International Football
Iran players can protest at World Cup says coach Queiroz
Iran’s players are free to join in the protests sweeping their country over women’s rights while they are playing at the World Cup in Qatar but must do so within the rules of the tournament, national team coach Carlos Queiroz said on Tuesday.
The rights activist HRANA news agency said 344 people have been killed and 15,280 arrested over the last two months of nationwide protests triggered by the death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in the custody of the morality police.
Iran said her death was due to pre-existing conditions and accused its enemies of fomenting the unrest to destabilise the country. The demonstrations have turned into a legitimacy crisis for the clerical establishment, in power for over four decades.
Iran’s players covered up their national team badge when they played two warm-up internationals in September, which was interpreted as a sign of support for the protests.
But they have been heavily criticised on Twitter in the last few days for meeting with Iranian leaders before their departure for Doha, where they trained for the first time on Tuesday.
“The players are free to protest as they would if they were from any other country as long as it conforms with the World Cup regulations and is in the spirit of the game,” Queiroz told a news conference.
“But you can also express yourself on the field in the game of football and the players have only one thing on their mind and that is to fight to qualify for the second round,” he said
World soccer’s governing body FIFA has been opposed to players, teams and fans engaging in protests and sloganeering but in the last year has taken a more tolerant attitude to towards protests, like when several teams wore t-shirts calling for human rights in protests aimed at World Cup hosts Qatar.
Queiroz was also asked whether he was proud to coach a country that repressed women and in a tense retort asked the reporter how much he would pay him to answer the question.
The coach said Iran’s players had set themselves the target of reaching the second round, despite being paired in a tough Group B with England, Wales and the United States. They start against England at the Khalifa International Stadium on Monday.
Iran have failed in their five previous World Cup finals appearances to reach the second round. “They don’t only want to be part of history but also to make history,” added Queiroz.
“If we bring joy and pleasure to the people then we have done our job as footballers and that’s the most important issue for me as national team coach.”
Queiroz, who has managed at the last four World Cups, said he felt an out-of-form England could be beaten but must also be respected. “There are few teams who can do what they did in coming back in their last match against Germany,” he said.
England recovered from 2-0 down to draw 3-3 with Germany at Wembley in their final Nations League game in September.
-Reuters
FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 – Iran press conference – Al Rayyan Sports Club Training, Al Rayyan, Qatar – November 15, 2022 Iran coach Carlos Queiroz during the press conference REUTERS/Suhaib Salem
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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