By RYAN TOLMICH
A winter World Cup would certainly provide some inconveniences to clubs, but it is now clear that it will be their job to navigate those disturbances, not FIFA’s.
FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke says that clubs will not be compensated for disruptions caused by the 2022 World Cup that is to be held in Qatar. Valce says that it will be on the clubs to work their way through the issue, insisting that they will have plenty of time to do so.
“There will be no compensation. I mean they have seven years to reorganize football around the world for this World Cup,” Valcke said. “It’s not perfect, we know that — but why are we talking about compensation? It’s happening once, we’re not destroying football.
“Why should we apologize to the clubs? We have had an agreement with the clubs that they are part of the beneficiaries. It was $40m in 2010 and $70m in 2014.”
Here are some more news and notes to kickoff your Wednesday morning:
CONFEDERATIONS CUP WILL NOT BE IN QATAR
The Confederations Cup is usually seen as a major test run ahead of the World Cup, but Qatar will not have the privilege of hosting one ahead of their big tournament.
Qatar will not host the 2012 Confederations Cup, as FIFA announced Wednesday that the tournament will instead take place in another Asian country.
The tournament is normally hosted one year prior to a World Cup in the tournament’s host country and pits the winners of each confederation’s tournament against the hosts and World Cup winners.
FORMER ITALY CAPTAIN CANNAVARO GIVEN 10-MONTH PRISON SENTENCE
Former defender Fabio Cannavaro is seen by many in Italy as a hero, but even that won’t keep him from feeling the wrath of the law.
Cannavaro has been issued a 10-month prison sentence for failing to follow orders to stay out of a property seized by authorities. Cannavaro has previously been under investigation for tax evasion, and the former Italy captain will appeal and will therefore have the sentence suspended until further notice.
The former defender, who played for Parma, Internazionale, Juventus and Real Madrid, captained Italy to the nation’s 2006 World Cup victory. Cannavaro is currently coaching China’s Guangzhou Evergrande.
QUICK KICKS
The 2023 African Cup of Nations will move from January to June to accommodate the 2022 Winter World Cup. (REPORT)
Neymar was in an altercation with a Manchester City fan following Barca’s 2-1 win on Tuesday. (REPORT)
Real Madrid is set to open up two academies in Miami. (REPORT)
Celtic have been fined by UEFA for crowd issues stemming from their 4-3 Europa League loss to Dinamo Zagreb. (REPORT)
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What do you think of the announcement that club’s won’t be paid? How will the changes effect the Confederations Cup? Disappointed by Cannavaro’s sentence?
Share your thoughts below.
Seems like FIFA is daring the countries that bring in the most revenue (That is then paid to the small countries, who controll FIFA with all of their votes) to break away from FIFA. Those large countries could finally break away without having all their fans enraged. I just don’t see how we get through the next few years without a split of FIFA.
easy. Things will remain as they are.
#BOYCOTTFIFA
Very clever
this ahole Jerome Valcke is turning out to be as bad as platini and bladder…
Europe can complain, but how will MLS deal with the fact that the World Cup will be held when MLS normally has its playoffs and championship? It seems implusible that MLS will hold those games during the World Cup or put them off into the following year. Do they shorten the season and/or cram in a bunch of mid-week games to get the playoffs started early?
Based on the sample schedule published on the Guardian’s website, November 4 would be the last day before players had to be released so they would probably just cram in it before then. Obviously, far from ideal, but what isn’t with this?
I don’t even understand why there was a discussion of compensating clubs for the winter world cup…it’s not like MLS or any other league that operates in the summer gets special compensation in other years. Oh wait, this effects Europe…that’s right.
^This.
It is 7 years away. They can plan for it.
I’m going to stop calling 2022 a World Cup and start calling it what it is…a clusterf**k.
Gentlemen: Start your lawyers!
I wish US investors would supersede FIFA and just plan their own world competition during the summer here in the US. We already have enough facilities and I’m sure every game would be close to a sell out. Then if we can get European teams to choose to participate with us instead of the World Cup and fifa, then maybe something will be done about the corruption.
LOL. American investors will go where the money is. If it means turning a blind eye to dying slaves so be it. Fox has shown that much
official FIFA comment on the Qatar situation “It’s happening once, we’re not destroying football.”
Qatar will so boring for the fans and teams. Hopefully for 2026 it’s USA or Canada, but FIFA is crazy enough to go for Mexico.
The best thing USA can do, is keep growing soccer in MLS, NASL and USL.
Mexico wouldn’t be that bad, other than the fact that local neutrals would be anything but in the USA’s matches.
Quals would be a cinch, too.
What would be so bad about Mexico in 2026. You know that they hosted in twice already and did a good job. Not to mention ’86 was last minute because they had to fill in for Colombia.
Do yourself a favor and stop typing.
But would not that be an argument against Mexico hosting the tournament? How many countries hosted the WC three times? Wouldn’t Canada or Australia, which never hosted and also capable to staging big events like Olympics, have a better argument to host?
It wouldn’t be a good idea because of the massive corruption in their government and the fact that drug lords run huge swaths of the country.
It wasn’t that long ago that rival drug gangs had a massive shoot out on a freeway next to a stadium (was it Atlas?)
Yeah but you can say the same thing about Russia
I thought the whole purpose of the Confederations Cup was to give the host country a chance to test out the facilities and infrastructure for the World Cup. So, the main attraction for the participating teams was to get a feel for the cities and stadiums one year ahead of time.
The Qatar travesty is the gift that keeps giving.
They said they will use a winter competition, the club world cup, as a test run instead.
For that they’re having a shirts/skins game among the slave workers (surviving ones only) They can invite their family members from back home with the winners getting their passports back (the families stay)
I know this only barely has to do with soccer, but hearing Derrick Rose needs surgery on his knees AGAIN makes me think of Stu Holden. Two great talents, with some bad luck. At least Stu and soccer fans know we’re not alone!
“Qatar WILL not host the 2012 Confederations Cup” or “Qatar DID not host the 2012 Confederations Cup”?
LOL, this is pretty bad, even for a blog.
Let’s not forget also that Qatar is in Asia.
ANOTHER hit on Qatar. Not able to host the Confederations Cup? Come on FIFA, this is beyond ridiculous. “You have seven years to fix this”….I would say the same to FIFA about this awful decision to give the WC to Qatar.
“another Asian country”….lol, why not Bahrain? HAHA might as well….or how about Saudi Arabia? I hear they love large western crowds visiting there.