National Teams

Paris St Germain's Neymar and Liverpool's Alisson are among the Brazilian players and coaches who have joined forces with the country's football federation (CBF) to donate almost a million dollars to families facing economic hardship due the new COVID-19 pandemic.

The group of 57 players and staff, also including former Barcelona right back Daniel Alves, donated 2.5 million reais ($463,787) while the CBF met their contribution, according to the organisation.

Many female footballers are at risk of losing their livelihoods due to the global soccer shutdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, a report by global players' union FIFPRO said on Thursday. 

The report said specific measures were needed to help women's football during the crisis, which has brought world sport to a standstill and caused the postponement of major international events including the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Otherwise, it said, the women's game could be facing an existential threat.

The format and dates for CONCACAF's qualifying matches for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar are up in the air due to the sports shutdown amid the coronavirus pandemic, confederation president Victor Montagliani said Monday. 

Speaking to reporters on a conference call, Montagliani admitted that CONCACAF could wind up changing how it determines which three teams will earn direct berths in the World Cup and which one will head to an inter-continental playoff. 

European champions Portugal will donate half of their prize money for qualifying for the now-postponed Euro 2020 championships to support amateur football amid the coronavirus outbreak, the team said on Monday. The virus has shut down many countries and has wreaked havoc with the sporting calendar across the globe. 

NEW YORK — Two former 21st Century Fox executives and a South American sports marketing company pleaded not guilty on Thursday to criminal charges in New York in the long-running corruption probe surrounding FIFA, the world governing body for soccer.

The former Fox executives, Hernan Lopez and Carlos Martinez, and Full Play Group SA entered their pleas to crimes including wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy at an arraignment before U.S. District Judge Pamela Chen in Brooklyn.

BERN — FIFA president Gianni Infantino has said that football will be "totally different" when it re-starts after the coronavirus. He has talked of smaller, but more meaningful, competitions, more balance and football being "more attentive to true values."

Infantino has not yet gone into further details and some may question his credentials in this matter: as FIFA president he has increased the World Cup from 32 to 48 teams and, in a previous role as UEFA general secretary, oversaw growing financial inequality in European football.

The 2022 World Cup in Qatar has become the focus of fresh FIFA corruption allegations after the release of a new U.S. Department of Justice indictment which says bribes were paid to football officials to secure their votes for hosting rights.

Suspicion and rumours have long surrounded both the 2010 vote by FIFA's executive to hand the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 tournament to Qatar. But on Monday, for the first time, prosecutors set direct, formal allegations down in print.

U.S. prosecutors on Monday announced new criminal charges against two former executives of 21st Century Fox Inc and others stemming from a long-running investigation of corruption surrounding FIFA, soccer's world governing body.

The former Fox executives, Hernan Lopez and Carlos Martinez, were indicted in Brooklyn federal court on wire fraud and money laundering along with Gerard Romy, former co-CEO of Spanish media company Imagina Media Audiovisual SL, and Full Play Group SA, a Uruguayan sports marketing company. Lawyers for the defendants could not immediately be identified. 

ZURICH — The age limit for the Tokyo Olympics men's football tournament could be raised so that players who were eligible in 2020 will not miss out following the postponement of the Games until the following year, FIFA said on Friday.

Olympic football is usually restricted to under-23 teams for the men's tournament, with three overage players allowed per team.

Two of the most iconic African footballers of all time took to social media to denounce disgustingly racist comments made on French television on Thursday. Former Barcelona, Inter Milan and Chelsea striker Samuel Eto’o quite rightly called them “sons of bitches.”

Professors Jean-Paul Mira and Camille Locht were discussing possible COVID-19 cures on French TV channel La Chaine Info on Thursday. Mira suggested to Locht the studies should be done in Africa.