International Football
Saudi Arabia should bid for women’s World Cup, says former coach
Saudi Arabia women may be a long way away from qualifying for the women’s World Cup, but a more realistic aim would be to host the tournament in the future, the country’s technical director of the women’s game Monika Staab told Reuters.
Staab, who had stints as a player in her native Germany, France and England, was the first coach of the newly set up Saudi Arabia women’s football team in 2021 before moving to her current role in February.
The team played their first games in February 2022 and Saudi Arabia Football Federation (SAFF) board member Lamia bin Bahian stated the goal was for the side to be a participant at the World Cup within 10 years.
Staab, 64, said that may take longer but that a quicker route could be to play in the tournament as the host nation.
“I told them that something takes time. It’s like a little baby, it needs to stand up, it needs to learn how to walk… So we’re talking about at least 10 years development and they’re going at a very fast speed,” the German told Reuters at the International Sports Convention in London.
“I’m not sure now anymore if it will really happen in 10 years, I told them 2035 could be a realistic aim, because we started in 2021… I think that for me it is more realistic to maybe host the Women’s World Cup in Saudi Arabia.”
The hosts for the women’s World Cup usually get a short amount of time to prepare, with the 2027 host nation set to be appointed by FIFA in May next year.
Saudi Arabia are already bidding to host the 2026 Women’s Asian Cup which is due to be decided this month.
It is part of a wider strategy of the Gulf nation to host huge sporting events. Saudi Arabia will host the men’s Club World Cup later this year, having already hosted the men’s Spanish Super Cup and events in Formula One and boxing.
EQUALITY ISSUES
A bid for the men’s World Cup in 2030 is expected to come through. However, critics have accused Saudi Arabia of using sport to cover up its poor record on human rights and equality issues in a country where men still retain a tight grip on power.
That was part of the backlash to a possible Visit Saudi sponsorship of this year’s women’s World Cup, to be held in Australia and New Zealand from July 20-Aug. 20. World soccer governing body FIFA announced in March that the Saudi tourism board would not sponsor the tournament. read more
Staab, who has worked as a coach in Bahrain and Qatar, said she was not best placed to comment on the sponsorship issue but that it was important for FIFA to look at ways to help women’s football in countries that were early in their development.
“I’ve been in 88 countries in the last 15 years to develop women’s football, especially in Africa where the financial resources are very, very, very weak,” she said.
“No fields are available, no equipment. So FIFA have been doing great jobs in India helping women football to grow and especially in countries where the money is not so easy to access for women’s football.
“So I think it’s always good when FIFA is having the opportunity to help this development countries to get better and to rich one day like the USA, Germany or England.”
It would help, she added, if more women were in leadership positions. Currently, it is understood nine of FIFA’s 211 member associations are led by women.
“It’s important to get more women in this football male dominated world. Because we have a different view, we have different ideas, which we contribute to have the game for everyone. And that’s what we stand for. I think all men should also be thinking in that way,” Staab said.
-Reuters
Representatives from four national players’ unions on Thursday launched a new global organisation in Madrid, which they say will strengthen footballers’ rights and improve dialogue with governing bodies.
Opening a new front in the battle over who speaks for players, the International Footballers’ Association (AIF) was unveiled, with David Aganzo, president of Spain’s Association of Footballers (AFE) and a former head of the global union FIFPRO, appointed to lead the organisation.
Players’ unions from Brazil, Mexico and Switzerland were also represented.
The initiative drew a swift rebuke from FIFPRO, which said in a statement that Aganzo was acting out of self-interest and aligning himself with organisations linked to football governing bodies, as well as groups expelled from FIFPRO over alleged mismanagement.
Aganzo rejected the criticism, saying he “will not seek confrontation with FIFPRO”.
The launch comes amid strained relations between players’ unions and football authorities, particularly over the expanding international match calendar.
Relations between FIFA and FIFPRO deteriorated in 2024 after the union lodged a complaint with the European Commission, arguing that the global governing body was abusing its dominant position by adding competitions without sufficient consultation.
Aganzo denied suggestions that the new initiative was backed by FIFA president Gianni Infantino, but said “direct dialogue with FIFA” was essential.
AFE’s Extraordinary General Assembly approved the initiative in February with 99.8% of votes cast in favour of spearheading the creation of the AIF.
The same assembly also backed AFE’s withdrawal from FIFPRO, citing what it described as a “complete lack of transparency, as well as its total lack of dialogue with international bodies.”
“We represent over 30,000 footballers, and we come here with a new model aimed at safeguarding players’ rights and facilitating direct communication with all international bodies,” Aganzo told reporters.
“We are in contact with 15 to 20 unions already who were very aware of this moment and waiting for this announcement to make their move and join our initiative.”
He declined to identify any unions beyond those present.
Asked about a report that a senior envoy to U.S. President Donald Trump had urged FIFA to replace Iran with Italy at the upcoming World Cup, Aganzo urged caution.
“These are more political issues; on April 30th, I’ll be speaking to Gianni (Infantino) at the FIFA Congress, and we will discuss those things,” Aganzo said.
“People who want to go to the World Cup have to earn their place on sporting merit.”
-Reuters
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A new trial over the death of Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona will begin on Tuesday, with seven members of his medical team charged with negligent homicide nearly a year after a previous case collapsed in a mistrial.
An enduring presence in Argentina – from towering murals to tattoos, opens new tab – Maradona died on November 25, 2020, at 60, after a heart attack while he was recuperating from brain surgery to remove a blood clot.
A court in San Isidro, near Buenos Aires, will hear testimony from just under 100 witnesses as it tries Maradona’s medical team over alleged negligence in the death of the 1986 World Cup champion.
His medical team has denied wrongdoing. The defendants are psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, psychologist Carlos Angel Diaz, physician Nancy Edith Forlini, nurse Ricardo Almiron, head nurse Mariano Ariel Perroni, and physician Pedro Pablo Di Spagna. An eighth defendant, nurse Dahiana Madrid, will be tried in a separate jury trial, with no date yet set.
Two months into the first trial, which started last March, a mistrial was declared when one of three judges, Julieta Makintach, resigned after video surfaced showing her being interviewed by a camera crew in the corridors of the courthouse and in her office as part of a documentary, in breach of judicial rules.
The retrial will require both prosecutors and defense lawyers to reassess their strategies after the first trial aired photographs, videos, audio recordings and forensic evidence. Many witnesses, including Maradona’s children and his former wife, Claudia Villafane, have already testified.
Prosecutors argued in the initial trial that medical professionals broke treatment protocols and that the home where Maradona was recovering from surgery amounted to a “theatre of horror,” where necessary care was not provided.
The defense countered that his death was inevitable given his longstanding health problems. Maradona struggled for decades with cocaine and alcohol addiction.
The negligence charges emerged in 2021 after prosecutors appointed a medical board to investigate Maradona’s death. The panel concluded his medical team acted in an “inappropriate, deficient and reckless” manner.
-Reuters
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Aliou Cisse has been named coach of the Angola national team, the country’s football federation (FAF) announced on Thursday, 24 hours after the Senegalese left his post in Libya.
The 50-year-old coach, who led Senegal to their maiden Africa Cup of Nations title in 2022, ended his short stint with the Libyan national team on Wednesday, after taking charge in March 2025.
“Welcome, Aliou Cisse, head coach of the Angola national team,” the FAF said on Facebook. Angola, which failed to reach this year’s World Cup, will start their 2027 AFCON qualifying campaign in September.
-Reuters
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