The International Football Federations Thread

[Lineker]

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Boris Johnson has described Russian plans to host the 2028 men’s European Championships as “beyond satire” and recommended the tournament be hosted by Ukraine, despite the UK and Ireland’s joint bid.

The prime minister was speaking in Brussels, where he is to attend a Nato summit addressing Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. On Wednesday, Russia expressed a declaration of interest in hosting the 2028 or 2032 Euros.

“The idea of Russia holding any idea of football tournament or any kind of cultural event right now is beyond satire,” Johnson said. “I can’t believe that anybody would seriously consider their suggestion and, yes, I think the best thing possible would be for the entire Russian forces to retire forthwith from Ukraine and hand the tournament to them.”

Johnson had been replying to a direct question over whether it would be better for Ukraine to host the Euros than Russia, but he apparently failed to recall that his own country had bid for the tournament and that he had tweeted in support of it. On Wednesday, a message from Johnson’s official account read: “The UK and Ireland bid for the UEFA Euro 2028 has this government’s full backing.

“Our world-class stadiums and passionate fans stand ready to host one of the world’s greatest sporting events. Let’s bring football home.”

Last year, the government gave £2.8m to UK football associations to explore a bid for the 2030 World Cup, with Johnson vocally supportive of the decision. He was reported to have lobbied the president of Uefa, Aleksander Ceferin, over the bid but the process ended with a decision to apply for the European Championship instead after finding “many areas of uncertainty” in a World Cup push. Allying with Ireland, the five nations’ bid is the favourite to secure the 2028 tournament.

The Russian expression of interest was received coldly by Uefa, which warned it could receive further sanctions should a full bid go ahead. Russian teams are banned from Uefa competition at international and club level and Fifa has removed the country from the qualifying process for the World Cup in Qatar.

 

[Lineker]

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China has withdrawn as host of the 2023 Asian Cup because of Covid-19.

The 24-team competition was to be held across 10 cities from June next year.

But the country is dealing with its worst coronavirus outbreak since the pandemic began.

"The AFC acknowledges the exceptional circumstances caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, which led to the relinquishment (by China) of its hosting rights," the governing body said in a statement.

It added it would announce details about the hosting of the tournament "in due course".

Shanghai in particular, where the new Pudong Football Stadium was unveiled in October 2021, has been under a tough lockdown for the last month.

Earlier this month, September's Asian Games, also due to be held in China, were postponed because of the country's coronavirus situation.

 

[Lineker]

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UEFA has confirmed that Euro 2024 will remain a 24-team tournament, but announced an expanded Nations League competition.

The governing body had considered a European Championship with 32 teams but said on Wednesday that “no change” had been proposed for the tournament in Germany.

UEFA said a new format, however, would be implemented after Euro 2024.

It was also confirmed that the Nations League tournament will be expanded after September 2024. 

That competition will feature a new knock-out round that will be played in March, with UEFA aiming to “create continuity” between the group phase ending in November and the semi-final and final stages in June. 

The League A group winners and runners-up will take part in a two-legged home-and-away quarter-finals, with the winners qualifying for the final four. 

Teams that finish third in League A and the runners-up of League B will play a promotion/relegation play-off. This will be the same format for the team that finished third in League B and the runners-up of League C. 

In other changes, the European qualifiers for the European Championship and World Cup will be more consolidated, with teams being drawn in 12 groups of four and five teams.

Teams drawn in groups of five will kick off the qualifiers in March, or in June if they are still competing in the UEFA Nations League quarter-finals or are involved in promotion/relegation matches. Teams drawn in groups of four will start their campaigns in September.

UEFA says that “the expansion of the UEFA Nations League into the International Match Calendar window of March will only concern a selected number of teams and the remaining teams will already be available to start the European Qualifiers.”

A statement added: “A new meaningful knock-out UEFA Nations League round combined with a more compact format of European Qualifiers results in more compelling ties without any increase in the overall number of matches.”

It has also been confirmed that the 2023 UEFA Super Cup has changed its destination to Athens, Greece. It will take place on Wednesday, August 16. 

The game had originally been due to be played in Kazan, Russia, but due to the country’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, there has been no working group set up by UEFA to discuss their return to the European fold, nor is it participating in one.

Russia’s national teams and clubs have been banned from UEFA and FIFA competitions since the end of last February due to the conflict.

 

[Lineker]

 

[stokeriño]

Saudi Arabia being the leading Hogan figure in an nWo trio fits almost too well.

[DFF]

https://news.sky.com/story/fifa-world-cup-to-have-40-more-matches-in-2026-12833518?

