Governing Bodies
FIFA WORLD CUP EUROPEAN QUALIFYING DRAW HOLDS DECEMBER 7
The draw for European qualifying for the 2022 FIFA World Cup is to be made on December 7. The ceremony is to be a virtual one, in light of the coronavirus pandemic, but the draw itself will be made in Zurich.
UEFA’s 55 member nations are to be split into 10 groups – half containing five teams and the other half six sides.
Groups will be round-robin affairs, with teams playing each other home and away.
Group winners will advance to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, while runners-up will head to a series of play-offs.
The two highest-ranked teams from the 2020-2021 UEFA Nations League not to finish in the top two of their group will also be given a place in the play-offs, from which three of 12 teams will advance.
UEFA has 13 berths at the next World Cup in total.
When the draw is made, teams will be split into six pots depending on the world rankings as of November 26, and no group can have two teams from the same pot.
Group-stage matches are scheduled to be played between March and November in 2021 as thing stand, with one-legged play-offs following in March 2022.
With the international football calendar already congested due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the potential for more change, that timetable could yet change.
Speaking at the virtual FIFA Congress last month, President Gianni Infantino admitted he was “concerned” about delays to qualifying in Asia and the Americas.
The 2022 World Cup is due to run from November 21 to December 18 – taking place in the middle of most European seasons and away from the tournament’s usual window of June and July.
That, along with criticism for Qatar’s record on human rights and the treatment of migrant workers building stadiums to be used during the tournament, have been two of the biggest talking points in the run-up to the World Cup.
The Middle East has never before hosted the FIFA World Cup and Asia has only done so once before, when Japan and South Korea co-hosted in 2002.
France are the reigning men’s world champions, having beaten Croatia in the 2018 final
.-insidethegames
Governing Bodies
Nigeria becoming an epicentre of global badminton as Francis Orbih enters the Badminton World Federation Council
Laurels on the courts and now glory in the boardroom sums up the mark that badminton is making in Nigeria.
The President, Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN), Francis Orbih, has been elected as a council member of the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
The election took place during the BWF Annual General Meeting on Saturday in Xiamen, China.
Orbih emerged victorious over top contenders from other African countries.
He will join Cameroon’s Odette Assembe Engoulou on the council, while Chipo Zumburani (Zimbabwe) and Hadia ElSaid (Egypt) missed out.
An elated Orbih expressed his gratitude to fellow badminton presidents across the globe for their trust and support.
He said, “I am deeply honoured by the trust placed in me by my peers across the badminton world.
“I look forward to quality representation, driving development initiatives, and strengthening badminton’s global reach over the next four years.”
Orbih also acknowledged the support of the Federal Government of Nigeria, particularly the National Sports Commission (NSC), which he said played a significant role in his successful bid.
“The Chairman and the Director General of the NSC monitored the entire process. I’m grateful for their involvement and confident Nigeria will benefit from this,” he stated.
He further appreciated the BFN board members and the Nigerian badminton community for their prayers and continued belief in his leadership.
“From the day I declared my intentions, the board members of BFN have been supportive, and I promise not to disappoint them,” Orbih concluded.
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A former member of the FIFA Council, Mamoutou Toure, has been released from jail in Mali after almost two years in detention for alleged corruption, Malian media reports said on Wednesday.
Toure, president of the Malian Football Federation since 2019, was released after 622 days in prison on Tuesday.
He served on the FIFA Council, world football’s all-powerful decision-making body, for four years until last month when he lost his seat after failing to contest new elections.
The 67-year-old was arrested in August 2023 on allegations of embezzling $28 million of public funds but was granted a provisional release order by the Malian courts, reports said.
He was accused of misconduct during his time as the National Assembly’s financial and administrative director from 2013-2019.
Toure denied all charges and, during his time in jail, was last August re-elected as Malian Football Federation president for a second consecutive term, with his supporters claiming he was a victim of a conspiracy fuelled by detractors.
While in jail, he received a letter of support from FIFA president Gianni Infantino. However, as of last month, Toure is no longer a member of the FIFA Council or the Confederation of African Football’s executive committee.
-Reuters
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The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has denied reports of an outstanding debt to former captain Christian Chukwu and has challenged anyone with verifiable documents to prove otherwise.
Chukwu, a former national team captain and chief coach, died last Saturday.
The Nigeria Football Federation decried statements in a section of social media that the football-ruling body was indebted to the deceased.
Reacting to one statement on social media that claimed NFF owed the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations-winning team captain the sum of $128,000, NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, said: “There is no record in the NFF of any outstanding indebtedness to ‘Chairman’ Christian Chukwu.
“During the first term of the Board headed by Amaju Pinnick, a committee was set up to diligently peruse the papers of coaches who were being owed, even from previous NFF administrations.
“That committee was given the clear mandate to verify all debts and ensure that the coaches being owed were paid immediately. I am aware that the ‘Chairman’ was in the employ of the NFF between 2002 and 2005, before he was relieved of the post following the 1-1 draw with Angola in a FIFA World Cup qualifying match in Kano in August 2005. There is certainly no record of indebtedness to him in the NFF.”
Sanusi challenged anyone with genuine and verifiable documents of NFF indebtedness to any coach, who has worked with any of the National Teams over the past two decades, to come forward and tender those documents.
“As a credible organization that is very much alive to its responsibilities, if we are confronted with any genuine document of indebtedness to any coach, we will offset the debt immediately.”
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