Football's rule-making body IFAB on Wednesday said teams will be allowed to continue to use up to five substitutes next season, in a bid to cope with potential fixture congestion in the aftermath of the COVID-19 outbreak.
IFAB, the International Football Association Board, had agreed to a temporary change to allow teams to use five substitutes, rather than the usual three, in May to "protect player welfare."
World Cup fans will be able to watch an unprecedented four games a day on television, spread out over 11 hours, during the group stage of the Qatar 2022 tournament after the 2022 World Cup schedule was confirmed on Wednesday.
With the relatively short travel distances for the venues in and around Doha, it could be possible for fans who travel to the 32-team tournament to attend multiple games each day.
The early games will kickoff at 1300 local (6 a.m. ET) with the fourth match starting at 2200 local (3 p.m. ET) and finishing just before midnight.
ZURICH — Switzerland named a special prosecutor to review criminal complaints against FIFA chief Gianni Infantino and Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber after the men held undocumented meetings while Lauber's office was investigating suspected graft surrounding the global soccer body.
Lauber last month became the subject of an impeachment process relating to his handling of the soccer inquiry.
A joint bid from Australia and New Zealand was voted the 2023 Women's World Cup host by the FIFA Council on Thursday.
The Australia-New Zealand bid was a heavy favorite to win the hosting rights after Brazil and Japan both pulled out in the weeks leading up to the vote. Colombia was the only other nation vying to become the 2023 Women's World Cup host.
SYDNEY — The task of building on the huge success of last year's Women's World Cup will fall to a region that has never staged it before when Colombia and a joint bid from Australia and New Zealand vie for the 2023 hosting rights in Thursday's FIFA vote.
The 2019 World Cup in France was hailed as a watershed for global interest in the women's game and FIFA President Gianni Infantino personally drove the campaign to increase the field to 32 teams from 24 for 2023.
The Japanese Football Association announced on Monday that Japan is withdrawing its bid to host the 2023 Women's World Cup, just days before football's world governing body holds a vote to determine the successful candidate.
Colombia's soccer chief and the head of South American football confederation CONMEBOL have written to FIFA complaining of "erroneous and discriminatory conclusions" in the assessment of the country's bid to host the 2023 Women's World Cup.
The Colombian proposal to bring the tournament to South America for the first time received the lowest score in an evaluation of three bids to host the tournament carried out by world soccer's governing body ahead of next Friday's vote.
The world governing body of soccer has responded to Donald Trump denouncing the idea of players kneeling during the U.S. national anthem. When asked about Trump’s tweet about no longer watching U.S. Soccer over players potentially kneeling, FIFA said to The Associated Press that it firmly stands behind showing patience and understanding.
And then there were three. On Monday, Brazil withdrew its candidacy to host the 2023 Women’s World Cup, leaving Colombia, Japan and a joint bid from Australia and New Zealand as the remaining contenders before the final FIFA Council vote on June 25.
CAPE TOWN — Thursday marks 10 years since South Africa hosted a World Cup highly charged with symbolism but dogged by questions about the wisdom of spending billions on a sports event that might have been better used elsewhere.
Hosting the first soccer World Cup in Africa was seen as a coming of age for the embattled continent.
But the month-long tournament, which had a $3-billion (USD) price tag, also came at a time when the country faced an enormous backlog of social needs such as housing, hospitals, water and electricity.