Both FIFA and UEFA suspended Russian clubs and national football teams from all forms of football until further notice. The news came in after the country's invasion of Ukraine.
All the teams from Russia will be barred from participating in all tournaments regulated by FIFA and UEFA. The decision was taken by the Bureau of the FIFA Council and the Executive Committee of UEFA in a mutual agreement to form a protest against Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Football is fully united here and in full solidarity with all the people affected in Ukraine. Both Presidents hope that the situation in Ukraine will improve significantly and rapidly so that football can again be a vector for unity and peace amongst people.
Before that, the Poland football association also had informed that they will not take any part against Poland in the upcoming FIFA World Cup qualifiers fixture. Now, with FIFA barring Russia from international football means Russia might not be able to take part in Qatar World Cup.
LA Galaxy fans holding banners in support to stop the war in Ukraine. Image - Reuters
Along with Poland, both the Czech Republic and Sweden also had taken a decision to not play against Russia before that.
Earlier, UEFA also cancelled a long-term sponsorship deal from Russian gas company Gazprom.
Now the only way for Russia to take part in any football competition is an exponential improvement in the Russia-Ukraine situation. Before FIFA and UEFA, International Olympic Committee had requested every sporting body to suspend Russia. "The IOC Executive Board recommends that International Sports Federations and sports event organisers not invite or allow the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials in international competitions", IOC in a statement said.
UEFA also said that the decision of Russia to participate in women's Euro 2022 in England will be taken later. Russia has already qualified for the Women's Euro 2022.
FIFA Club World Cup 2025: FIFA has revealed the Pots for the Group Stage Draw
FIFA has reportedly confirmed the seedings for the Group Stage Draw for the upcoming FIFA Club World Cup 2025. The draw will take place on 5 December 2024.
FIFA has revealed the seedings for the Group Stage Draw for the FIFA Club World Cup 2025. The 32 qualified clubs will know their fate on 5 December 2024, as the groups and the opponents will be decided for each participating team. However, According to DailyMail, FIFA has revealed the pots according to the seedings ahead of the draw on Thursday.
The expanded FIFA Club World Cup is scheduled to take place from June 15 to July 13, 2025, and will be held in various stadiums in the United States.
FIFA Club World Cup 2025 Group Stage Draw details
Date: 5 December 2024
Time: 11:30 PM IST
Streaming: FIFA.com, FIFA+ App and Supporting Channels
Pots and Group Stage Draw
32 clubs have been divided into 4 pots comprising 8 clubs in each pot. Each group at the Club World Cup will consist of one team from Pot 1, a team from Pot 2, one from Pot 3, and one from Pot 4. This is how the Group Stage Draw will decide the potential opponent for the clubs on Thursday.
The Group Stage will have eight groups, consisting of 4 teams in each group playing a single game in a round-robin format. The top two teams from each group will earn qualification for the Round of 16 and after the quarter-finals and semi-finals are over, two teams will meet each other in the final set to be played on 13th July 2025.
UEFAPresident Aleksander Ceferin responded to recent criticism of footballers playing an excessive number of matches and warned that reducing the number of matches can result in less revenue and lower wages for the players.
According to The Sun, the UEFA President stated:
"When we say that footballers are modern gladiators, we are exaggerating a bit. The better the footballer, the bigger the star, the more protected he is by the referees, who are also constantly in the fans' teeth."
"It is true that the players play a lot and that the match calendar could not be more full."
"But I would not agree that only those at the highest level are the most burdened. The players from my country, Slovenia, play as often as, for example, those from Real Madrid. Except that they are paid 500 times less."
"If we were to reduce the number of matches, we would end up with the result that the salaries of football players would also fall because the clubs would have less income."
"It's a vicious cycle. The compromise is that no new competitions are introduced."
Ceferin sparked controversy after the General Assembly of the European Clubs Association, held in October 2024, where he stated that only the high-paid players expressed dissatisfaction, while those who earn less did not make any public statement regarding the issue.
The European calendar of football and its unbalance were discussed in the assembly though Ceferin admitted that the schedule in congested and reached the maximum limit.
