International Football
WORLD CUP 2030 HOSTS TO EMERGE IN 2024
FIFA has confirmed it will select the host for the 2030 World Cup in 2024 and the bidding process will be launched in the second quarter of 2022.
The timeline for the awarding of 2030 tournament was among the key topics discussed at a meeting of FIFA’s ruling Council in Shanghai.
It means the host selected to stage the 2030 World Cup will have just six years to prepare for the event.
Four South American countries are set to bid for the tournament to mark the 100-year centenary since the first World Cup took place in Uruguay in 1930.
Britain and Ireland are conducting a feasibility study into a potential bid, but could face another European rival in a joint candidacy from Spain and Portugal.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino suggested in June that a Chinese bid for the 2030 World Cup was possible despite the governing body’s preferred rotational model for selecting the host country.
It is not clear whether China will be eligible to bid for the event as Qatar is staging the tournament in 2022.
Previously, confederations have been excluded from the next two bidding processes once they have staged the World Cup.
But FIFA’s statutes prohibit continents from entering the race for only the next edition after they have played host.
China was today confirmed as the host of the 2021 Club World Cup, the first to be held under the revamped format of 24 teams.
Reports surfaced earlier this week that China was the only candidate to stage the event and FIFA’s Council unanimously appointed the Asian country as hosts.
The cities and venues have not been confirmed and will be decided by FIFA and the Chinese Football Association.
FIFA delayed a decision on how the 24 places will be allocated among the six regional confederations, but reports suggest Europe will be given eight, South America six, Asia three, Central and North America three and Africa three.
Oceania is the only region not guaranteed an automatic berth at the tournament.
The Associated Press reported the winner of the Oceania Champions League would have to playoff against the Chinese champions for the final place.
“The participation model to determine the clubs that qualify from each confederation will be finalised in a consultation process between FIFA and the six confederations,” FIFA said.
The new Club World Cup will be held every four years and replaces the seven-team annual event which has failed to cement itself on the global football calendar.
It will be staged in June-July in a slot previously reserved for the Confederations Cup.
FIFA also announced it would double the amount of investment in women’s football to $1 billion (£776 million/€898 million) in the 2019-2022 cycle, while Tokyo has been chosen as the location for the 2021 Congress.
International Football
Former Brazil coach Tite taking break to take care of mental, physical health
Former Brazil coach Tite said he is taking an indefinite career break in order to take care of his mental and physical health.
The 63-year-old, who led Brazil to the 2019 Copa America title, was hospitalised due to a heart issue last August. He was sacked by Flamengo the following month and had most recently been linked with the Corinthians job.
“I realised that there are times when you have to understand that, as a human being, I can be vulnerable and admitting that will certainly make me stronger,” Tite said in a statement posted on his son Matheus Bachi’s Instagram on Tuesday.
“I’m passionate about what I do and I’ll continue to be so, but after talking to my family and observing the signals my body was giving off, I decided that the best thing to do now is to take a break from my career to look after myself for as long as it takes.
“As has become public, there was a conversation in progress with Corinthians, but it will have to be paralysed by a difficult but necessary decision.”
Tite, who stepped down as Brazil coach after their quarter-final exit from the 2022 World Cup, has previously coached a string of Brazilian sides including Gremio, Atletico Mineiro and Palmeiras.
-Reuters
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Brazil have sacked head coach Dorival Jr, the country’s football confederation (CBF) said on Friday after the five-time world champions were thrashed 4-1 away to fierce rivals Argentina in a humiliating qualifying loss in Buenos Aires.
The 62-year-old was appointed in January 2024 after the team spent a year under two caretaker coaches as the Brazilian FA were unable to lure Italian Carlo Ancelotti from Real Madrid.
“The Brazilian Football Confederation informs that coach Dorival Jr is no longer in charge of the Brazilian national team,” the confederation said in a statement.
“The management thanks (Dorival) and wishes him success in continuing his career … the CBF will work to find his replacement,” it added.
Dorival was handed the job after his success with Flamengo in 2022 where he won the Copa Libertadores and Brazilian Cup, a trophy he lifted again the next year with Sao Paulo.
However, he never seemed to get to grips with the national team job and failed to earn the trust of Brazil’s demanding fans after winning only seven of his 16 games in charge.
Sources told Reuters the CBF was not confident in Dorival’s work, considering there had been little to no progress since a lacklustre Copa America campaign when Brazil were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Uruguay last year.
Still, the CBF was willing to wait and see until the 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Ecuador and Paraguay in June to reassess the situation following the end of the European season and the Club World Cup in the U.S. in June and July.
But after Brazil slumped to their heaviest-ever loss in a qualifier when they were thrashed by Argentina this week, CBF president Ednaldo Rodrigues decided to pull the trigger.
IDEAL CANDIDATE
Sources told Reuters Ancelotti was still the ideal candidate but he is under contract with Real until July 2026 and there is no indication he would leave the European and Spanish champions.
Brazilian media have reported that Al Hilal’s Portuguese coach Jorge Jesus is the favourite to replace Dorival.
Brazil have been in unfamiliar territory for over two years since crashing out of the 2022 World Cup against Croatia on penalties in the quarter-finals, a heartbreaking elimination that led to the exit of long-time manager Tite.
Their humbling defeat in Buenos Aires was the latest of a series of negative records Brazil have set under caretakers Ramon Menezes and Fernando Diniz and with Dorival in charge. They had never conceded four goals in a World Cup qualifier.
Brazil are in the midst of their worst-ever World Cup qualifying campaign. They are fourth in the South American standings with 21 points, a point above sixth-placed Colombia who currently occupy the final direct qualifying berth.
Never have Brazil lost so many games, conceded so many goals or set so many negative records in the qualifying competition. They have lost five of their 14 games and conceded 16 goals.
Brazil’s 1-0 defeat by Argentina in the Maracana late in 2023 was their first-ever qualifying loss on home soil.
They also lost to Colombia for the first time, saw the end of their unbeaten run against Uruguay stretching back over two decades and were defeated by Morocco and Senegal, having never previously lost to an African nation.
-Reuters
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International Football
England’s German manager Tuchel will not sing the English anthem in his first game
England manager Thomas Tuchel said he would have to “earn the right” to sing the national anthem, God Save the King, after announcing his 26-man squad on Friday ahead of the team’s World Cup qualifiers.
Tuchel, who was appointed as Gareth Southgate’s successor in October and named his first squad to face Albania and Latvia this month, said he would not sing the anthem in his first games in charge.
“It means a lot to me, I can assure you, but I can feel that because it is so meaningful and it is so emotional and it is so powerful, the national anthem, that I have to earn my right to sing it,” the 51-year-old German told a news conference.
Former caretaker manager Lee Carsley was criticised last year for not singing the anthem during his tenure.
However, Tuchel added that while he is proud to be in charge of the team and knows the words to the anthem, he plans to earn the right with results.
“Maybe I have to dive more into the culture and earn my right from you, from the players, from the supporters, so everyone feels like ‘he should sing it now, he’s one of our own, he’s the English manager, he should sing it’,” he said.
-Reuters
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