International Football
Bye Bye Qatar, hosts to one-of-a-kind World Cup
Wadae Qatar 2022! Farewell Qatar 2022! After 32 days in the State of Qatar, it is time to leave. A World Cup initially embrolled in pre-tournament controversies have come and gone.
What a tournament! It was a one-of-a-kind World Cup! Even as FIFA also admitted, there may be none of that kind again.
It was the first time it was possible for media men to watch two matches in a day. It was the first time the World Cup had taken place in the Middle East and the Arab world.
It is also going the to be the last time the World Cup will have 32 teams. So as we say bye bye to Qatar 2022, so also it is adieu to the 32-team format which had been in place since France ‘98.
From the “United” – US, Canada and Mexico 2026, an akward 48-team format will debut.
Undoubtedly bye bye Qatar 2022 also means adieu to the duo of stars that have captured global attention in the past 15 years.
Both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo will undoubtedly be glarring absentees at the 2026 edition. Who then will pair Kylian Mbappe to set up anothe rivalry worth of getting global attention?
Goodbye also to La’eeb, Qatar 2022 World Cup’s mascot, an anthropomorphic ghutra (traditional Arabic headdress) that appears to be omnipresent in Qatar.
La’eeb, according to Fifa, can be credited with a part in Diego Maradona’s Hand of God goal, and is “indescribable”. Everyone is invited to interpret what it looks like.
To some, the mascot represnts a floating white sheet. On the day after the final match, there was a dramatic change in human traffic.
Did the crowd just disappear overnight? In the previous days, the metro was a beehive of activities. Crowd, mostly football fans would mimick the event attendants in sky blue tracksuit who were directing and assisting passengers to navigate their ways through the metro lines.
Armed with hand-held public address system, the event managers would blare “Metro this way!”, pointing to a particular direction. Soon, like a theatre, the crowd would also mimic them.
The scenes at the beautifully constructed 37-stop metro network feature also features convenience stores, artisanal cafes and even a bubble tea joints were very thrilling.
But on Monday, the metro looked deserted, making one to feel lonely. No more “Metro, this way”.
Even the ever bubbling Media Centre was deserted. The security personnel that screened every entrant had suddenly disappeared. The facilities had been dismantled. The ever bubbling massive structure which is the Qatar National Convention Centre have suddenly become a ghost arena.
No televison sets, no internets no printer and no snacks and drinks. The personnels have disappeared.
Yet the previous day, the naratives were different. The beautiful city of Lusail bubbled all through Sunday before and after the final match of the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
No doubt, the State of Qatar has exceeded the wildest imaginations.
Those who doubted the ability of the Gulf state to host a competition of that magnitude were roundly proved wrong.
The state of facilities were excellent. Yet, most of the stadiums are scheduled to be dismantled or scaled down.
The Stadium 974, ingenously built with maritime containers were already being dismantled at the close of the Round of 16.
Yet, that stadium would have been a dream facility in most parts of the world.
On Sunday, Lusail was figuratively under siege by army of fans. Most of course are from Argentina, the country with most travelling fans. It would have been a monumental disaster had fate failed them.
At the Lusail metro station, the disembarking thousand of pasengers crammed the the U-shaped overhead bridge linking the two terminal buildings to the Lusail Stadium.
Yet the metro runs every three minutes making the station heavily congested ahead of the titanic Argentina-France final match.
The surging crowd at the station formed densely column of moving objects, making movement of a 50 metre passage to take nearly 20 minutes to transverse.
In a compelling twist of football destiny, Davide Ancelotti is stepping into his own spotlight as he begins his first head coaching role at Brazilian club Botafogo—just months after parting ways with his legendary father, Carlo Ancelotti, at Real Madrid.
The 35-year-old has been appointed as Botafogo’s new manager, the club announced on Tuesday, following the sacking of Renato Paiva. Davide, who has spent the last decade working alongside his father at some of Europe’s top clubs—including Bayern Munich, Napoli, Everton, and Real Madrid—has signed a one-year deal with the Rio-based team.
This marks a significant milestone for the younger Ancelotti, whose career has long been shaped by his father’s influence, but who now faces the challenge of carving his own identity on the touchline.
The move comes shortly after both father and son departed Real Madrid at the end of last season, with Carlo taking over the Brazilian national team. Now, in a poetic alignment, father and son find themselves on different paths within Brazilian football—one leading the Seleção, the other steering the fortunes of a storied domestic club.