The long-growing displeasure
UEFA and FIFA had already been slammed by footballers and coaches about the increasing number of games per season.
UEFA faced severe criticism after introducing the UEFA Nations League, back in 2018 with a new format including promotion and relegation. Controversies started hovering as various theories suggested this tournament to be a series of friendlies branded into a tournament to generate more revenue for UEFA.
The Nations League matches are played during the international breaks when European teams used to feature in friendlies or take part in the qualifiers matches.
However, many prominent footballers and managers did not welcome the idea of this new tournament. Following the 2021 UEFA Nations League third-place play-off match between Italy and Belgium on 10 October 2021, Belgian goalkeeperThibaut Courtoispublicly criticized FIFA and UEFA in the post-match interview with Sky Sports:
"This game is just a money game and we have to be honest about it,"
"We just play it because for UEFA it's extra money.
"They can be angry about other teams wanting a Super League but they don't care about the players, they just care about their pockets.
"It's a bad thing that players are not spoken about. And now you hear about a European Championship and a World Cup every year, when will we get a rest? Never."
"So in the end top players will get injured and injured and injured. It's something that should be much better and much more taken care of,
"We are not robots! It's just more and more games and less rest for us and nobody cares about us."
Former Germany coach Hansi Flick addressed his concern about the increasing number of matches in a press conference on 10 June 2022. Flick responded to a question:
(Image Credit | Football365)
"This should be looked at and we need to ask ourselves how we can offer players a break because that is important,"
"UEFA or FIFA should look into these things and take some measures."
In a very recent interview ahead of Belgium's clash against Israel in the Nations League in September 2024, Courtois' national team-mate Kevin De Bruyne addressed the same issue along with the expanded FIFA Club World Cup, which is set to be played in 2025.
π¨β οΈ De Bruyne: βThe PFA and other player associations have tried to find solutionsβ¦β.
βThe issue is UEFA and FIFA keep adding extra matchesβ.
βWe can raise concerns, but no solutions have been foundβ.
"The real problem will emerge after the Club World Cup...We know there will be only three weeks between the Club World Cup final and the first Premier League match. So, we have three weeks to rest and prepare for another 80 matches,"
"The issue is that UEFA and Fifa keep adding extra matches, and we can raise concerns, but no solutions have been found. It seems that money speaks louder than the players' voices"
via Reuters
Criticism and legal actions regarding the expanded FIFA Club World Cup 2025
The FIFA Club World 2025 will introduce an expanded format that will feature 32 participating teams competing for the glory. This new tournament has further increased the number of matches in a season and resulted in grievances from prominent players and managers.
2024 Ballon d'Or winner and Manchester City's midfielder Rodri expressed his concern about the excessive number of games and said that every player should have an optimum number of matches to play every season.
"From my experience I can tell you that 60-70 [is no good]. Between 40 and 50 is the amount of games in which a player can perform in the highest level. After that you drop because it is impossible to sustain the physical level."
"This year we can go to 70, maybe 80, I donβt know. It depends how far you go in the competitions. It is too much. We have to take care of ourselves. Someone has to take care of ourselves because we are the main characters of this sport or business or whatever you want to call it."
via The Guardian
However, this long-growing cold war between the players or officials and the governing bodies has now turned into a legal battle.
The tension emerged when FIFPro, the worldwide players' union, and the European Leagues, which represents 37 domestic leagues submitted a legal claim against FIFA on 13 June 2024, "challenging the legality of FIFA's decisions to unilaterally set the International Match Calendar and, in particular, the decision to create and schedule the FIFA Club World Cup 2025."
"We don't have enough dates anymore in the calendar."
The Premier League's director of international relations, Mathieu Moreuil, states that legal action is the 'only option' as they allege that FIFA have failed to consult properly regarding football fixtures π¬ pic.twitter.com/GHqgwY8rgF
At the European Commission in Brussels On 14 October 2024, the protesting bodies jointly filed a legal complaint against FIFA over FIFA's imposition on match calendars.
The third international break of the year has already started and the players are on their national duties. But the question remains, will there be any change regarding this distressing issue?
