who garnered 1,440 points after descending three places, from 40th placed in the previous list to 43rd.

    The next rankings will be published on April 4.

  • FIFA rankings: Nigeria 4th in Africa

    FIFA rankings: Nigeria 4th in Africa

    Nigeria has retained her fourth position in Africa but dropped two places from her previous 44th position in FIFA Coca Cola World Rankings released on Thursday.

    Nigeria also retained her 1,427 points from the previous list in December.

    The first ranking of the year also saw Asian champions, Qatar, climb to 55th in the world, gaining 38 places and reaching their best position since 1993.

    According to FIFA statement, the Asian Cup has been responsible for the notable changes in the rankings, with the scarcity of games in other confederations leaving the top 20 unchanged, and Belgium still in pole position.

    Further down the table, Qatar is not the only team to have ascended in spectacular style.

    Fellow finalists, Japan (27th, up 23) have also soared up the order, while Korea Republic (38th, up 15), United Arab Emirates (67th, up 12) and Jordan (97th, up 12), all registered double-digit gains.

    There were also significant upward moves by the likes of Iraq (80th, up 8), Iran (22nd, up 7) and Uzbekistan (89th, up 6).

    Another consequence of these changes is that Asia has boosted its numbers in the Ranking’s top 50.

    The Asian Football Confederation is now represented by four teams up, one on the last edition, and now stands level with Africa, whose numbers have been depleted by Congo DR (51st, down 2), dropping out.

    Meanwhile, Senegal retains her top spot among CAF teams with 1,505 points and 24th in the world with Tunisia following closely with 1,493 points on 28th place.

    Behind is Morrocco who garnered 1,440 points after descending three places, from 40th placed in the previous list to 43rd.

    The next rankings will be published on April 4.

  • FIFA president Infantino set to run for another term

    FIFA president Infantino set to run for another term

    Gianni Infantino is set to serve a second term as Fifa president after being the only candidate entered in June’s election.

    The 48-year-old succeeded Sepp Blatter as the head of world football’s governing body in February 2016.

    The election will take place on 5 June in Paris before the women’s World Cup, which starts two days later in France.

    Former Tottenham defender Ramon Vega said he would stand against Infantino but did not garner enough support.

    Vega, 47, needed the backing of five of Fifa’s 211 member federations.

    Infantino has introduced plans to increase the World Cup from 32 teams to 48 from 2026.

    He has also proposed bringing the expansion forward to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, with a decision on the idea expected when a feasibility study has been conducted.

  • 2022 World Cup should be expanded if possible – Infantino

    FIFA should if possible increase the size of the football World Cup in Qatar in 2022 to 48 from 32 teams, the global governing body’s president Gianni Infantino has said.

    Last month, Infantino said a majority of national football federations were in favour of expanding the tournament and a decision was expected ahead of the qualifying draw in March.

    Infantino, speaking at a sports conference on Wednesday, also said FIFA was seeing whether it would be possible for some of Qatar’s Gulf neighbours to host some of the matches.

    He said last month that it would be “difficult” to stage an expanded tournament in Qatar alone.

    Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt launched a diplomatic and trade boycott of Qatar in June 2017 which has complicated the prospect of sharing the tournament.

    The countries accuse Qatar of supporting terrorism.

    However, the tiny but wealthy Arab nation has since denied this.

    FIFA voted in 2017 to increase the size of the tournament from 32 to 48 teams, starting from 2026.

    But, since then, Infantino has been mulling the possibility of bringing the change forward to 2022.

    “If you think it’s a good thing to have 48 teams in the World Cup, why not try four years before. That’s why we are analyzing whether it’s possible to have 48 teams already in 2022,” Infantino said.

    “The World Cup will take place in Qatar with 32 teams. Obviously, if we can increase it to 48 teams and make the world happy, we should try it.”

    Qatar said it would not take a final decision on the tournament expansion until it has seen details of a feasibility study from FIFA.

    The study is expected to discuss aspects of scheduling, the number of required venues, training sites, and how many games per day would be played under an expanded format.

    Qatar has moved ahead with ambitious plan to scale up infrastructure ahead of the 2022 tournament that includes $6 billion to $8 billion on eight stadiums and sporting facilities.

    “If we can accommodate some of the neighboring countries in the gulf region, which are very close by, to host a few games in the World Cup this could be very beneficial for the region and the entire world,” Infantino added.

    “There is tension in this particular region and it’s up to their respective leaders to deal with that. But maybe it’s easier to talk about a joint football project than more complicated things.

    “If it can help all the people in the Gulf and all the countries in the world develop football and bring a positive message to the world about football, then you should give it a try.”

  • Russia 2018 is best watched World Cup – FIFA

    Russia 2018 is best watched World Cup – FIFA

    A record audience of more than 3.5 billion people watched this year’s World Cup in Russia, with the final between France and Croatia attracting 1.12 billion viewers, world soccer’s governing body said on Friday.