Looks like FIFA have at least made the 2026 comp less worse...

They are still having 48 teams, but it'll likely be 12 groups of 4 with top 2 and 8 best 3rd places going through. Effectively like USA 94 but double the size. 

[Bobfoc]

Now the problem is that we have to go through all the myriad permutations of which teams face each other in the first knockout round. The group stages always used to be my favourite part of major tournaments, but with this format, they feel more like a tedious process to get out of the way before anything meaningful happens.

That's not to say that the three-team groups were good either.

[gunnar hendershow]

Can't believe they didn't always go with this since it means for TV revenue. All the teams can offset by playing one less friendly I suppose.

[DFF]

The only way I see this going is them eventually going to 64 teams to re-balance the group stage to a smooth knockout competition. I reckon it'll be in place by 2040/44 ish. 

[The Lusophone]

47 minutes ago, damhausen said:

Can't believe they didn't always go with this since it means for TV revenue. All the teams can offset by playing one less friendly I suppose.

They didn't go with it originally because of objections from the clubs who didn't want an additional game to be played.

[Gazz]

2044 World Cup will be 64 teams, 16 groups of 4 with the top two in each group going through, plus the 15 best 3rd placed teams. The highest ranked team to not qualify will then be added into Group Phase 2, which is 16 groups of 4 with the top two in each group going through, plus the 15 best 3rd placed teams. The highest ranked team to not qualify will then be added into Group Phase 3, which is 16 groups of 4 with the top two in each group going through, plus the 15 best 3rd placed teams. The highest ranked team to not qualify will then be added into Group Phase 4...

[stokeriño]

I'm just waiting for the introduction of the Conference World Cup, which is played in parallel but exclusively on Thursday nights.

[Colly]

3 hours ago, DFF said:

The only way I see this going is them eventually going to 64 teams to re-balance the group stage to a smooth knockout competition. I reckon it'll be in place by 2040/44 ish. 

I could live with that to be honest. 64 team World Cup, 32 team Euros. Stupidly massive but at least they work as a tournament. 

[Colly]

Genuinely if you're ever bored search my posts on here for Draw Baldy. You could write a screenplay about my relationship with him.

 

[gunnar hendershow]

Juventus have been given back the points they were docked earlier in the season, because of course. They're back in prime Champions League position.

[stokeriño]

FIFA's relentless march towards turning every single one of their competitions into a fucking joke continues.

[Lineker]

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The United States will host Fifa’s first expanded Club World Cup in 2025, football’s global governing body has announced. Fifa’s president, Gianni Infantino, confirmed the 32-team tournament on the eve of the 2022 World Cup final.

Among the participants will be 12 European clubs, including the Champions League winners from 2021-24, meaning Chelsea, Real Madrid and Manchester City have qualified. The remaining European clubs will be determined by a ranking based on the same four-year period.

The other 20 slots will be filled by six clubs from South America, including the Copa Libertadores winners between 2021 and 2024; four from the North, Central America and Caribbean confederation, in principle the 2021-24 Concacaf Champions League winners; four clubs each from Africa and Asia, also based on the respective Champions League winners; one club from Oceania – the highest-ranked club from its 2021-24 Champions League winners; and one club from the host country.

“The Fifa Club World Cup 2025 will be the pinnacle of elite professional men’s club football,” Infantino said. “With the required infrastructure in place together with a massive local interest, the United States is the ideal host to kick off this new, global tournament.”

The US will also host the 2024 Copa América and co-host the 2026 World Cup with Mexico and Canada. The current version of the Club World Cup – an annual competition with seven teams – will be discontinued after this year’s tournament in Saudi Arabia in December.

The European Club Association has backed plans for the expanded Club World Cup but the World Leagues Forum expressed concern over Fifa’s “unilateral” decision to place it in the calendar.

 

[Lineker]

So - Turkey have merged their bid for 2032 with Italy - but Turkey STILL have their individual bid for 2028 standing… therefore, UK/ROI ’28 bid is NOT unopposed.

However, the UK/ROI bid has received a boost – as the analysis certainly can (and will be) that this increases chances of Turkey + Italy getting the 2032 edition and UK Ireland getting ’28, but it is not a foregone conclusion.

[Colly]

Turkey and Italy seems a weird combo with Greece in the middle.

[The Lusophone]

4 minutes ago, Colly said:

Turkey and Italy seems a weird combo with Greece in the middle.

Greece was, last I checked, part of a frankly doomed bid for the 2030 World Cup with Egypt and Saudi Arabia.