Fifpro boss Jonas Baer-Hoffmann on player power, biennial World Cups, Super League and Qatar February 15, 2022 There is a common thread that connects the two biggest football stories of the last 12 months, the failed European Super League breakaway and debate over biennial World Cups. It can also be seen in concerns about player welfare, disagreements over economic models and what global players’ union Fifpro says is a tidal wave of [...]
Costa Rica fielded Covid-19 infected players against us, say Jamaica February 3, 2022 Jamaican football chiefs say Costa Rica knowingly fielded two players who had tested positive for Covid-19 in a match against them. The players were part of the Costa Rica team that beat Jamaica 1-0 on Wednesday in a qualifier for the Qatar 2022 World Cup. Jamaica plan to make a formal complaint to governing body [...]
Qatar 2022 World Cup tickets priced at £50 for overseas fans and on sale today January 19, 2022 The cheapest Qatar 2022 World Cup tickets for travelling supporters will have a starting price of £50. From today, football fans can register to buy tickets for the tournament, which is taking place in November and December this year. Category Three tickets, the cheapest on offer to anyone outside of Qatar, are due to start [...]
Ed Warner: Why 2022 is the year of the sportswash January 5, 2022 A city without snow and a state in the desert. Obvious places to hold the Winter Olympics and World Cup if you are the International Olympic Committee and football governing body Fifa. Welcome to 2022, the Year of the Sportswash. The principal outdoor venues for Beijing 2022 are – on a good day – 90 [...]
Sport sponsorship: Forecasting the impact of the big events in 2022 January 2, 2022 Six months on from wading through the smashed bottles and broken dreams that littered Wembley Way after the calamitous Euro 2020 final, sports fans and sponsors can look forward to an abundance of major global events in 2022. As it happens, this year has been designated the United Nations International Year of Glass, so it’s [...]
The World Cup countdown to Qatar is on: one year to go November 23, 2021 “It’s actually 363 days, 21 hours and 49 minutes to go,” said Fifa president Gianni Infantino yesterday as he began his monologue of praise towards next year’s World Cup hosts Qatar. “One year before kick off, all venues are ready. Some other host countries, many years after the event has taken place, have stadiums that [...]
Trevor Steven: England have mojo back as World Cup countdown begins November 16, 2021 As we’ve come to expect from Gareth Southgate’s England, they completed a very comfortable qualifying campaign for the Qatar 2022 World Cup with a flourish this week. While Monday’s 10-0 walkover in San Marino grabbed the headlines, a better benchmark of their performance came in Friday’s 5-0 win against Albania. England have got their mojo [...]
San Marino 0, England 10: Record win secures place at Qatar 2022 World Cup November 15, 2021 England swaggered into the 2022 World Cup finals by hitting 10 against 10-man San Marino in their biggest ever win in a competitive match on a night when it all went right for Gareth Southgate. Harry Kane plundered a morale-boosting four-goal haul and wrote more entries in the England record books, Emile Smith Rowe shone [...]
England 1, Hungary 1: Southgate’s attacking experiment backfires October 12, 2021 England missed the chance to take a major step towards confirming their place at next year’s World Cup as a dogged Hungary held them to a draw at Wembley tonight. John Stones dragged the hosts level after they had fallen behind to Roland Sallai’s penalty, given for Luke Shaw’s dangerously high boot, but Gareth Southgate’s [...]
Foden’s Andorra masterclass promises solution to England playmaker problem October 10, 2021 Fixtures like Andorra away represent something of a hiding to nothing for England, which also happens to be what they dished out in the Pyrenees on Saturday night. But with World Cup qualification not in any danger, this 5-0 win was more encouraging for the hints of evolution in Gareth Southgate’s plans that it revealed [...]