Tag: FIFA

A crossover no one had seen coming but everyone is in for, Pakistan’s Punjabi folk icon Arif Lohar, got featured on FIFA’s official page on the 37th birthday of Lionel Messi.

Seems like the International Federation of Association Football aka FIFA couldn’t help but fall in love with Pakistani music, as it used iconic folk singer of the country, Arif Lohar’s banger ‘Aa Tenu Moj Karavan, Aa Tenu Sair Karavan’, to mark the 37th birthday of GOAT, Lionel Messi, earlier this week.

Sharing the edit of some of the most memorable moments of his career, with Lohar’s number in the background, the federation captioned, “میسی کا جادو (Messi’s magic)! Happy 37th birthday, Messi.”

The reel has more than 1.5 million views on the official page and Pakistani fans couldn’t contain their excitement on the feature, dropping thousands of likes and comments on the post.

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“Fifa is obsessed with Pakistani songs,” wrote a social user, while another commented, “We got messi edit on Pakistani song before gta6.”

“The Pakistani Takeover,” one more comment read. “Wait what this was not the collab I was expecting,” a fourth Instagrammer noted.

One of the football fanatics also made a humble request asking, “Bado Badi on Ronaldo’s birthday.”

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FIFA is to consider allowing domestic leagues to play matches overseas, opening the door to money-spinning English Premier League or Spanish La Liga clashes being staged in the United States of America (USA), the Middle East or Asia.

Football’s world governing body on Wednesday agreed to set up a 10-15 strong working group to examine the idea and make recommendations.

The Premier League and La Liga, with their vast global followings, have long mooted the idea of playing matches outside their home territories.

The new FIFA committee will “gather further information and issue recommendations to the Council regarding potential amendments to the FIFA Regulations Governing International Matches (FRGIM)”, the body said in a statement.

The council — FIFA’s regular decision-making body — said the group would consider 10 aspects of hosting overseas games.

These include the impact on fans, how it would affect the balance of the competition, whether the games would be one-offs or a regular feature, and the impact on football.

Top European clubs regularly play lucrative friendlies around the world such as Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United’s clash in Melbourne next Wednesday, just three days after the end of the Premier League season.

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US broadcasters in particular are keen to cash in on the booming popularity of the English top flight by hosting competitive matches.

La Liga has said it aims to play matches in North America as early as 2025.

Up to now, dreams of a mouthwatering Arsenal v Manchester City or Real Madrid v Barcelona clash stateside have been thwarted by FIFA rules that say competitive league games must be played in their home country.

Much-discussed plans for a Premier League “39th game” overseas were dropped in 2008 following opposition from supporters’ groups, FIFA and UEFA.

But a legal challenge in the United States last month prompted FIFA to reconsider their long-held opposition to out-of-territory matches.

The move came as delegates gather in Bangkok for FIFA’s annual congress on Friday, where the host of the next Women’s World Cup will be decided.

After the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand lifted the profile of the women’s game to new heights, FIFA will decide whether to award the 2027 edition to Brazil or a joint bid from Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.

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COLOMBO: FIFA has lifted the suspension on Sri Lankan football following assurances that there will be no political interference in the sport in the country, the local federation said Tuesday.

The Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) said it received a letter from FIFA removing the ban that was imposed in January.

In its letter, football’s global governing body said it took note of moves to hold fresh elections at the FFSL next month and assurances from the sports ministry to allow the FFSL to function without government interference.

“FIFA and the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) will continue to monitor the situation until the elections on September 29, 2023,” the local board was told.

The world governing body of rugby also suspended Sri Lanka in May after alleging political interference in the administration of the game.

FIFA suspended Sri Lanka’s national federation, back in January, a month after issuing it with a “red notice” over governance issues.

That warning came after the Ministry of Sports introduced a raft of regulations that reportedly compromised the autonomy and independence of national sports bodies, including the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL).

The FFSL held an election, which reportedly fell short of standards agreed upon with FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), in which an ally of the sports minister became chair.

