Football’s ruling body FIFA has urged World Cup organisers in Qatar to allow rainbow coloured items in the stadiums, sources have told dpa. FIFA had said before the tournament that the colours, a symbol mainly for the LGBTQI+ community, would be allowed in the eight stadiums for the tournament....
Qatar
Former champions Spain got their 2022 World Cup off to a pulsating start with a record 7-0 rout of Costa Rica on Wednesday. A Ferran Torres brace and a sumptuous strike from Gavi sent them past the 100-goal mark in football’s showpiece event in Doha, Qatar. The European giants...
Poland skipper Robert Lewandowski failed to break his World Cup duck when he saw a second-half penalty kick saved in a goalless but entertaining draw with Mexico on Tuesday. In their opening Group C game at Stadium 974, Lewandowski earned the penalty kick after a VAR check 11 minutes...
Olivier Giroud became France’s joint all-time top goalscorer when his double helped the holders start the defence of their World Cup title in style. The French did it with a 4-1 comeback Group D win against Australia on Tuesday. Giroud found the net before and after the break to...
Late goals by Cody Gakpo and Davy Klaassen gave the Netherlands a 2-0 victory over African champions Senegal on Monday on their return to the World Cup stage. With Senegal missing injured star man Sadio Mane and the Dutch without their main attacking threat Memphis Depay at kick-off, the...
Cristiano Ronaldo insisted Monday that his explosive row with Manchester United would not impact Portugal’s chances at the World Cup as they prepare for their opening match in Qatar with Ghana. Last week superstar Ronaldo lashed out at Premier League club United and the team’s coach Erik ten Hag...
Nearly three million World Cup tickets have been sold, FIFA said Sunday, as the governing body’s president revealed the tournament had helped push revenues over the past four years to a record $7.5 billion. A FIFA spokesman told AFP that 2.95 million tickets had been sold up to Sunday’s...
World Cup hosts Qatar were criticised on Sunday because the stadium was half empty by the closing stages of the tournament opening match between Qatar and Ecuador. Thousands of fans left Al Bayt Stadium during the second half as Qatar were unable to fight back from two goals down...
Qatar became the first home team to lose their opening World Cup match as Ecuador cruised to a 2-0 victory over the hosts, with Enner Valencia scoring twice in the tournament curtain-raiser on Sunday. Asian champions Qatar enjoyed the backing of the majority of the crowd at the 60,000-capacity...
The World Cup kicked off in Qatar on Sunday as the month-long football showpiece finally got under way after a tortuous 12-year build-up dogged by off-field controversies. Qatar’s Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thami was present in the impressive Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor, 50 kilometres (31 miles) outside...
FIFA President Gianni Infantino said Saturday that World Cup fans can survive for three hours a day without beer after sales were banned around stadiums. “I think personally if for three hours a day you cannot drink a beer, you will survive,” he told his opening press conference in...
The moment of truth for Qatar’s ability to organise the FIFA World Cup after years of failed overtures and criticism over labour rights and strict laws has come. Predicaments began mounting as early as December 2010 when it was announced that Qatar would host the finals amid a storm...
FIFA president Gianni Infantino has accused the Western countries of “hypocrisy” and slammed the criticism towards World Cup hosts Qatar during his opening speech ahead of the tournament on Saturday. “For what we Europeans have been doing around the world in the last 3,000 years we should be apologising...
Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes grabbed a brace for Portugal as the former European champions whipped Nigeria’s Super Eagles 4-0 in an international friendly match on Thursday. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that it was a poor showing on the night from the Super Eagles. They did not...
Incumbent Gianni Infantino is set for a third term as president of football’s world governing body FIFA. The organisation said on Thursday that Infantino was the only candidate for next year’s election. The vote takes place on March 16 in the Rwandan capital city Kigali. The 52-year-old Swiss has...
French President Emmanuel Macron has defended himself against criticism of his possible visit to Qatar for the World Cup if the France team reaches the semi-finals or final. “I don’t think you have to politicise sports,” Macron said on Thursday during a trip to Bangkok. “You have to ask...
FIFA has launched a new service to crack down on hate speech and discrimination online during the World Cup, the sport’s governing body announced. The service will protect more than 830 World Cup players from abuse on social media during the Qatar tournament. “FIFA is committed to provide the...
On Nov. 20 the world’s biggest football competition, the FIFA World Cup, will kick off in the tiny but oil-rich Middle East country of Qatar. Between that day and Dec. 18, 2022, 32 countries from six FIFA-affiliated confederations will slug it out at eight venues to decide who lifts...
Senegal striker Sadio Mane will undergo medical checks in Munich in 10 days to monitor his recovery from an injury. It is an injury that can rule him out of the entire FIFA World Cup in Qatar, in spite of his being named in his country’s squad on Friday....
Brazil are tipped to claim the FIFA World Cup for the sixth time in the tournament which kicks off on Nov. 20 in Qatar. This is according to a Reuters poll which last successfully predicted the champions in 2010. The global survey of 135 football-following market analysts worldwide agreed...