fifa Page 12 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
French Guiana Says Fuck It, Starts Ineligible Player In Gold Cup
In last night’s Gold Cup match between French Guiana and Honduras, former Chelsea winger Florent Malouda played the whole 90 minutes for the national team of his native French Guiana, despite having been ruled ineligible before the tournament because he had already capped 80 times for the French nat...
How Qatar Used Its Youth Soccer Academy To Influence The World Cup Bidding Process
The Aspire Academy’s listed mission statement is to “develop well educated sports champions” and “foster Qatar society realizing a healthy, active lifestyle.” The Qatari government founded Aspire in 2003, building a state-of-the-art sports complex in Doha with the aim of identifying and training ath...
FIFA: Computer-Destroying Russian Bid Committee Did Nothing Corrupt
Today brought the release of the 430-page report on World Cup corruption that FIFA fought to keep secret for nearly three years. One section of that report details the FIFA Ethics Committee’s investigation into potential corruption by the Russian bid committee that secured the 2018 World Cup. The re...
FIFA Finally Releases Full World Cup Corruption Report
Nearly three years after it was completed, FIFA has at long last released in full the internal report on alleged corruption relating to the bids for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups that it had previously been so determined to keep secret. This didn’t happen from any change of heart on FIFA’s part, natu...
Report: FIFA Is Investigating The Entire Russian World Cup Team For Doping
The Mail on Sunday today reported that FIFA is investigating the Russian 2014 World Cup soccer team for doping—literally every member of Russia’s 2014 World Cup team:...
Russia Has A Lot To Prove At The Confederations Cup
The start of the Confederations Cup is essentially the first day of Advent before the Christmas that is the World Cup. Played in the World Cup’s host country the year before and consisting of 8 teams—the champion of each continent, the host, and the defending World Cup champs—this tournament is unim...
FIFA Will Allow Referees To Suspend Matches Due To Racism At Confederations Cup
Ahead of the Confederations Cup, which begins Saturday in Russia, FIFA has announced a “ground-breaking” procedure for limiting racism and discrimination in soccer. Referees will now be able to abandon a match entirely if fans participate in racist or discriminatory behavior....
Five Gulf Countries Cut Ties With Qatar; FIFA Has No Comment
Five Arab countries—Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen—have severed diplomatic ties with Qatar, cut off all travel to and from the country, and ordered their citizens to leave the country. According to the BBC, the countries have accused Qatar of destabilizing the regi...
This Slave-Built Qatari World Cup Stadium Sure Is Pretty!
Judging by the looks of the newly renovated Khalifa International Stadium—the first stadium construction project the nation has completed ahead of the 2022 World Cup it will host—Qatar’s massive population of migrant workers, who toil under life-threatening conditions in a working system often descr...
FIFA Makes Completely Meaningless Ethical Stand
The U.S.-led North American bid for the 2026 World Cup earned 93 percent of the 209 votes in FIFA Congress today. In March, the North American soccer federations requested an exclusive window to begin submitting technical specifications, which would give them a head start in the planning process. Bu...
FIFA Did A Bunch Of Shady Shit This Week
There is a lot of corruption going on in the world, but not at FIFA, no siree. Since numerous top officials were arrested two years ago, and longtime president Sepp Blatter was ousted and replaced by the much chiller Gianni Infantino, one might assume that FIFA now takes corruption and ethics seriou...
FIFA Opens Investigation Into Paul Pogba's Transfer To Manchester United
According to reports, FIFA has decided to investigate last summer’s record-breaking transfer of Paul Pogba from Juventus to Manchester United. It’s not clear which aspect of the deal piqued FIFA’s suspicions, but presumably it has something to do with recent reports about the transfer and Pogba’s co...
Woman Who Doesn’t Know Who Won Most Recent Women’s World Cup Elected To FIFA Council
Mahfuza Akhter Kiron of Bangladesh was elected to FIFA’s Asian Football Council today, occupying one of six places on the council that are specifically reserved for a woman. She defeated Australia’s Moya Dodd, an outspoken advocate of including more women in soccer’s governing bodies, 27 votes to 17...
FIFA's Four-Match Suspension Of Lionel Messi Overturned On Appeal
A little over a month ago, some snitches in the Chile soccer federation ratted out Lionel Messi for saying some mildly harsh words to a referee after an international match. FIFA suspended Messi for four matches in response, endangering Argentina’s chances to qualify for the World Cup and threatenin...
FIFA Anti-Corruption Committee Member Admits To Taking Nearly $1 Million In Bribes
Richard Lai, the president of the Guam Football Association and a member of FIFA’s corruption-fighting audit and compliance committee, pleaded guilty yesterday in U.S. federal court to fraud charges arising from his admission to taking almost $1 million in bribes. Lest you were wondering if FIFA is ...
CONCACAF Wants No-Bid Deal To Host World Cup
The joint* USA/Mexico/Canada Cup bid is the favorite to land the expanded 2026 World Cup, but the organizers would like to take no chances: They’re planning to ask FIFA to speed up the awarding process by three years, and to accept no other bids for the tournament....
Report: The U.S., Mexico, And Canada Plan To Submit Joint Bid To Host 2026 World Cup
The Guardian spoke with CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani, who confirmed what has long been speculated: the U.S., Mexico, and Canada plan on submitting a joint bid to host the 2026 World Cup....
FIFA Continues Its Plot To Ruin The World Cup
Here are some descriptors that come to mind when thinking about the current format of the World Cup, the greatest sporting event on the planet: perfect, simple, just-the-right-size, well-designed, riveting. Here are some words that will soon come to be associated with the World Cup after greedy-ass ...
FIFA Suspends Lionel Messi Four Matches For Yelling At Referee
FIFA handed Lionel Messi a four-match suspension from international play today in response to an incident after last week’s Argentina-Chile match when Messi was seen insulting a referee. With only five matches left in a World Cup Qualifying process in which Argentina have struggled, there is a very ...
Ireland's Seamus Coleman Gets His Leg Snapped By Welsh Defender In World Cup Qualifier
Ireland defender Seamus Coleman was stretchered off the field during a World Cup qualifying match against Wales today, after a flying tackle by Welsh defender Neil Taylor appeared to snap his leg. Taylor was immediately issued a red card. ...