In a letter, FIFA said the FFSL was suspended “until further notice”.

Sri Lanka’s men’s team are ranked 204th in the world and the women’s 153rd.

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LAUSANNE: FIFA announced on Wednesday it had removed Indonesia as hosts of this year’s under-20 World Cup amid political turmoil over Israel’s participation.

“A new host will be announced as soon as possible, with the dates of the tournament currently remaining unchanged,” FIFA said in a statement.

Friday’s draw for the May 20-June 11 competition was scrapped by FIFA following protests over Israel’s involvement in the 24-team event.

In its statement, FIFA said Indonesia would no longer host the tournament “due to the current circumstances” without specifying details.

Indonesia and Israel do not have formal diplomatic relations, and support for the Palestinian cause in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation runs high, fuelling local opposition to hosting the Israeli team.

Indonesian officials said Bali’s governor calling for Israel to be thrown out of the cup because of its policies towards the Palestinians was likely behind the draw’s cancellation.

Around a hundred conservative Muslim demonstrators also marched in the capital Jakarta this month to protest Israel’s involvement.

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COLOMBO: Football’s governing body FIFA has suspended Sri Lanka’s national federation, it said Sunday, a month after issuing it with a “red notice” over governance issues.

That warning came after the Ministry of Sports introduced a raft of regulations that reportedly compromised the autonomy and independence of national sports bodies, including the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL).

This month the FFSL held an election, which reportedly fell short of standards agreed upon with FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), in which an ally of the sports minister became chair.

In a letter Sunday, FIFA said the FFSL was suspended “until further notice”.

The suspension prevents Sri Lanka — which is in the midst of a major economic crisis, blamed partly on corruption — from taking part in international competitions.

Sri Lanka’s men’s team are ranked 207th in the world, and the women’s 155th.

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SANTOS: FIFA will ask all the world’s countries to name a stadium for Brazilian football legend Pele, the head of the sport’s governing body, Gianni Infantino, said Monday at the late icon’s wake.

Infantino was in the city of Santos, Brazil, to pay his final respects to the player widely considered the greatest of all time, who died Thursday at the age of 82.

“We’re going to ask every country in the world to name one of their football stadiums with the name of Pele,” Infantino told journalists at the Vila Belmiro, the stadium where the player known as “The King” first exploded onto the world stage with his exploits for his longtime club, Santos FC.

Attending the 24-hour wake along with the heads of the South American and Brazilian football confederations, Infantino was among the first to pay homage before Pele’s open casket, which was displayed in the middle of the field at Vila Belmiro stadium.

“We’re here with great sadness,” Infantino said. “Pele is eternal. He’s a global icon of football.”

FIFA had already flown the flags of the world at half-mast Friday outside its headquarters in Zurich in honor of Pele, whom the organization has named as the greatest player of the 20th century.

Pele, the only player in history to win three World Cups, died at a Sao Paulo hospital after a long battle with cancer.

Monday’s wake will be followed by a funeral procession through the streets of Santos Tuesday, then a private interment ceremony.

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DOHA: FIFA’s latest technology developed over the last three years would help make more precise and quicker VAR offside judgements in the Qatar World Cup, affirmed referees chief Pierluigi Collina on Friday. 

The “semi-automatic offside technology” will decide on even the trickiest offside rulings faster than the previous method. A 3D animated rendering of the action will also be shown live to fans in the stadium and on television during the showpiece event starting tomorrow.

“(It) gives us the possibility to be faster and more accurate in terms of decisions about offside,” said Collina, chairman of FIFA’s referees committee.

“Just to be clear, being faster does not mean we will have instantaneous assessment of offside. It will be less than now, certainly, but we cannot have an answer one-second, or basically live.” he added.

The referees head, however, underlined that the final decision always belongs to the match official – on the VAR, the video assistant referee, on the field of play, to the referee.

