Latest news with #MattiasGrafstrom
Time of India
2 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
FIFPro writes to FIFA: Use your power to protect ISL players
The next edition of the ISL has been paused by FSDL, the All India Football Federation's marketing partners, since there is no clarity over the Master Rights Agreement (MRA) beyond Dec 8 this year Panaji: The global football players' union has urged FIFA to use its vast wealth and power to resolve the 'alarming situation' faced by footballers employed by Indian Super League (ISL) clubs, many of whom have suspended or deferred player salaries. FIFPro, a global body that represents 66,000 men's and women's players around the world, said unlawful suspensions of contracts, combined with the general state of uncertainty surrounding the near future of the top-tier ISL, have plunged players into a great state of uncertainty and distress. 'Whilst I understand that you might at first glance consider this to be a purely national matter, if FIFA wishes to make football truly global, then it should use its vast wealth and power (to come up with a solution),' FIFPro secretary general Alex Phillips wrote to his FIFA counterpart Mattias Grafstrom early this week, also recording president Gianni Infantino's 'close relationship with Chair of FSDL'. 'FIFA cannot continue to effectively ignore one in five people on the planet,' he added. The next edition of the ISL has been paused by FSDL, the All India Football Federation's marketing partners, since there is no clarity over the Master Rights Agreement (MRA) beyond Dec 8 this year. The federation maintains it cannot act because the Supreme Court made an oral observation that the renewal of the agreement should not be done until its final order. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like When the Camera Clicked at the Worst Possible Time Read More Undo The uncertainty has prompted three clubs to put player salaries on hold; others have suggested deferment, while six clubs are yet to start pre-season training. A significant number of players, FIFPro said, approached its members to report unilateral suspensions of their contracts by ISL clubs, with their livelihoods and careers now on the line. "Unfortunately, there is currently no clear roadmap in terms of the next competition edition's kick-off and calendar, but also no financial stability, which is obviously fundamental for all interested parties, especially the players who we represent,' said Phillips, adding that this was also causing severe damage to the wider football ecosystem in India. Interestingly, in 2018, Philips as head of UEFA-AFC affairs and Nic Coward, consultant to FIFA, had authored a report titled 'The Sustainable Development of Top-level Indian Club Football --- A Road Map' which recommended an expanded football league with 16 teams no later than 2022-23, with the bottom two teams being relegated. The 14-page report had also requested FIFA to take an interest, and prioritise, genuine football development in Asia (and Africa) in general, and in India in particular, not least because it is now the world's most populous country with a large and youthful population. Stay updated with the latest local news from your city on Times of India (TOI). Check upcoming bank holidays , public holidays , and current gold rates and silver prices in your area. Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Happy Independence Day wishes , messages , and quotes !
Morocco World
12-06-2025
- Business
- Morocco World
Club World Cup Kicks Off…to a Half-Empty Stadium?
The inaugural match of the expanded Club World Cup is just days away, but the buzz in Miami is surprisingly flat. FIFA had hoped that Lionel Messi's Inter Miami facing Egypt's Al Ahly would be enough to pack the stands at the Hard Rock Stadium. Yet, only around 25,000 tickets have reportedly been sold so far, well short of the venue's 65,000 capacity. The sluggish demand has forced organisers to slash ticket prices dramatically. What started at $349 has dropped to $55, and some university students can attend for as little as $4 through local promotions. FIFA says it is not worried. According to The Athletic, Secretary General Mattias Grafstrom insists this is not just a commercial event but a long-term investment to grow football in the United States. The broadcast rights, however, sold for one billion dollars, and the winning team stands to collect $125 million in prize money. So the commercial weight of the competition is hard to ignore. Real Madrid and Boca Juniors appear to be drawing strong crowds, with matches involving both clubs among the most in-demand. But the rest of the Club World Cup is facing a steeper challenge. Fans from abroad are struggling with visa concerns, and strict US immigration policies have added to the uncertainty. FIFA hopes the dynamic pricing model, which adjusts ticket costs based on demand, will help. For now, the governing body is holding firm, insisting that fans from over 130 countries have already secured their seats. The first whistle blows on Saturday night in Florida. FIFA needs more than just Messi to make this launch feel like a global showpiece. Tags: Club World CupInter MiamiMessi
Scottish Sun
07-06-2025
- 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
07-06-2025
- 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
05-06-2025
- 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.
