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No future for the Confederations Cup
With UEFA now standing in the way of FIFA's plans for a revamped Club World Cup and new global Nations League, the future of the schedule is once again at issue. FIFA may or may not be planning a vote next month in Miami on their new $25b deal with an outside promoter for those two tournaments. Regardless, one thing is already clear. The future of the Confederations Cup is unlikely. US Soccer . . .
Europe and the soccer calendar
The soccer news starts with more from UEFA, this time announcing a memorandum of understanding with the European Club Association. The biggest point for those of us outside Europe is a focus on the international calendar after 2024. The current version of the international calendar that removed single match windows was in large part due to pressure from Europe. The double matchday calendar isn't . . .
RB Leipzig and Schalke advance in the DFB Pokal
The soccer news starts with more from the DFB Pokal. Tyler Adams's RB Leipzig shutout John Brooks's Wolfsburg 1-0 at home. Matheus Cunha scored the game's only goal in the 9th minute with Peter Gulacsi keeping the clean sheet with one save. "Our off-the-ball play was really good again today," RB Leipzig coach Ralf Rangnick said. "We only let Wolfsburg have one clear chance, which Peter Gulacsi . . .
The power of UEFA in world soccer
We start the soccer news with an open question. Is FIFA president Gianni Infantino the most powerful person in world soccer, or is it UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin? As Reuters' Brian Homewood reports, Ceferin will win reelection for a second term as UEFA president since he's the only candidate on the ballot at Thursday's congress in Rome. Ceferin's rise in global soccer politics was quick, . . .
The power of the FIFA presidency
The soccer news starts with what everybody wants to talk about on a Tuesday, bureaucracy in soccer. With FIFA president Gianni Infantino seemingly keen on pushing through an agenda for revamped and new tournaments to unlock outside money, the pushback is the issue. Europe isn't happy, interesting considering Infantino is the former secretary general of UEFA. Reporting for the NY Times, Tariq . . .
Did UEFA just send a Financial Fair Play message?
The soccer news starts with a simple issue for European soccer's governing body. Short of real ramifications, why would any of their clubs stress over Financial Fair Play? UEFA sent a message about that on Friday. AP reported that UEFA fined AC Milan over $13m dollars for violating Financial Fair Play. Even in the heady world of top-tier European club soccer, that's a noticeable amount of money. . . .
Soccer’s unnecessary reminder in the Copa Libertadores and the Champions League
By J Hutcherson (Nov 27, 2018) US Soccer Players - This has turned into a tough week for soccer in two continents. CONMEBOL's Copa Libertadores is still without a champion as the confederation reportedly considers moving the postponed second-leg of the Boca Juniors vs River Plate series out of South America. That's the result of a weekend's worth of violence trying to get the game in at River . . .
FIFA, the World Cup, and changes to world soccer
Over the weekend, reports linked CONMEBOL with the latest proposal for FIFA holding the World Cup every other year. How seriously FIFA decides to take that proposal is an open question, but it does raise a simple issue. If FIFA wants a global Nations League in the even years between World Cups, how is that different from a World Cup? It's CONMEBOL asking. “The proposal we have made to FIFA is to . . .
Super League fatigue
By J Hutcherson (Nov 6, 2018) US Soccer Players - It's hard to get worked up about the latest potential for the elite European clubs breaking away and forming their own super league. The super league story has been dragging along for so many years now it borders on cliche. There could be a super league. It might even make more sense for there to be a super league. There probably won't be, at least . . .
