Latest news with #MattiasGrafstrom
Scottish Sun
a day ago
- Sport
- Scottish Sun
Club World Cup to trial FIVE ‘trailblazing innovations' as Fifa chief confirms ‘groundbreaking' new rule changes
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) THE Club World Cup will trial five brand new rule changes when it kicks off later this month. Fifa's revamped tournament gets underway on June 15 and will see top clubs from around the globe face off for an elaborate trophy and mega prize money. 5 Fifa have announced five rule changes for the upcoming Club World Cup Credit: Reuters 5 Fifa secretary general Mattias Grafstrom has labelled the changes as 'trailblazing innovations' Credit: PA The tournament, which used to feature just six teams, has been expanded to 32 teams, spanning Europe, South America, North America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. But it's not just the tournament format that is going to look different, but also the way the games are officiated, after Fifa announced five "trailblazing innovations" to be used in the competition. Football's world governing body, and tournament organisers, have revealed that fans will get to see more of the referee's decision making than ever before. The first change announced is that referees will wear body cameras during matches, with the footage used during live match broadcasts. READ MORE ON FOOTBALL LIONESS LOVE SPLIT England's Millie Bright leaves fiancé & falls for married gym trainer While footage from referee monitor reviews (VAR) will be aired live inside the stadium - something Premier League fans have been asking to see for some time. Fifa will also trial an "advanced" semi-automated offside technology using sensors inside the balls, in hopes of making further improvement on the tech already used in Uefa competitions like the Champions League. A fourth change will be the use of AI to collect live match data, helping fans see even more stats and figures to dissect the match. While the final innovation is that managers and coaching staff will be able to request their substitutions to the fourth official through a digital tablet, doing away with the old fashioned paper slips used at present. 5 Referee's will wear body cameras that will be used during TV broadcasts 5 VAR replays will be shown on screens inside stadiums at the tournament Credit: Reuters CASINO SPECIAL - BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS Fifa's secretary general Mattias Grafstrom praised the organisation for the new additions. He said: "Fifa has a proud history of breaking new ground at its elite tournaments, and the Fifa Club World Cup will continue that trend. The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup will see the World's best players decide which club is the greatest "With the best clubs competing for the title of world champions, it is fitting that these trailblazing innovations will be on display at such a prestigious tournament." The tournament will be broadcast for free on streaming service DAZN in the UK. Fans can look forward to rare matchups between teams from different continents with clubs like Real Madrid, Flamengo, Man City, Chelsea and Lionel Messi's Inter Miami all involved. The tournament is taking place across the United States of America, with top NFL and MLS stadiums hosting the matches. The final, which takes place on July 13, will be hosted in New York at the MetLife Stadium - home of the New York Jets and New York Giants. Fifa's new Club World Cup rules Here's a look at the five new 'trailblazing innovations' introduced by Fifa for the Club World Cup... Referees will wear body cameras with the footage used on live match broadcasts. Footage from referee monitor reviews will be aired live in stadiums. Advanced semi-automated offside technology will be in use. Balls will have a sensor inside. AI will be used to collect live match data as part of FIFA's partnership with Hawk-Eye. Substitutions will be requested on a digital tablet rather than via paper slips.
The Irish Sun
a day ago
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
Club World Cup to trial FIVE ‘trailblazing innovations' as Fifa chief confirms ‘groundbreaking' new rule changes
THE Club World Cup will trial five brand new rule changes when it kicks off later this month. Fifa's revamped tournament gets underway on June 15 and will see top clubs from around the globe face off for 5 Fifa have announced five rule changes for the upcoming Club World Cup Credit: Reuters 5 Fifa secretary general Mattias Grafstrom has labelled the changes as 'trailblazing innovations' Credit: PA The tournament, which used to feature just six teams, has been expanded to 32 teams, spanning Europe, South America, North America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. But it's not just the tournament format that is going to look different, but also the way the games are officiated, after Fifa announced five "trailblazing innovations" to be used in