Governing Bodies
Fifa president, Infantino dragged into Israel-Palestine ‘battle’!

A planned visit by FIFA President Gianni Infantino to Palestine has been cancelled at the last minute, after a trip to Israel during which he appeared at two events organised by a former official linked to former United States President Donald Trump.
Infantino, making his first official visit to Israel, appeared at the opening of The Friedman Center for Peace through Strength at the Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem set up by the former Trump-administration Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.
Infantino’s participation in the event angered the Palestinians, who cancelled a meeting between him and the President of the Palestinian Football Association (PFA), Jibril Rajoub, in Ramallah.
The Palestinians were angry both over the association with a Trump official whose policies they claim led to the Palestinians severing ties with the US, and the location at the Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem.
The Palestinian Authority Foreign Ministry criticised the event, alleging that Friedman is “notorious for his extremist positions and support for annexation, colonisation and other crimes under international law in addition to his notorious efforts at denying the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people”.
The Palestinian Authority noted that the Museum of Tolerance was built on the site of Muslim graves.
“One of the basic requirements for peace is respect of religious sites, maintaining their status quo, and their status, and in the particular case of the Mamilla cemetery, to allow for its restoration rather than to continue the process of desecration,” it said in a statement.
The Palestinians, who had only been contacted by FIFA to arrange a visit for Infantino last Thursday (October 7), were arranging a series of meetings and events that would have included laying the foundation stone for the PFA Technical Centre.
They claimed that they understood Infantino was visiting football leaders in both countries and that it was a set of meetings that would discuss the issues that have hindered the development of football in Palestine, and find possible solutions to pending problems, not least the free movement of football players and equipment across borders.
When they discovered that Infantino, a member of the International Olympic Committee, had in fact attended the glitzy event alongside several high-ranking Trump administration officials, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, they cancelled his visit.
This evening, Infantino was accompanied by Friedman and Mnuchin to watch Israel’s under-21 team play Latvia in Petah Tikva.
“The Palestine Football Association regrets the decision of FIFA President, Mr. Gianni Infantino, to take part in two events that take place at the so-called ‘Museum of Tolerance’, an edifice built over the Ma’manullah Islamic cemetery – the oldest Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem dating back to the 11th century – which we view as a total affrontment to the values of religious tolerance and peaceful coexistence, both endorsed by the FIFA statutes,” they said in a statement.
Rajoub had earlier written an urgent letter to Infantino, the PFA statement revealed, urging him not to take part in events since that would convey a message that is contradictory with “his public messages regarding FIFA’s commitment to human rights and the values of peaceful co-existence”.
In his letter, Rajoub warned Infantino that “this participation will be seen by many FIFA members as a politicisation of football, something which the FIFA President so adamantly opposed” and claimed, “that the FIFA President’s participation will be seen as a desecration of the Holy Site and will not contribute to bringing people together, but rather pull them apart”.
The PFA statement added that, “by deciding to ignore our concerns, and since we do not have the right to interfere in the agenda of a FIFA President, our only remaining alternative was to send our regrets for being unable to receive the FIFA delegation under such circumstances”.
During the visit to Israel, when he also appeared at the 10th Annual Jerusalem Post Conference, Infantino had claimed that the signing of the Abraham Accords, the US-brokered normalisation deals Israel signed last year with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco, could eventually lead to Israel co-hosting the FIFA World Cup with its Arab neighbours.
Infantino had made sure to include Palestine among the countries that Israel could co-host the World Cup with.
“Why can’t we dream of the World Cup in Israel and its neighbours?” he asked.
“With the Abraham Accords, why should we not do it here in Israel with her neighbours in the Middle East and the Palestinians?
“Nothing is impossible.”
-insidethegames
Governing Bodies
IOC is in ‘best of hands’, says Bach as he hands over to Coventry

Kirsty Coventry became the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the most powerful person in sport, on Monday in a handover ceremony with her predecessor Thomas Bach.
The Zimbabwean is the first woman and African to head the body, and at 41, the youngest since Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who is credited with founding the modern-day Olympics.
Coventry accepted the Olympic key from Bach, who, like her, is an Olympic champion — he won a team fencing gold in 1976 and she earned two swimming golds in 2004 and 2008.
Stepping down after a turbulent 12-year tenure, Bach expressed his confidence that the Olympic movement was “in the best of hands” and Coventry would bring “conviction, integrity and a dynamic perspective” to the role.
Coventry, who swept to a crushing first-round victory in the election in Greece in March, leans heavily on her family.
Aside from her parents, who were present at the ceremony in Lausanne, there is her husband Tyrone Seward, who was effectively her campaign manager, and two daughters, six-year-old Ella, who Bach addresses as “princess”, and Lily, just seven months old.
“Ella saw this spider web in the garden and I pointed out how it is made, and how strong and resilient it is to bad weather and little critters,” said Coventry, who takes over officially at midnight Swiss time Monday (2200 GMT).
“But if one little bit breaks it becomes weaker. That spider web is our movement, it is complex, beautiful and strong but it only works if we remain together and united.”
‘Pure passion’
Coventry said she could not believe how her life had evolved since she first dreamt of Olympic glory in 1992.
“How lucky are we creating a platform for generations to come to reach their dreams,” she said to a packed audience in a marquee in the Olympic House garden, which comprised IOC members, including those she defeated, and dignitaries.
“It is amazing and incredible, indeed I cannot believe that from my dream in 1992 of going to an Olympic Games and winning a medal I would be standing here with you to make dreams for more young children round the world.”
Coventry, who served in the Zimbabwean government as sports and arts Minister from 2019 to this year, said the Olympic movement was much more than a “multi-sport event platform.”
“We (IOC members) are guardians of this movement, which is also about inspiring and changing lives and bringing hope,” she said.
“These things are not to be taken lightly and I will be working with each and every one of you to continue to change lives and be a beacon of hope in a divided world.
“I am really honoured to walk this journey with you.”
Bach, who during his tenure had to grapple with Russian doping and their invasions of the Crimea and Ukraine as well as the Covid pandemic, said he was standing down filled with “gratitude, joy and confidence” in his successor.
“With her election it sends out a powerful message, that the IOC continues to evolve,” said the 71-year-old German, who was named honorary lifetime president in Greece in March.
“It has its first female and African to hold this position, and the youngest president since Pierre de Coubertin. She represents the truly global and youthful spirit of our community.”
Bach, who choked back tears at one point during his valedictory speech, was praised to the rafters by Coventry, who was widely seen as his preferred candidate of the seven vying for his post.
After a warm embrace, she credited him with teaching her to “listen to people and to respect them,” and praised him for leading the movement with “pure passion and purpose.”
“You have kept us united through the most turbulent times.
“You left us with many legacies and hope, thank you from the bottom of my heart for leading us with passion and never wavering from our values.”
-AFP
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Governing Bodies
New IOC head Coventry already counting down to LA 2028

