Sao Paulo's World Cup stadium will be ready on time, FIFA said on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after warning the city it could lose the right to stage matches because of delays in building the new arena.
Soccer's governing body said it had reached a settlement with stadium owners Corinthians the day after the two parties were involved in a public disagreement.
Corinthians president Andres Sanchez said there had been some misunderstanding between the two sides, but promised to have the stadium completed on the originally agreed date of December 31.
"This was an excellent meeting. There was some misunderstanding but Sao Paulo and Corinthians are aware of their responsibilities," Sanchez said, according to a FIFA statement....
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12:29 PM, May 16, 2013
Rio de Janeiro: FIFA has warned that Sao Paulo could be stripped of its status as a 2014 World Cup host city due to stadium construction delays. Local officials last week said the Itaquerao Stadium would not be ready until at least March next year, more than two months after the FIFA deadline. But FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke Tuesday said there would be no compromise on a requirement that...
07:16 PM, May 15, 2013
Uruguay forward Luis Suarez has escaped a sanction for allegedly punching an opponent during the World Cup qualifier against Chile, the country's football federation (AUF) said in a statement. Soccer's governing body FIFA opened an investigation after Argentine referee Nestor Pitana missed the incident which happened as Suarez tussled with Gonzalo Jara as they lined up for a corner during Chile's 2-0 win in Santiago. "The matter in question does...
03:40 PM, May 09, 2013
Zurich: Referees are on the front line in the fight against racism but cannot always be expected to be aware of what is going on off the field, English referee Howard Webb said on Monday. Webb took part in the first meeting of FIFA's anti-racism task force and said that one suggestion was the use of off-pitch officials to help referees identify serious incidents. "We are very much in the...
11:47 PM, May 06, 2013
New Delhi: World football governing body's vice-president Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein on Monday backed India's bid to host the 2017 FIFA Under-17 World Cup, saying that the country was crucial for the overall development of the game in the continent. "I support India's bid to host the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup. India is an important country in Asia and a crucial one for growth of the game," Al Hussein,...
05:56 PM, May 06, 2013
Kuala Lumpur: FIFA president Sepp Blatter dropped a hint he plans to stand again for another four year term as the head of world soccer's governing body during a speech to AFC delegates in Malaysia on Friday. Blatter had said he planned to step down from office at the end of his latest four-year term in 2015 but opened up a loophole in March by adding that was providing he...
10:19 AM, May 03, 2013
Geneva: Despite recent skepticism from his own anti-corruption advisers, Sepp Blatter said FIFA can be a model of good sports leadership. On Monday, FIFA published the business agenda for next month's congress, where the football body hopes to finalise modernising changes promised by Blatter two years ago following damaging allegations of bribery and vote-buying. "I look forward to further important decisions being passed at the Congress in 2013 to complete...
11:10 PM, Apr 29, 2013
Geneva: A leading FIFA anti-corruption adviser resigned on Monday, claiming football's governing body failed to change its culture after bribery and vote-buying scandals. Alexandra Wrage, the president of international compliance expert TRACE, left an advisory panel chaired by Swiss law professor Mark Pieth which was asked to guide FIFA President Sepp Blatter's promised modernizing reforms. "(FIFA) remains the closed society that fueled its problems to begin with," the United States-based...
08:43 PM, Apr 22, 2013
Panama: Sepp Blatter gave his strongest hint yet that he may stay on for another four-year term as FIFA president beyond 2015, saying the scale of reform facing soccer's global governing body needed time. Blatter, 77, has indicated in the past he would not stand for a fifth consecutive term in two years' time but he told Reuters on Friday that he would not "abandon this boat" before he was...
08:02 AM, Apr 20, 2013
Tripoli: World soccer's governing body FIFA has lifted a ban on Libya hosting soccer matches, the Libyan Football Federation said, despite the North African country still facing precarious security after the 2011 war that ousted Muammar Gaddafi. FIFA did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The move comes after a decision last month by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to again allow continental club competition matches to be...
06:05 PM, Apr 18, 2013
New Delhi: With India in the reckoning for hosting the Under-17 World Cup in 2017, FIFA is learnt to be keen on educating the AIFF officials on the nitty gritty associated with organising big international football events. The United Arab Emirates FA, host of 2013 junior World Cup, recently told the All India Football Federation that it was open to the idea of having some AIFF officials in its organising...
06:44 PM, Apr 15, 2013
Montevideo: Uruguay forward Luis Suarez is being investigated by FIFA for allegedly punching Chile defender Gonzalo Jara during a South American World Cup qualifier last month. "FIFA have opened a case against Suarez," Uruguayan Football Association (AUF) president Sebastian Bauza's secretary Fabiana told Reuters on Thursday. "Our lawyers are looking into the matter right now," she said. Soccer's world governing body FIFA has given the AUF until April 17 to...
08:48 AM, Apr 12, 2013
Manchester: The English Premier League is the first leading club competition to approve the use of goal-line technology, and Hawk-Eye will be deployed at stadiums from next season. The Spanish and German leagues, however, said on Thursday they would hold off from giving referees high-tech aids for at least two years, while the Italians are less enthusiastic for now. The English have championed Hawk-Eye for several years, but FIFA opposed...
06:25 PM, Apr 11, 2013
Zurich: Croatia made a big move to No. 4 in the FIFA rankings after two World Cup qualifying wins, and tournament hosts Brazil dropped to No. 19 on Thursday. World and European champions Spain led an unchanged top three, ahead of Germany and Argentina, after a busy month of World Cup qualifying. Croatia's victories over Serbia and Wales lifted them five places, and No. 5 Portugal climbed two spots. Colombia...
02:05 PM, Apr 11, 2013
Brasilia/Sao Paulo: More than half a million tickets have been sold for the Confederations Cup in June, but host nation Brazil has yet to finish the main stadiums to be used in the dress rehearsal for the 2014 soccer World Cup. On the eve of yet another FIFA deadline, Brazil has delivered only three of the six venues for the eight-nation warm-up starting in two months. World soccer's governing body...
09:58 PM, Apr 10, 2013
Zurich: FIFA security director Ralf Mutschke believes the 500 plus qualifying matches so far for the 2014 World Cup have been clean of match-fixing. Mutschke tells the Associated Press " we don't have any leads that any match has been thrown." The full program of about 820 preliminary matches ends in November. Speaking on the sidelines of a FIFA-sponsored conference on match-fixing and betting, Mutschke says "we are also confident...
11:47 PM, Apr 05, 2013
Zurich: FIFA president Sepp Blatter has expressed misgivings about the idea of relegation and points deductions as punishments for racism, suggesting it could encourage fans to deliberately try and get matches stopped. In January, the 77-year-old Swiss proposed the possible introduction of such sanctions for teams whose fans were guilty of racism but appeared to back away from that stance during a speech at an event in Zurich on Friday....
07:20 PM, Apr 05, 2013
FIFA surprisingly opted for GoalControl as their goal-line technology system to be used at next year's World Cup in Brazil. ...
09:06 AM, Apr 03, 2013
FIFA has approved the appointment of GoalControl GmbH as the official provider of goal-line technology for the Confederations Cup in Brazil. ...
09:47 PM, Apr 02, 2013
London: Montenegro coach Branko Brnovic claimed England were scared ahead of their World Cup Group H clash on Tuesday, and after the visitors "stopped playing" in the 1-1 draw it seems his words were not too out of place. Goalkeeper Joe Hart was called into action on numerous occasions in the second 45 minutes as England, utterly dominant in the first half where they scored early on through Wayne Rooney,...
04:28 PM, Mar 27, 2013