    FIFA said 3.572 billion viewers – more than half of the global population aged four and over – watched some part of the official coverage, which was broadcast live in every territory worldwide from June 14 to July 15.

    The global in-home TV audience watching at least one minute of the coverage accounted for almost 3.3 billion viewers, a 2.2 per cent increase on the 2014 edition hosted in Brazil, according to FIFA’s audit of audience data published on Friday.

    A further 309.7 million caught the action on digital platforms, public viewing areas or in bars and restaurants.

    France’s 4-2 victory in the final, which gave them their second World Cup title following their triumph in 1998, was the most watched game of the competition.

    It was followed by England’s semi-final defeat to Croatia and the other last-four clash between France and Belgium.

    “These figures really do support the claim that Russia 2018 was the best World Cup ever,” said FIFA’s chief commercial officer, Philippe Le Floc’h.

    “The fact that half the world’s population watched the FIFA World Cup reflects not just the high quality of our award-winning live coverage, but also that fans everywhere are insatiable for world-class football.”

    The World Cup coverage reached around 1.6 billion individuals in Asia, with 655.7 million viewers (18.4 per cent of the global total) in China, who failed to qualify for the tournament.

    The 2022 edition of World Cup will be held in Qatar.

  • Bale hat-trick sends Madrid into FIFA Club World Cup final

    Gareth Bale scored a hat-trick as Real Madrid beat Japan’s Kashima Antlers 3-1 on Wednesday to book a spot in Saturday’s FIFA Club World Cup final match.

    European champions Real Madrid will now face host side Al Ain FC in the final match in Abu Dhabi as they bid to win the title for the third year in a row.

    Kashima almost made a dream start inside two minutes with a close-range shot from Serginho that was saved by Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.

    Bale opened the scoring in the 44th minute with a left-foot strike into the bottom corner of the net after playing a one-two with Marcelo.

    He struck his second in the 53rd minute, taking advantage of a defensive mix-up that left the Kashima goal wide open.

    The Wales forward made it 3-0 to the Spanish side two minutes later with a left-foot shot into the top corner.

    Bale has now scored six goals in the tournament, trailing only his former team mate Cristiano Ronaldo who has netted seven.

    “He (Bale) played a superb match,” Real Madrid coach Santiago Solari told reporters. “He has shown what he is, and what he can do.”

    Bale was substituted in the 60th minute for Asensio, only for his replacement to be forced off 14 minutes later due to injury.

    “I hope it is not a serious problem with him because it is very that important all the players are fit,” Solari said. “It is a pity that he had to leave the pitch today.”

    Asian champions Kashima grabbed a consolation goal in the 78th minute through Shoma Doi.

    Kashima, third in the J-League, will meet South American champions River Plate in the third-place playoff earlier on Saturday.

  • 48-team World Cup in Qatar has wide support – FIFA

    48-team World Cup in Qatar has wide support – FIFA

    FIFA President, Gianni Infantino, said a majority of national soccer federations were in favour of expanding the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to 48 teams.

    Infantino said a decision would be made by March, although it was still not clear whether an enlarged tournament would be feasible as it would be “difficult” to stage in Qatar alone.

    Qatar has been locked in a bitter dispute with Gulf neighbours Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain that has complicated the prospect of sharing matches in an expanded tournament.

    Those countries, as well as Egypt, began a diplomatic and trade boycott of Qatar in June 2017, accusing it of supporting terrorism. Qatar denies the claims.

    FIFA last year voted to increase the size of the tournament from 32 to 48 teams, starting from 2026 but, since then, Infantino has been mulling the possibility of bringing the change forward to 2022.

    “We gathered the opinions as well of our members, the federations. So far, of course, the majority are in favour because 16 more teams participating not only means that 16 more countries will have World Cup fever.

    “But 50 or 60 countries will be able to dream of qualifying for the World Cup. Whether it is feasible or not is a different question,” Infantino told reporters.

    He said it was unlikely that Qatar, which has been planning for a 32-team tournament since it was awarded hosting rights in 2010, could manage 16 extra teams on its own.

    “Is it feasible to do it only in Qatar? Difficult probably. Is it feasible to have a few games played in neighbouring countries? Maybe this is an option.

    “Of course, I’m not naive enough to not know and read the news, and what’s going on, but we are in football not in politics and in football sometimes dreams come true,” he said.

    He added that he did not want to share details of discussions with Qatar with the media.

    Infantino said a decision needed to be made by March because the draw for the qualifying competition is in the summer.

    He said even with 16 additional teams, FIFA was committed to playing the tournament in the original 28-day period “because it was a difficult enough process to decide to move the World Cup to November or December.”

    He denied that it was too late to make the change.

    “For those who think it’s late, I’ve been told that the decision to move the World Cup in 1998 to 32 teams from 24 in 1994 was also taken only four years in advance so there is already a precedent,” he said.