the competition. Football's world governing body, and tournament organisers, have revealed that fans will get to see more of the referee's decision making than ever before. The first change announced is that referees will wear body cameras during matches, with the footage used during live match broadcasts. READ MORE ON FOOTBALL While footage from referee monitor reviews (VAR) will be aired live inside the stadium - something Premier League fans have been asking to see for some time. Fifa will also trial an "advanced" semi-automated offside technology using sensors inside the balls, in hopes of making further improvement on the tech already used in Uefa competitions like the Champions League. A fourth change will be the use of AI to collect live match data, helping fans see even more stats and figures to dissect the match. While the final innovation is that managers and coaching staff will be able to request their substitutions to the fourth official through a digital tablet, doing away with the old fashioned paper slips used at present. Most read in Football 5 Referee's will wear body cameras that will be used during TV broadcasts 5 VAR replays will be shown on screens inside stadiums at the tournament Credit: Reuters Club World Cup 2025 Guide SOME of the world's biggest clubs are heading Stateside for a MAMMOTH Club World Cup. Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, Man City, and Inter Miami are among the 32 teams taking part in the tournament, which runs from June 14 to July 13. Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland, Ousmane Dembele, Cole Palmer and Harry Kane will be showing their skills to packed crowds across the US. Los Blancos are favourites to lift the trophy in New York but will face stiff competition from around the globe. Here's everything you need to know ahead of the tournament... INFO Everything you need to know ahead of the Club World Cup LATEST NEWS & FEATURES Club World Cup winner Gary Lineker Referees to How CASINO SPECIAL - BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS Fifa's secretary general Mattias Grafstrom praised the organisation for the new additions. He said: "Fifa has a proud history of breaking new ground at its elite tournaments, and the Fifa Club World Cup will continue that trend. The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup will see the World's best players decide which club is the greatest "With the best clubs competing for the title of world champions, it is fitting that these trailblazing innovations will be on display at such a prestigious tournament." The tournament will be broadcast for free on streaming service DAZN in the UK. Fans can look forward to rare matchups between teams from different continents with clubs like Real Madrid, Flamengo, Man City, The tournament is taking place across the United States of America, with top NFL and MLS stadiums hosting the matches. The final, which takes place on July 13, will be hosted in New York at the MetLife Stadium - home of the New York Jets and New York Giants. Fifa's new Club World Cup rules Here's a look at the five new 'trailblazing innovations' introduced by Fifa for the Club World Cup... Referees will wear body cameras with the footage used on live match broadcasts. Footage from referee monitor reviews will be aired live in stadiums. Advanced semi-automated offside technology will be in use. Balls will have a sensor inside. AI will be used to collect live match data as part of FIFA's partnership with Hawk-Eye. Substitutions will be requested on a digital tablet rather than via paper slips. 5
New York Times
3 days ago
- Business
- New York Times
Thousands of Club World Cup tickets unsold, Brailsford steps back, Ronaldo's Portugal winner
The Athletic FC ⚽ is The Athletic's daily football (or soccer, if you prefer) newsletter. Sign up to receive it directly to your inbox. Hello! It's almost Club World Cup time. Don't all rush at once. ✂️ More CWC ticket price cuts 🚶 Brailsford steps aside at Man Utd 💰 £55m bid for Bryan Mbeumo 🏎️ Leeds Utd race Red Bull F1 The Athletic's Felipe Cardenas has an interview today with Mattias Grafstrom. I don't imagine the name will immediately ring a bell, but it's worth remembering. Grafstrom, a Swede, is FIFA's secretary general, with more than a little power. He was once chief of staff for its president, Gianni Infantino. Advertisement He's also the man who redesigned FIFA's Club World Cup (CWC), creating the 32-team tournament which starts in the United States next week. It was interesting to see him tell Felipe that the CWC was 'not a commercial venture as such'. From the outside looking in, it doesn't seem to be anything else. DAZN, for instance, paid $1billion for broadcast rights (which no other outlet wanted at that price — but let's not get bogged down in that). The 2025 winners will earn $125m, a Champions League-esque fee for considerably less effort. Grafstrom says FIFA is trying to grow the sport