The innovative system tracks the ball with 12 dedicated tracking cameras that are positioned underneath the stadium’s roof and calculate the precise position of each player on the field using up to 29 data points, 50 times per second.

The optical tracking technology was put to the test at the FIFA Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi earlier this year, as well as at the Arab Cup in Qatar in last December.

“It’s the most accurate supporting offside tool at the moment.” said  FIFA’s director of technology and innovation, Johannes Holzmueller. “We analysed the data and the outcome was very positive.”

Collina added that his team held two workshops for all 32 team coaches and visited each side’s camps to bring clarity among the players about the technology.

Referees at the World Cup had been advised to issue red cards for anything that could harm another player’s health, including elbows to the face, studs-up tackles, and dangerously high feet.

“Here are the best players in the world,” stated Collina. “It would be a shame if some of these players would be unable to play because of an injury caused by an opponent.

“So the first message we went through was to protect the safety of the players. Something that may endanger the safety of an opponent, players and coaches should expect… a red card.”

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DOHA: FIFA President Gianni Infantino will stand unopposed for a third term as head of world football’s governing body next year, FIFA confirmed on Thursday.

A brief statement from FIFA said that Infantino would be the only candidate when the election takes place at the 73rd FIFA Congress in Kigali, Rwanda on March 16.

“No other candidature has been submitted,” the statement said.

Infantino’s third term follows in the line of previous FIFA presidents — Joao Havelange was in charge from 1974 to 1998 and Infantino’s predecessor Sepp Blatter held office from 1998 to 2015.

Infantino was elected in 2016 promising to “restore FIFA’s image” after the federation was plagued by scandal in the final years of Blatter’s time in charge.

The German Football Federation (DFB) said on Wednesday it would not support Infantino’s re-election.

DFB president Bernd Neuendorf said he had hoped Infantino would show “deeper consideration for human rights and more commitment to humanitarian issues”.

Neuendorf has been a strong supporter of calls from rights groups for FIFA to set up a compensation fund for migrant workers who build the World Cup stadiums.

Infantino can point to the growth in FIFA’s turnover during his time in charge — the governing body is forecasting turnover of $7 billion for the four-year cycle till 2022.

But many of his proposals for the reform of club football, including a plan to expand the Club World Cup to 24 teams, have received a lukewarm reception.

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DOHA: Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) on Friday, dropped the official anthem — Light The Sky — of the forthcoming World Cup 2022.

The enthusiastic soundtrack features renowned Bollywood actress Nora Fatehi, Emirati singer Balqees, Iraqi artist Rahma Riad and Moroccan singer Manal Benchlikha.

The latest single from the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ Official Soundtrack has just been released! 🚨

'Light The Sky' features @BalqeesFathi, Nora Fatehi, Manal, @RahmaRiad and @RedOne_Official ✨

Watch the official music video ⤵️

— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) October 7, 2022

 

Fatehi, who made headlines as she announced becoming the first Bollywood actress to feature in the official music video of FIFA, also contributed with her melodious voice as she contributed not only in Hindi but also in Moroccan Arabic.

The FIFA World Cup 2022 soundtrack also paid tribute to the women on the field as it featured a short clip of female referees of the mega event.

It is pertinent to mention that the 22nd edition of the FIFA World Cup will embark on November 20 with hosts Qatar taking on Ecuador in the curtain-raiser. The final of the mega event will take place on December 18.

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PARIS: FIFA on Monday suspended the Indian football federation with “immediate effect due to undue influence from third parties”, jeopardising the country’s staging of the U-17 Women’s World Cup in October.

World football’s governing body called the infraction a “serious violation of the FIFA Statutes”.

The suspension will remain in place until the All India Football Federation (AIFF) regains full control of its daily affairs, FIFA said in a statement.

The AIFF is in disarray and being run by administrators after former chief Praful Patel stayed in office beyond his term without fresh elections, which courts ruled invalid.

India is due to host the U-17 Women’s World Cup from October 11-30. The 2020 tournament in India was cancelled and then postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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