Latest FIFA Rankings announced: Argentina remains on top, India climbs up to 125th
According to the latest FIFA rankings published on 24 October 2024, Argentina continues to top the list. India climbs up to 125th from their previous 126th position.
FIFA published the latest international rankings on 24 October 2024 after the international break in October 2024. The 2022 World Champions Argentina remains on top of the list. The Indian National Football team climbed up to 125th from their 126th position in the previous rankings published on 19 September 2024.
FIFA Rankings: Top 10 (24 October 2024)
The World Champions Argentina continues to be in the 1st position even though they were handed over a -5.52 points deduction. Argentina ended the game against Venezuela in a 1-1 draw and had a majestic 6-0 win over Bolivia during this international break.
Argentina thrashed Bolivia by 6-0. (Image Courtesy | Eurosport)
Among the top 10, Brazil received the most points in this latest rankings as they received +12.35 points in total but they remain in the 5th position. Brazil had an away win against Chile by 2-1 and thrashedPeru by 4-0 on home soil.
Brazil Crushed Peru by 4-0. (Image Courtesy | The Rio Times)
Colombia received the most points deduction in the top 10 teams and they have dropped to 10th after a -14.35 points deduction. However, Colombia lost 0-1 against Bolivia in an away match but had a 4-0 victory at home against Chile.
Top 10
(Source | FIFA website)
Indian National Football Team
India faced a drop in the rankings published on 19 September 2024 as they slipped to 126th position from their previous 124th. However, India has now climbed up to the 125th position with +0.26 points received.
India was set to participate in a series of tri-nation friendlies against Vietnam and Lebanon during the international break in October 2024 but Lebanon withdrew due to political unrest in their country. India faced Vietnam on 12 October 2024 and the match ended in a 1-1 draw.
Things we lob to see π
Farukh deftly lobs it over the keeper to equalise for India against Vietnam! β¨
The Indian team is yet to win a game under new manager Manolo Marquez and their next outing is set to be against Malaysia in a friendly on 19 November 2024.
Saudi Arabia's 2034 World Cup bid: FIFA is reportedly overlooking reports on human rights abuses
FIFA is reportedly ignoring the reports on human rights abuse issues while cultivating Saudi Arabia's bid for the 2034 World Cup and violating its own human rights rules.
FIFA is now accused of overlooking the reports on human rights violations in the Middle East and reportedly not taking any action regarding the bid of the sole bidder for the 2034 World Cup, Saudi Arabia.
A group of internationally acclaimed legal experts, Mark Pieth, Stefan Wehrenberg, and Rodney Dixon claimed that FIFA is not responding to the reports they issued on 22nd May 2024 regarding serious human rights violations in Saudi Arabia.
The wheel of events
FIFA confirmed beforehand in June 2023 that they want to arrange the 2034 World Cup only in Asia or Oceania. Saudi Arabian Football Federation stormed into the race to win the hosting rights while competing with Australia. On 31st October 2023, the only other bidding nation Australia withdrew from the race before the FIFA deadline, leaving Saudi Arabia to be the ultimate destination of the 2034 FIFA World Cup.
On 1st November 2023, FIFA President Gianni Infantino confirmed that Saudi Arabia is the only nation to submit a declaration of interest to host the 2034 World Cup before the deadline set by FIFA, which automatically gives them the honour of hosting the most prestigious sporting event on planet Earth. He stated in his Instagram post:
The GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH will be organised by π¨π¦ Canada, π²π½ Mexico and the πΊπΈ United States in 2026 - in North America. The next two editions of the FIFA World Cup are set to be hosted in Africa (π²π¦ Morocco) and Europe (π΅πΉ Portugal and πͺπΈ Spain) - with three celebratory matches played in South America (π¦π· Argentina, π΅πΎ Paraguay and πΊπΎ Uruguay) - in 2030 and in Asia (πΈπ¦ Saudi Arabia) in 2034. Three editions, five continents and ten countries involved in staging matches in the tournament - that's making football truly global!