Former Zimbabwean swimmer Kirsty Coventry took over the leadership of the International Olympic Committee from Thomas Bach in a ceremony on Monday with the 2028 Los Angeles Games already threatening to fill her in-tray to overflowing.
Coventry, who starts her eight-year spell officially on Tuesday as the most powerful sports administrator in the world, became the first woman and first African to be elected head of the Olympic ruling body in March.
Much of the discussion during campaigning focused on the IOC’s need for change in its marketing strategies with several top Olympic sponsors having left in the past 12 months.
However, with Los Angeles hit by protests against immigration raids, and relations tense between state and city officials, and the U.S. government, the 2028 Games have become the major talking point in the movement that would ordinarily be focusing on next year’s Milano-Cortina Winter Games.
Coventry has long-standing ties with the United States, dating back to her time as a leading swimmer at Auburn University in Alabama. That will prove useful ahead of LA 2028, and she has said she will seek to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump to discuss the Games.
Coventry will also need to find time to help secure the long-term finances of the movement. The IOC, which generates billions of dollars in revenues each year in sponsorship and broadcasting deals for the Olympics, has secured $7.3 billion for 2025-28 and $6.2 billion for 2029-2032. More contracts are expected for both periods.
COMMERCIAL OPPORTUNITIES
Coventry is also expected to continue the IOC’s plans to expand commercial opportunities for sponsors at the Olympics with the organisation’s finances in a robust state and the privately-funded LA Olympics a good place to start.
Coventry needed only one round of voting to clinch the race to succeed Bach, beating six other candidates, making history for the African continent, with the IOC having been ruled for 131 years by European or North American men.
Her background and being the first female president will be assets in a diverse IOC membership and the international makeup of Olympic stakeholders.
On Monday she was handed the golden key to the IOC by Bach, who was the organisation’s president for 12 years.
“I am really honoured I get to walk this journey with you. I cannot wait for anything that lies ahead,” Coventry said in her address to IOC members and other Olympic stakeholders.
“I know I have the best team to support me and our movement over the next eight years.”
Coventry will hold a two-day workshop this week to get feedback from members on key IOC issues.
“Working together and consistently finding ways to strengthen and keep united our movement that will ensure that we wake up daily… to continue to inspire,” she said.
A seven-time Olympic medallist, Coventry won 200m backstroke gold at the 2004 Athens Games and in Beijing four years later.
“With her election, you have also sent a powerful message to the world: the IOC continues to evolve,” Bach said in his speech. “With Kirsty Coventry, the Olympic movement will be in the best of hands.”
-Reuters
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Governing Bodies
Accidental double-touch penalties must be retaken if scored, says IFAB

Penalties scored when a player accidentally touches the ball twice must be retaken, world soccer’s lawmaking body IFAB has said after Atletico Madrid’s Julian Alvarez had his spot kick disallowed in a Champions League last-16 match.
During a tense shootout with Real Madrid in March, Argentine forward Alvarez slipped and the VAR spotted that his left foot touched the ball slightly before he kicked it with his right.
Although Alvarez converted the penalty, the goal was chalked off and Atletico went on to lose the shootout and were eliminated from the Champions League.
European soccer’s governing body UEFA said the correct decision was made under the current laws but IFAB (International Football Association Board) has said that in such cases the penalty must be retaken.
Atletico Madrid v Real Valladolid – Metropolitano, Madrid, Spain – April 14, 2025 Atletico Madrid’s Julian Alvarez scores their first goal from the penalty spot REUTERS/Susana Vera/File Photo
“(When) the penalty taker accidentally kicks the ball with both feet simultaneously or the ball touches their non-kicking foot or leg immediately after the kick: if the kick is successful, it is retaken,” IFAB said in a circular.
“If the kick is unsuccessful, an indirect free kick is awarded (unless the referee plays advantage when it clearly benefits the defending team). In the case of penalties (penalty shootout), the kick is recorded as missed.”
The decision to disallow Alvarez’s penalty left Atletico boss Diego Simeone livid and the club’s fans outraged.
IFAB added that if the penalty taker deliberately kicks the ball with both feet or deliberately touches it a second time, an indirect free kick is awarded or, in the case of shootouts, it is recorded as missed.
The new procedures are effective for competitions starting on or after July 1, but IFAB said it may be used in competitions that start this month.
-Reuters
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