Former Barcelona great Xavi admits he dreams of one day coaching at the Nou Camp, following in the footsteps of former midfielders Pep Guardiola and Luis Enrique by going intomanagement. “I have no doubts,” he said. “I want to stay in football, being close to the pitch. I would hate being stuck in an office. […]
world cup 2022
Posted inSoccer America Daily, What They're Saying
What They're Saying: World Cup 2022 organizing committee spokesperson
“At the heart of this World Cup is a commitment to showcase hospitality and friendship of the Middle East. As a result, we are actively researching the concept of supporters sleeping under thestars.” — World Cup 2022 organizing committee spokesperson on Qatar’s plans to host fans in traditional Bedouin-style desert camps. (BBC Sport)
Posted inAround The Net in Soccer World Daily, Story
Infantino backs 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosts
New FIFA president Gianni Infantino continued his efforts to put the tumultuous final years of the Sepp Blatter administration behind him by saying corruption allegations engulfingthe 2018 and 2022 World Cups are “a lot of speculation” backed up by “not a single fact.” “I was not part of of these processes in those times,” he […]
Posted inAround The Net in Soccer World Daily, Story
Former DFB president wins preliminary ruling in Qatari slander suit
Theo Zwanziger, the former president of the German soccer federation and member of FIFA’s executive committee, won a preliminary ruling in the case over whether he can continue to refer toQatar as a “cancerous growth of world soccer.” “I have always said that Qatar was a cancerous growth of world soccer,” Zwanziger said in a […]
Posted inAround The Net in Soccer World Daily, Story
FIFA presidential candidate backs U.S. 2022 World Cup if Qatar corrupt
FIFA presidential candidate Jerome Champagne said on Tuesday the 2022 World Cup should be moved to the United States — without a revote — if the Qatar bid is proven to have been corrupt. “Ifit had to be reconsidered, there should not be another vote but we should apply the IOC jurisprudence, give the gold […]
Posted inOff The Post, Story
Are FIFA Sponsors Demanding Mission Impossible?
ESPN sources on Wednesday reported that FIFA posted a $100 million financialloss in 2015 thanks to the loss of key sponsors and mounting legal bills following the corruption scandal that has engulfed the organization. While it is not unusual for FIFA’s income todrop drastically following a World Cup year, soccer’s world governing body has almost […]
Posted inOff The Post, Story
U.S. Gulf politics, the FIFA presidency and Bahraini sheikh who wants the job
If Sunil Gulati was Michel Platini and Barack Obama was Nicolas Sarkozy, U.S. Soccer might be voting for Bahrain’s Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa for FIFA president. But Gulatiisn’t Platini and Obama isn’t Sarkozy, and Gulati won’t be seeking out Obama’s advice on who to vote for the next FIFA president who will be elected […]
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FIFA's 'Votes-for-Bribes' Program
The FIFA scandal really is the gift that keeps on giving — so much so, that perhaps we should refer to it as “The FIFA Unraveling,” because with each passing day, it’s looking more andmore likely that 1) we’ve probably only just scratched the surface of the corruption inside this organization, and 2) FIFA really […]
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Will Platini join rogues gallery of disgraced confederation bosses?
Michel Platini, the former French great and current UEFA president, remains the favorite to succeed Sepp Blatter as FIFApresident despite being accused of accepting a $2 million “disloyal payment” from Blatter in 2011 for work deemed to have been done from January 1999 to June 2002, though key European backers have started to express concerns […]
Posted inAround The Net in Soccer World Daily, Story
FIFA Confirms Winter World Cup in 2022
FIFA on Friday confirmed the long-rumored news that the 2022 World Cup in Qatar will be hosted in November, the first time the international tournament hasn’t taken place between May andJuly. The timeline for the tournament will also be slightly compressed, being played in 28 days. The 2014 tournament in Brazil was held over 32 […]