but, fundamentally, it's taken big money for some of the teams involved to give the competition their full attention. Unfortunately for FIFA, the paying public aren't rushing to buy into it. Adam Crafton reports that the opening match, between Inter Miami and Egyptian team Al Ahly in Miami on June 14, is struggling to sell out. The game, likely to feature Lionel Messi (above), is nowhere near capacity, so ticket prices are being cut. Is a late rush coming? Or is the model created by Grafstom failing to land? FIFA is running a dynamic pricing model for the 2025 CWC. In essence, the cost of tickets is dictated by demand: the more popular a fixture, the more it costs to attend. Real Madrid games, for instance, are holding up. None of their fixtures are cheaper than $132. Boca Juniors look like drawing crowds too. But sources spoken to by Adam said Miami were looking at an attendance of lower than 20,000 — 45,000 beneath capacity — for the first fixture. FIFA denied this but would not specify a figure itself. Tickets for that game are available for a lowest price of $55, far below the $230 being charged in January and $349 when the CWC draw was made before the turn of the year. There's a suspicion that plenty of CWC matches will play out in front of swathes of empty seats, an image FIFA wants to avoid. Advertisement Infantino has said previously he wasn't 'worried at all' about ticket sales, because the FIFA boss is a can-do sort. The world governing body insists fans from over 130 countries have purchased seats to date. Grafstrom told Felipe that the CWC should help football expand further in the States. It makes all the right noises, FIFA, but how much is it telling itself what it wants to hear? Sir Dave Brailsford is widely known as Mr Marginal Gains. In the days when he ran Team Sky, before trouble enveloped them, the cycling outfit were the Tour de France's tour de force. The 61-year-old is a key figure at INEOS, Manchester United's minority shareholder, so it stood to reason that when INEOS took a stake in United in 2023, Brailsford would bring his competitive mind to Old Trafford. He did — but yesterday it emerged that he's stepping back again. In INEOS' 18 months, United haven't made marginal gains. They haven't made large gains either. Brailsford has been in the thick of everything that's gone on — a period of on-field regression and deep financial cuts — and his return to the role of INEOS' director of sport can be taken as an admission that his input hasn't worked. At all. In another shuffle, Jason Wilcox is being promoted by United from technical director to director of football. It's a fresh rearrangement of the deckchairs, but Wilcox has a part to play. Not so Brailsford, who won't be roundly missed. You know it's the off season when professional footballers are participating in an on-field drag race with a Formula One car. That was the scene at Elland Road, where three members of Leeds United's squad tried (and predictably failed) to outpace Red Bull's RB7 model. Footnote: it didn't collide with any of them. Advertisement The purpose of the stunt? No idea, beyond a bit of fun, and the ground staff must have been thrilled. But in a serious sense, it's an example of how intertwined Red Bull is becoming with Leeds, its first equity investment in the English game. The purchase of club shares by Red Bull last year was going to be scrutinised, because of its contentious ownership history elsewhere in the world. But far from keeping its head down in Leeds, the energy drink giant — a minority partner — has its branding on the club's kit and its 2011 F1 car on their pitch. There's no missing the collaboration. Leeds' chairman, Paraag Marathe, said at the outset that a majority sale to Red Bull was not on the table. Perhaps that holds true. But I'm constantly fascinated to see if and how its interest evolves, in a league it is yet to crack. (Selected games, times ET/UK) UEFA Nations League semi-final: Spain vs France, 3pm/8pm — Fox Sports, Fubo/Amazon Prime. CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers: Ecuador vs Brazil, 7pm/12am — Fanatiz PPV/Premier Sports; Paraguay vs Uruguay, 7pm/12pm — Fanatiz PPV (U.S. only); Chile vs Argentina, 9pm/2am — Fanatiz PPV (U.S. only). Virtually nobody on England's side of the Irish Sea would have registered the quiet, five-figure trade between Liverpool and Ringmahon Rangers in 2015. It moved a teenage Caoimhin Kelleher from Ireland to Anfield, long before the goalkeeper's name meant anything to the wider world. Ringmahon's secretary, Sean Fitzgerald, had the presence of mind to sweeten the deal with a 20 per cent sell-on clause. A decade on, and as a knock-on effect of Kelleher's £12.5m transfer from Liverpool to Brentford on Tuesday, it's about to pay out in the grassroots club's favour. The precise amount is yet to be calculated — but Fitzgerald isn't far wrong when he says the windfall should protect Ringmahon for 100 years. Safe hands all round.