This confirmation winded up with severe criticisms back in that time as FIFA was accused of breaking its own rules on human rights. After a controversial FIFA World Cup organized in Qatar in 2022 with allegations of migrant workers dying while building the stadiums, FIFA should have scrutinized the human rights issues for the upcoming editions of the tournament. According to various reports, human rights practices in Saudi Arabia are non-existent with its suppression of freedom of speech, suppression of women's rights, and gender equality issues.
Minky Worden, director of global initiatives at Human Rights Watch, the organization that published an annex of FIFAβs statutory human rights requirements, stated:
"Barely a year after the human rights catastrophes of the 2022 Qatar World Cup, FIFA has failed to learn the lesson that awarding multi-billion dollar events without due diligence and transparency can risk corruption and major human rights abuses, the possibility that FIFA could award Saudi Arabia the 2034 World Cup despite its appalling human rights record and closed door to any monitoring exposes FIFAβs commitments to human rights as a sham."
The NGO, Human Rights Watch accused FIFA of breaching its own rules on Human Rights back in 2023 as they published an annex pointing out "FIFAβs statutory human rights requirements, including due diligence, bidding to host events, stakeholder consultation, independent human rights monitoring, and remedy."
(Image Courtesy | beIN Sports)
The trio's reports on human rights violation
According to The Associated Press, a 22-page document was delivered to FIFA headquarters in Zurich on 22nd May 2024 on behalf of Mark Pieth, the Swiss governance expert along with Stefan Wehrenberg and British barrister Rodney Dixon.
"Let's give FIFA a chance," Pieth told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
But on 11th October 2024, the trio issued a statement mentioning FIFA is yet to respond to their report and is not considering the human rights issues very seriously. According to the reports published by The Guardian, Richard Dixon said that FIFA had failed to respond to their report though five months had passed after the submission. He further stated:
"We are calling on FIFA, with its proud history of taking a stance in favour of human rights, to do exactly that right now and it is simply not good enough to not respond at all to our report. There has to be a consultation. Things have to change if Saudi is going to be considered for the World Cup. We canβt have vague recommendations or straw man scenarios."
Prof. Mark Pieth, who worked with FIFA a decade ago as chairman of its Independent Governance Committee, expressed his concern as well:
"My understanding is that Saudi Arabia is quite a bit nervous [about public criticism] and they are dangerous. Thatβs my take. Iβm not shy to say it in public. People are really dealing with the devil here. So there is a big risk."
(Document source | Wehrenberg Rechtsanwalte)
The question remains
FIFA is now under pressure with all these allegations hovering over them and the question still remains, will they take any action? As FIFA President Gianni Infantino is often very seen publicly with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, it does not look very transparent for any party in the discussion of Saudi winning the bid to host the prestigious tournament in 2034.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, FIFA President Gianni Infantino and Russian President Vladimir Putin during the FIFA World Cup 2018 opening game between Russia and Saudi Arabia at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. (Image Credit | The Times)
With all the allegations of violating human rights, Saudi Arabia is still rebranding their image on international premises, especially through sports and arranging sporting events. The Saudi government is reportedly emphasizing to invest in sports, especially in football. The meteoric rise of the Saudi Pro League has strengthened SAFF's grounds as well.
FIFA did not respond to the reports issued by Pieth, Wehrenberg, and Dixon and kept their silence intact during the allegations put forth by Human Rights Watch. The question still remains, will FIFA take the human rights violation issues under consideration?
UEFA Champions League 2024-25 League phase draw Highlights | Real Madrid to face Liverpool and Barca to face Bayern in league phase of the new Champions League Era
Catch all the live updates from the UEFA Champions League 2024-25 league phase draw at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco here at Sportzpoint. This draw on Thursday will also be the beginning of a new chapter in the history of the Champions League
Hello and welcome to Sportz Point's coverage of the UEFA Champions League 2024-25 League phase draw.
The new season of the UEFA Champions League is set to begin and the league phase draw will take place at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco today.
This draw on Thursday will also be the beginning of a new chapter in the history of the Champions League. It will see more teams, a different format, and the chance for greater competition, with the tournament beginning on September 17.
This is Abishek Goswami, bringing you all the updates from the web desk.
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