Governing Bodies
CHAMPIONS FRANCE TO LEARN PATH TO QATAR IN WORLD CUP QUALIFYING DRAW
European nations led by reigning champions France will on Monday (Dec 7) learn their opponents in qualifying as they begin the long and congested road towards the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
The draw for the qualifying stage will take place in a virtual ceremony at FIFA’s headquarters in Zurich, allowing France and leading lights like Kylian Mbappe to start tracing out their route to a successful defence of the trophy in Doha.
Two years since their triumph in Moscow, the French look the strongest side around, and recently qualified for the finals of the Nations League that take place next October.
“We mustn’t start believing we are better than we are but we do have the feeling that we can still do some great things,” France coach Didier Deschamps said this week as he looked ahead to a packed 2021.
Qatar and FIFA recently celebrated marking two years to go until the start of the controversial tournament, which will start on Nov 21, 2022 and conclude with the final on Dec 18 after being moved to the northern hemisphere winter.
Playing with the dates of football’s biggest events has become commonplace due to the coronavirus pandemic, and qualifying is scheduled to start with three rounds of matches next March, before the delayed Euro 2020 tournament goes ahead in June and July.
France will be joined in the first pot of seeds for Monday’s draw by the world’s top-ranked side Belgium, reigning European champions Portugal and Croatia, the team they defeated in the 2018 final in Moscow.
England, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands will also be top seeds, with only the winners of each of the 10 groups qualifying automatically for the finals.
Uphill struggle
The 10 runners-up will go into playoffs alongside the two best Nations League group winners who miss out on qualifying via the traditional path.
Those playoffs will produce three more qualifiers in total, with Europe having 13 spots out of the 32 at the finals.
France, Belgium, Italy and Spain will all be placed in qualifying groups of five teams by virtue of having qualified for the final four of the Nations League in Italy next October.
It all points to a continuing pile-up of matches.
For example, a team that reaches the final of Euro 2020 can expect to play 17 competitive games between March and November next year.
Club managers like Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp have bitterly criticised the number of games their players are being asked to play for club and country, and that issue is likely to come to the fore again over the course of 2021.
The continent’s more modest nations have had their access to the European Championship opened up by that competition’s expansion to 24 teams, but reaching the World Cup promises to be a far more arduous task.
For example, after qualifying for Euro 2020 to reach their first major tournament since the 1998 World Cup, Scotland will face an uphill struggle to make it to Qatar.
Their world ranking of 48 means they are in the third pot of seeds, so could go into a group with, for example, France and Switzerland.
Scotland’s prospects of making the World Cup were not helped by their failure to top their Nations League group last month.
“The playoff route via the Nations League has gone – we’ll just need to qualify from the group. That has got to be the aim,” said Scotland manager Steve Clarke.
World Cup qualifying has already started elsewhere, including in South America which began its marathon 10-team round-robin tournament in October.
-AFP
Governing Bodies
FIFA opens disciplinary proceedings against Congo officials over financial misconduct
FIFA’s ethics committee launched disciplinary proceedings against three senior Congolese Football Federation (FECOFOOT) officials on Wednesday, including president Jean-Guy Mayolas, over allegations of financial misconduct.
Mayolas, his wife and his son were sentenced to life in prison earlier this month after a criminal court in the Congolese capital, Brazzaville, convicted them of embezzling $1.1 million in FIFA funds. Media reports said their whereabouts were not known , and they were tried in absentia.
FECOFOOT general secretary Wantete Badji and treasurer Raoul Kanda are also subject to the disciplinary proceedings, FIFA said. Badji and Kanda were sentenced to five years each in prison by the court in Brazzaville for related charges.
“These proceedings follow the receipt of information and documents during an audit,” FIFA said in a statement.
-Reuters
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The World Anti-Doping Agency is considering rewriting its rules to try barring President Donald Trump and all U.S. government officials from attending the LA Olympics in 2028, in a move that could also have implications for the World Cup being hosted by the U.S. this summer.