Botafogo’s decision to appoint Davide follows a controversial parting with Paiva, who was dismissed just days after their exit from the Club World Cup. Though he oversaw a stunning win over Champions League holders Paris Saint-Germain, a 1-0 extra-time loss to Palmeiras in the round of 16 proved to be his final act after just four months in charge.
As Davide Ancelotti begins this new chapter, all eyes will be on whether the son of one of football’s most decorated managers can step out from his father’s shadow—and perhaps, in time, build a legacy of his own.
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International Football
Players’ union, FIFPRO, wants 20-minute halftimes, more cooling breaks amid extreme heat
Global players’ union FIFPRO is exploring whether extending halftime to 20 minutes and introducing more frequent cooling breaks could better protect players from extreme heat.
Nine of the 16 host cities for the 2026 World Cup face conditions considered “extreme risk” for heat-related illness.
Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Guadalajara, Houston, Kansas City, Miami, Monterrey and Philadelphia are expected to face dangerous levels of heat and humidity, posing player safety concerns and fuelling calls for mandatory cooling aids or schedule changes.
FIFPRO’s heat risk assessments are based on wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT), a measure combining temperature, humidity, solar radiation and wind speed to estimate how environmental conditions affect the body’s ability to cool itself.
Under FIFPRO guidelines, a WBGT reading above 28 degrees Celsius indicates conditions in which matches should be postponed or rescheduled to protect players’ health.
By comparison, world soccer governing body FIFA’s own guidelines set the extreme risk threshold higher, at 32 degrees Celsius WBGT – but even by that standard, six of the nine cities are still projected to exceed safe limits.
Major League Soccer in the U.S. has a threshold of 29 degrees Celsius WBGT.
“Cooling breaks at the 30th minute and 75th minutes are quite traditional, but from a physiological point of view it does not make sense,” said Vincent Gouttebarge, FIFPRO’s Medical Director.
“Even if you ingest more than 200 millilitres of fluid, you already cannot take it all. So I would definitely like to see some project where we look at the efficacy of perhaps more frequent but shorter cooling breaks – every 15 minutes, rather than only one during each half.”
LONGER HALFTIMES
Gouttebarge also questioned whether the traditional 15-minute halftime interval is sufficient when matches are played in extreme heat.
“You can imagine that halftime of 15 minutes might not be enough in order to decrease the core temperature,” he said.
“It could be a halftime of 20 minutes which would be significant. That has been shown in the laboratory and FIFPRO, together with the national union in Portugal in August, we are going to test this kind of mitigation strategy.”
The urgency of stronger heat protocols became clear at this month’s Club World Cup where two matches — Benfica-Bayern Munich in Charlotte and Chelsea-Esperance in Philadelphia exceeded the WBGT threshold FIFPRO considers unsafe.
“According to our position, those games should have been postponed later that day or rescheduled,” Gouttebarge said.
FIFPRO officials acknowledged that FIFA has responded constructively during the tournament by lowering thresholds for mandatory cooling breaks and improving pitch-side hydration, but stressed that proactive planning is critical.
“FIFA have been quite responsive once the tournament was under way,” said Alex Phillips, FIFPRO General Secretary.
“They have actually modified how they’ve been dealing with heat during the matches based on FIFPRO’s input, which is credit to the work of the team. Obviously, it would have been better if that happened in advance, but it’s better that they have adapted.”
FIFPRO warned that the risks highlighted at the Club World Cup are a preview of what players could face at the expanded 2026 World Cup.
“This is not just affecting the Club World Cup, but also future tournaments either in the U.S. or elsewhere in the world,” said Alexander Bielefeld, FIFPRO Director of Policy & Strategic Relations.
“We need a better balance between commercial interests and the health and safety of players,” he added, referring to earlier kick-off times to accommodate European television audiences.
-Reuters
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Former Manchester United and England midfielder Paul Ince has been charged with drink-driving, police said on Monday.
Ince, who earned 53 caps for England and won two Premier League titles during his six years at United, has been released on bail and will appear in court on July 18.
“The incident involved a black Range Rover which had collided with the central reservation barrier. Officers attended the scene and arrested a 57-year-old man,” the Cheshire police said in a statement.
“Paul Ince, of Quarry Road, Neston, has since been charged with drink-driving.”
Reuters has contacted Ince’s representative for comment.
After retiring as a player, Ince led Milton Keynes Dons to a League Two title in 2007-08. He most recently managed Reading during 2022-23.
-Reuters
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