Michael Garcia, the lead investigator into alleged corruption surrounding the 2018 and 2022 World Cups bidding process, has criticized soccer's global governing body FIFA for not conducting its ethics investigations in an open manner.
Lawyers representing 40 top women's soccer players challenged FIFA and the Canadian Soccer Association (CSA) on Friday by saying they would file a lawsuit against them over staging next year's women's World Cup in Canada on artificial turf.
The Qatar women's basketball team forfeited a game at the Asian Games on Wednesday after being refused permission to wear the hijab, saying they were taking a stand against what they say is a discriminatory policy against Muslim women.
FIFA faced more calls for greater transparency on Friday when its own ethics investigator joined the critics and complained of a "disconnect" with the public.
The trophy, which was initially in Germany Captain Philipp Lahm's possession after their amazing win against Argentina early this month, was later on passed to every team member in the Maracana stadium. Even non-winner and celebrity Rihanna was able to take a snapshot of herself holding the trophy, which was unorthodox in terms of World Cup traditions. However, German FA president Wolfgang Niersbach told German newspaper Die Welt that the damage occurred when the players had showed it to fans back home.
English Football Association Chairman Greg Dyke has been one of the many skeptics of the Gulf nation's capacity to host the tournament, considering that the schedule would fall at a time when heat temperatures in Qatar are at its peak, apart from the bribery allegations. It can be recalled that the Brazilian heat had been a primary complaint among teams and coaches during some of the tournament matches in the Latin American nation.
It appears that FIFA has decided to keep the report for internal use only. However, the report said that only the final decision of the world soccer body's adjudicatory chamber could be made public. It is to note that FIFA lead investigator Michael Garcia has spent over 18 months investigating allegations that there have been vote trading and breaches in FIFA ethics during the bidding process of awarding the tournament hosting rights. Russia has secured the rights to host the next World Cup, which will be in 2018, while Qatar is set to play host in 2022.
Germany is to receive a cool $35 million for defeating Argentina in extra time on Sunday, which is touted to be the biggest prize in World Cup history. Germany's cash prize easily toppled the prize received by the previous world cup champs, Spain, back in 2010.
Rihanna's flashing during the match has completely upstaged by a controversial photo she tweeted of her holding the Golden Trophy and receiving a kiss from two German players. The British tabloid said that under FIFA rules, only a World Cup-winning footballer, certain FIFA representatives or a head of state can hold the trophy, and that winners like England's Wayne Rooney and Daniel Sturridge have been forced previously to observe the rules during promotional events in the UK.
It has been suggested that FC Barcelona, who has agreed to sign in Suarez despite his nine international match and four-month football ban imposed by the world soccer body, would be introducing the Uruguayan in a non-football venue considering the fact that it has shelled out £75 million for him.
The world soccer body said that head coaches of teams are required to bring at least one player at news conferences for the media and fans to follow their preparations ahead of an upcoming match.
Neymar is publicly asking for fans to applaud his team's efforts to fight off the Germans. He said, "What has happened is inexplicable. But even at 6-0, 7-0 down, they did not give up, they kept running, kept trying. I'm not ashamed to be Brazilian and I'm not ashamed to be part of this team. I am proud of every one of my team-mates."
The analysis done by Fare during the tournament in Brazil revealed that racist and homophobic activity at the tournament had reached double figures ahead of the semifinals this week. None of the incidents mentioned and analyzed by Fare for the report were said to have been given action by FIFA despite the fact that it has publicly made aware of the majority of the incidents by Fare itself of by media.
Once a player has received injuries and has been ruled to be not able to play for more than 28 days, FIFA is required to pay part of the player's salary with his football club. This means that starting on August 2, FIFA will begin paying Barcelona €13,972 per day in fees until Neymar returns from his back injury to play for his club, according to a report by Inside Spanish Football.
On Thursday, the world soccer body stated that its appeals committee had refused the entirety of the appeal Suarez and the Uruguay Football Association has filed.
On Saturday, the Oranje is set to place against Brazil in Brasilia after losing to Argentina in an epic penalty shootout at 4-2 after a scoreless 120-minute play on the pitch at Arena de Sao Paolo. Van Gaal, who is set to take over over English Premier League team Manchester United at the end of the tournament, has been clamoring for FIFA to abandon the game with no success, Yahoo Sports said.
BBC said that the world soccer body had given the African government until Tuesday to reinstate the sacked Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) executive committee, which has been dissolved last week and was subsequently replaced by a single administrator. The Under-20 Women's World Cup will begin on August 5, but Nigeria's chances to participate in the international tournament would be nil should the suspension be retained by FIFA by July 15.
According to the group, by the year 2022, Qatar will now be part of its recently-declared Islamic Caliphate under the rule of ISIS leader Al Baghdady aka Caliph Ibrahim Bin Awad Alqarshi. Moreover, that caliphate frowns on football games, as they are considered a diversion from Islamic religion.
Although it remains to be confirmed whether the said categorization does exists on the website, it has been noted that the video that could have spurred PornHub into action has already been flagged and removed from the website. The video clip, which is titled "Young Brazilians get f**ked by entire German soccer team" by a user, shows members of the German side celebrating after Toni Kross scored their team's fourth goal within the first half.
The Telegraph reported that Ray Whelan, whose prior work was as an agent for Sir Bobby Charlton, was detained in Rio de Janeiro as part of Operation Jules Rimet, a police probe into the £200 million ticket sale operation.
According to FIFA chief medical officiar Jiri Dvorak, every player on each of the 32 competing teams in the tournament had provided blood and urine samples for their drug tests. Dvorak said that the results from the 777 out-of-competition tests that were conducted between March 1 and June 11, and the additional 232 tests, four from each of the initial 58 matches played in Brazil beginning June 12, had all came back negative.