The proposal, on the agenda for next Tuesday’s meeting of the global drug-fighting watchdog’s executive committee, is the latest manoeuvre to come out of a yearslong refusal of the U.S. government to pay its annual dues to WADA.
The refusal is part of the American government’s unanimous, bipartisan protest of the agency’s handling of a case involving Chinese swimmers and other issues.
The Associated Press learned of the agenda item through correspondence it obtained between WADA and European officials involved in the agency’s decision-making. Two others with knowledge of the agenda confirmed the existence of the rules proposal to AP; they were not authorised to speak publicly about the agenda, which has not been released publicly.
The proposal was, in fact, first brought up in 2024, when U.S. authorities successfully lobbied for its rejection. The U.S. has since lost its seat on the executive committee.
“In spite of WADA’s increasing threats, we continue to stand firm in our demand for accountability and transparency from WADA to ensure fair competition in sport,” said Sara Carter, the director of the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).
The rule, if passed, would figure to be mostly symbolic, given the limits an international sports federation could have on the president of a country attending an event inside his own borders.
“I have never heard of a $50-million-budget Swiss foundation being able to enforce a rule to, for example, prevent the United States president from going anywhere,” said Carter’s predecessor at ONDCP, Rahul Gupta, who was on the WADA executive committee two years ago and led the movement to reject the proposal. “And the next question you have to ask is: How are you going to enforce it? Are they going to post a red notice from Interpol? It’s ludicrous. It’s clear they have not thought this through.”
In a news release after this story published, WADA said the AP story was “entirely misleading,” focusing on Fitzgerald’s statement to the AP that if proposals being discussed were “introduced, given that the rules would not apply retroactively, the FIFA World Cup, LA and Salt Lake City Games (in 2034) would not be covered.”
Fitzgerald’s only answer to three emails from AP seeking clarification on his initial response — specifically about how a rule that had not yet been adopted could or couldn’t be applied retroactively on events that are scheduled for the future — was: “I’m trying to say that it would not apply retroactively so those events would not be covered. Given that and the next meeting of the Board being scheduled for November, I don’t see how it could come into play for this year’s World Cup.”
-AP
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The Confederation of African Football has dismissed Yasin Osman Robleh, the Djiboutian official who headed its judicial bodies for the past six years, in a move aimed at restoring confidence in the organisation’s disciplinary processes.
According to reports from convergence sources, the decision was confirmed on Saturday by CAF Secretary General Veron Mosengo-Omba, bringing an abrupt end to Robleh’s tenure overseeing the confederation’s disciplinary and investigative committees since 2019.
Robleh’s position reportedly came under increasing pressure following the controversy surrounding sanctions imposed after the Africa Cup of Nations Final between Morocco and Senegal. The disciplinary decisions that followed the match sparked criticism from several quarters and placed CAF’s legal framework under intense scrutiny.
In response to the situation, CAF’s Executive Committee has appointed Togolese lawyer Cedric Egai, currently the confederation’s Director of Legal Affairs, as interim head of the judicial bodies.
Egai is expected to stabilise the organisation’s legal arm while CAF works toward appointing a permanent successor to Robleh.
Disciplinary Decisions Delayed
The leadership change has already affected ongoing disciplinary processes within the confederation. CAF’s disciplinary committee reportedly held hearings last Thursday on several cases, including the high-profile encounter involving Egypt’s Al Ahly and Morocco’s AS FAR.
However, decisions on those matters have been temporarily put on hold pending the confirmation of new leadership within the judicial structure.
Sources indicate that once a permanent successor is appointed, CAF will move swiftly to conclude outstanding disciplinary rulings affecting both clubs and national teams.
Restoring Confidence
The move is widely seen as part of CAF’s effort to restore confidence in its judicial system following weeks of controversy surrounding disciplinary decisions at major competitions.
Robleh’s departure closes a significant chapter in CAF’s legal administration, while Egai’s interim appointment signals a potential shift in leadership and governance at a critical time for African football.
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