The International Football Federations Thread

[Jimmy]

Prove it.

[MDK]

Bollocks, my mate Dave told me so.

[9 to 5]

No I didn't. :/

[Jimmy]

He said his friend :/

[9 to 5]

Cut. Deep.

[9 to 5]

Gibraltar got their first win after UEFA acceptance after beating Malta 1-0 tonight.

[Lineker]

Sepp Blatter has indicated he wants to seek a fifth term as Fifa president and called Uefa "disrespectful" after calls for his resignation.

He has been widely criticised over the damage corruption allegations have caused football's governing body.

But the 78-year-old Swiss said he was angered by calls by his European counterparts for him to quit.

"This was the most disrespectful thing I've ever experienced in my entire life," he said at Fifa's congress.

Ahead of the 2014 World Cup, which starts in Brazil on Thursday, Blatter said "his mission is not finished" after Fifa decided not to impose an age limit nor maximum terms for officials.

Meanwhile, he floated a new proposal for matches where managers would be allowed two challenges to refereeing decisions during a match with immediate television reviews.

Any such plan would need to be approved by the International Football Association Board.

With continuing controversy over Qatar's successful bid to host the 2022 World Cup, Blatter has come in for increasing criticism.

On Tuesday, he faced calls from Football Association chairman Greg Dyke and a number of senior European members to keep to his 2011 pledge and step down next year.

However, Blatter was greeted with applause as he gave his closing remarks at Fifa's annual congress on Wednesday.

"I know that my mandate will finish next year on 29 May in Zurich, but my mission is not finished," he said.

"We will build the new Fifa together. We have the foundations today because we have the budget for the next four years.

"Congress you will decide who takes this great institution forward. But I can tell you I am ready to accompany you in the future."

At the annual congress, investigator Michael Garcia said he has already reviewed the majority of the files obtained by the Sunday Times as part of his long-running investigation into the Qatar 2022 World Cup bid.

The New York lawyer announced last week that he would not extend the investigation beyond 9 June after the British newspaper published a series of articles based on a huge leak of secret emails and documents.

That prompted fears he was ignoring evidence that The Sunday Times claimed was proof that former Qatari football chief Mohamed Bin Hammam helped secure the 2022 World Cup for the Gulf state through secret deals and favours.

But Garcia told Fifa's congress on Wednesday: "No-one should assume what information we have or do not have.

"The vast majority of that material has been available for us for some time, long before the recent wave of media reports.

"We have gone to what appears to us to be the original source of that data and we are confident that we will have full access to whatever else may be in that data set and we will review that data for anything else relevant prior to issuing any final report."

Garcia also revealed that, over the last six months, he has spoken to representatives of every bid team involved in the joint bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

He said he and his team have "spoken to or attempted to speak to" every member of the Fifa executive committee who voted in the election in December 2010, whether they remain active football officials or not.

This would appear to suggest that Garcia has attempted to interview Bin Hammam, even though the former Fifa vice-president was banned from football for life for his part in another bribery scandal in 2011.

Garcia, a former US district attorney, is expected to hand over his report to Fifa's adjudicatory chamber in the next six weeks.

Blatter said last week that he expected a summary of Garcia's findings to be made public in the autumn.

Blatter also suggested that the aim for the future was to one day have an intra-planetary World Cup.

[9 to 5]

[Lineker]

Platini has announced that he does not want Blatter to stand for re-election but wouldn't go as far to say whether he would run himself.

[DFF]

I guess this would go in here...

From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/28235156

Nigeria suspended from international football by Fifa

Nigeria have been suspended from all international football by Fifa amid allegations of government interference in its football federation.

The ban means no Nigerian team - including club sides - can play internationally.

Fifa had given Nigeria's government until Tuesday to reinstate the sacked Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) executive committee.

The NFF was dissolved last week and replaced by a sole administrator.

In a statement, Fifa - world football's governing body - said the suspension will be lifted once the "properly elected NFF executive committee, the NFF general assembly and the NFF administration are able to work without any interference in their affairs".

Fifa statement

"During the period of suspension, the NFF may not be represented in any regional, continental or international competitions, including at club level, or in friendly matches."

The most immediate effect is that Nigeria will not be entitled to participate in the upcoming Under-20 Women's World Cup, which starts on 5 August - should the suspension not be lifted by 15 July.

Nigeria's government had said their move was essential while legal proceedings against the country's football authority were ongoing, with NFF president Aminu Maigari arrested upon his return from the World Cup.

All this comes in the wake of a high court ruling which granted "an interlocutory injunction" to suspend Maigari, his executive committee and the NFF congress.

An extraordinary general assembly of the federation went ahead in Abuja on Saturday, which voted out the NFF leadership who have been accused of derailing the country's World Cup campaign in Brazil, despite Fifa's warning of a possible suspension.

The government says the NFF have sent documents to show that the general assembly was held according to Fifa statutes and so the vote to remove the board at that meeting should stand.

African champions Nigeria reached the second round of the World Cup in Brazil for only the third time in their history, after they also did so in 1994 and 1998.

[Colly]

FIFA are just annoyed about how good Shola is.

[Lineker]

They've been unsuspended now.

We're down to 20th in the world rankings! Lofty.

[The Lusophone]

About right probably. Have the ELO rankings been updated yet?

[Colly]

Mr Blue Sky is still top.

[brenchill]

Please tell us why, we had to hide away for so long!

[Lineker]

England's bid to host the semi-finals and final of Euro 2020 at Wembley could be unopposed, with Munich thought to be considering dropping its rival bid.

The German football association (DFB) may only bid for Munich to host group games in order to strengthen Germany's bid to host Euro 2024.

"Our decision is open," said DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach.

"We have an excellent relationship with the FA and we are thinking about how we can support the other association."

Euro 2020 will be held in 13 countries across Europe to mark the 60th anniversary of the tournament. Only Munich and London have bid to stage the final matches.

Uefa's executive committee will vote on the host cities for the 2020 tournament on 19 September.

Nineteen cities have bid to host the early-round fixtures, including Glasgow, Cardiff and Dublin.

Niersbach confirmed that Germany would bid for Euro 2024, with Turkey likely to be the country's main opponent for the staging of that tournament.

[The Lusophone]

Woo! Yeah! Winning by default!

[King Ellis]

Woo! Yeah! Winning by default!

The two sweetest words in the English language!

[MDK]

That will be brilliant to watch down at Brisbane Road, or as it will be known by then, The Kevin Lisbie Stadium.

[Lineker]

The latest Fifa rankings are out, and the big winners are Costa Rica, who have now overtaken the USA to become the top-ranked Concacaf team in 15th position. England remain 20th, sandwiched between the traditional footballing powerhouses of er, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Ecuador. Germany, Argentina and the Netherlands are the unchanged top three.