Middle East Eye
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
Fifa faces renewed scrutiny over delay in action against Israeli FA
Fifa is once again under fire for what critics and rights organisations describe as "politically motivated stalling" in its handling of long-standing complaints against the Israel Football Association (IFA). At its 75th annual congress in Paraguay on 15 May, Fifa general secretary Mattias Grafstrom said two internal committees are still reviewing whether the IFA has violated Fifa statutes by including clubs based in illegal Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory in its national league. Fifa's congress is essentially its general annual assembly, where major decisions about global football governance are made. Grafstrom said that the committees are requesting further expert input, particularly on territorial issues, and emphasised the independence of the process. However, human rights group FairSquare argued on Wednesday that the delay reflects Fifa's 'ad hoc and selective enforcement of its rules'. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters The organisation, which conducts investigative research on sport, labour migration and political repression, said the IFA's conduct breaches several core Fifa principles, including respect for international law, opposition to racial discrimination, and prohibition of political interference in sport. FairSquare's report, released in 2024, submitted alongside similar calls from the Palestinian Football Association (PFA), Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and UN experts, accused the IFA of operating clubs in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, such as Ma'aleh Adumim, Kiryat Arba, and Ariel. In a 2016 report, HRW urged Fifa to require the IFA to move all Fifa-sanctioned games and activities inside Israel, saying that by holding games on illegal settlements, Fifa was tarnishing the integrity of football and violating its human rights responsibilities. Gaza Olympics 2048: Ahmed Masoud's vision of Palestine a century after Nakba Read More » 'The illegality of Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory is a matter of established fact,' said FairSquare, citing a 2016 UN Security Council resolution and a 2024 International Court of Justice ruling. The status of Israeli settlements is widely regarded as a violation of international law, with the United Nations and International Court of Justice affirming that these settlements constitute a breach of the Geneva Conventions. According to Fifa's statutes, a football association may not organise matches in the territory of another association without permission, a rule the PFA said the IFA has flouted for over a decade. The PFA has repeatedly called on Fifa to suspend or expel the IFA, citing violations that include systemic racial discrimination, the destruction of Palestinian sports infrastructure, and the killing of Palestinian players. Many of these issues predate the October 2023 Hamas attack and the subsequent Israeli military offensive on Gaza. 'Our issue, sadly, again, is stuck in a highly politicised, bureaucratic holding pattern, not unlike the suffering of our people. Visible, undeniable, but sadly ignored,' PFA Vice President Susan Shalabi told delegates during Fifa's Congress earlier this month. Under Article 16 of Fifa's statutes, both the Fifa Council and the full congress have the authority to suspend member associations. Yet despite multiple proposals by the PFA since 2013 and again in 2024 and 2025, the Fifa Congress has never been allowed to vote on the matter. In 2017, the FIFA Council declined to act, saying that 'Fifa must remain neutral with regard to political matters' and effectively closed the case. In March 2024, the PFA formally requested that the Fifa Congress discuss sanctions against IFA. Fifa President Gianni Infantino responded by mandating an independent legal analysis, which has not been made public. As of now, Fifa says the review process remains ongoing, with new committee members still being briefed.
Qatar Tribune
12-05-2025
- Sport
- Qatar Tribune
FIFA U-17 World Cup Qatar 2025 official emblem illuminates emerging talent
A modern, dynamic brand for the FIFA U-17 World Cup Qatar 2025 has been revealed ahead of the first 48-team edition of the tournament which will take place in November 2025. The fresh emblem cleverly incorporates the coveted trophy as negative space within the 'U' of 'U-17', creating a bold silhouette that also represents a spotlight, which is the core symbol of the tournament's new identity. The result is an engaging brand that respects the FIFA U-17 World Cup's heritage, while looking ahead to the future of the game, as FIFA and the host nation join forces to illuminate emerging players, who are firmly at the heart of the story. The warm, overlapping layers of colour radiate outwards, representing football's worldwide reach, inclusivity and dynamism, highlighting the discovery and growth of young talent. Serving as a beacon, it captures the energy and ambition of aspiring players, celebrating their journey from local pitches to the world stage and inspiring fans with the promise of future stars. 'We are excited for the brand launch of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, which will form an important fixture in Qatar's football calendar for the next five years,' said Qatar's Minister of Sports and Youth and Chairman of the Local Organising Committee, HE Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Thani. 'Since the start of this decade, Qatar has delivered world-class football events on the regional, continental and global levels. Turning our attention to youth tournaments was the natural next step, stemming from our long-term investment in youth development in sport.' 'We look forward to welcoming U-17 squads from around the world to the first 48-team World Cup in history, and hope that their experience of our state-of-the-art infrastructure and facilities offers an inspirational glimpse of what they could expect in the future as they progress further in their footballing careers.' 'The FIFA U-17 World Cup has proven to be an important stepping stone for the next generation of the world's best young footballers, who display exceptional skill and dedication,' said FIFA Secretary General Mattias Grafstrom. 'The tournament's new Official Emblem emphasises the team spirit, youthful audacity, remarkable strength, and optimism which will be on full display in November 2025. The well-proven ability of Qatar as a host of FIFA events merged with the country's exceptional infrastructure and warm hospitality will provide the perfect stage for this historic competition.' All 48 teams have already qualified for the biggest-ever edition of the showpiece youth tournament that saw the likes of Luis Figo, Francesco Totti, Ronaldinho, Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Neymar and Phil Foden rise to stardom. A brand-new tournament format will play out as Germany look to defend the title that they won in thrilling fashion at the tournament in Indonesia in 2023, when they beat France on penalties in a dramatic final. In the coming months, FIFA will unveil further details in the build-up to the FIFA U-17 World Cup Qatar 2025, including the tournament's draw which will take place in Doha on 25 May 2025 and be live-streamed on FIFA+. Those interested in receiving information on how to apply for tickets can register here:
