As if to prove the point about Spain often shooting themselves in the foot at - or just before - major tournaments, they have sacked their head coach Julen Lopetegui after he was named the new Real Madrid boss just two days before their opening World Cup match with Portugal. Real Madrid announced on Tuesday that Lopetegui would succeed Zinedine Zidane at the Bernabeu on a three-year deal. The Spanish football federation said that it had dismissed the fifty one-year-old because the negotiation had occurred 'without any information to the RFEF.' Spanish sporting director Fernando Hierro will take charge for the World Cup. The former Real Madrid and Notlob Wanderers defender is in his second spell as sporting director, having returned to the role in November 2017, six years after leaving the position. RFEF president Luis Rubiales, who was told of Lopetegui's new role five minutes before it was publicly announced, said that he had found himself 'in a very difficult situation. I know there's going to be criticism whatever I do,' he added. 'I'm sure this will, in time, make us stronger. I admire Julen very much, I respect him very much. He seems a top trainer and that makes it harder to make the decision. You can't do things this way, two or three days before the World Cup. We have been compelled to make this decision.' Lopetegui became Spain's manager in 2016 following Vicente del Bosque's retirement and remained unbeaten through his reign. Spain won fourteen of twenty games with Lopetegui in charge, drawing the remaining six. According to reports in Spain, Rubiales was 'incensed' when he discovered Lopetegui had agreed a deal with Madrid. He left a FIFA Congress meeting in Moscow early in order to return to Spain's base in Krasnodar to deal with the situation. It has been claimed that senior players - including captain Sergio Ramos - fought for Lopetegui to remain in charge for the duration of the World Cup.
World Cup assistant referees have been told to keep their flag down for tight offside calls to enable VAR to make the correct decision, says FIFA referees committee chairman Pierluigi Collina. Russia 2018 will be the first World Cup to use the video assistant referee system. 'If you see some assistant referee not raising the flag it's not because he's making mistakes,' said big scary - but, hugely respected - Collina. 'It's because he's respected the instruction to keep the flag down.' Italian former referee Collina was speaking at the World Cup referees media briefing on Tuesday. 'They were told to keep the flag down when there is a tight offside incident and there could be a very promising attack or a goal-scoring opportunity because if the assistant referee raises the flag then everything is finished,' he said. 'If the assistant referee keeps the flag down and the play goes on and maybe a goal comes at the end, there is a chance to review the goal using the technology.' FIFA president Gianni Infantino confirmed in March that VAR would be used in Russia, having been used in Germany and Italy and trialled in in some domestic English cup games last season. The VAR - a current or former top referee - is in place to check decisions on four sorts of incidents: Goals, including 'missed' attacking offences in the build-up, penalties awarded and not awarded, including 'missed' attacking offences in the build-up, direct red cards and cases of mistaken identity where the wrong player is shown a red or yellow card. The referee can accept the information relayed through his earpiece by the VAR team, an option usually reserved for objective calls of fact, such as if a player is offside. For more subjective decisions such as red cards and penalty-area fouls, he can review the footage on a pitchside television monitor before deciding whether to change his initial call. Replays of incidents reviewed by the VAR will be shown on big screens during the World Cup and the crowd will also be told when a decision is being reviewed and why a decision has been reached. Not that this will stop them going mental if it's against their team, obviously.
The 2018 World Cup hadn't even kicked-off but, already, we knew that the 2026 World Cup will be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico after their joint bid beat Morocco's proposal to host it. The 'United 2026' bid was selected by FIFA member nations, winning one hundred and sixty five votes compared to sixty five for Morocco. The 2026 tournament will be the biggest World Cup ever held - with forty eight teams playing eighty matches over thirty four days. 'Football is the only victor. We are all united in football,' US 'Soc-her' president Carlos Cordeiro said. 'Thank you so, so much for this incredible honour. Thank you for entrusting us with this privilege.' Of the two hundred and eleven FIFA member nations, two hundred cast a vote at the sixty eighth FIFA Congress in Moscow on Wednesday, with the winning bid needing a majority of one hundred and four. Canada, Mexico, Morocco and the US were exempt, while Ghana was absent after the country's government said that it had 'disbanded' its football association amid allegations of 'widespread corruption.' Three US territories - Guam, the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico - were among the other member nations to not vote. Both Mexico (1970 and 1986) and the United States (1994) have previously hosted World Cups. Canada staged the Women's World Cup in 2015. Since the 2018 and 2022 tournaments were awarded to Russia and Qatar respectively in December 2010, widespread corruption has been exposed in the global game, including allegations of bribery and payment for votes. A BBC Panorama documentary claimed that Qatar spent one hundred and seventeen million quid on their successful bid for the 2022 World Cup - the first to be held in winter - while former FIFA president Sepp Blatter suggested there was 'an agreement' in place for Russia to host the 2018 tournament before the vote took place. Prominent figures, including Blatter, have since been indicted on criminal charges with some of them facing lengthy spells in The Big House if convicted. As a result FIFA - under the presidency of Gianni Infantino - promised 'a more open and transparent' vote to decide the 2026 World Cup host. It was decided that FIFA's twenty two-strong executive committee would no longer vote on behalf of the membership, as had occurred previously. Instead, the two bids made a final fifteen-minute presentation in front of congress before the FIFA member nations cast their votes.
The 'United' World Cup will generate over ten billion knicker in revenue for FIFA, says Cordeiro. FIFA, needless to say, had their greed right-on when they heard this. Of the sixteen host cities, ten will be in the United States while the remainder will be split evenly between Canada and Mexico. Sixty matches will take place in the US, while Canada and Mexico will host ten games each. The final will be held at the eighty four thousand-capacity MetLife Stadium, which is home to NFL sides the New York Giants and the New York Jets. The distance between the most Northern host city (Edmonton) and the most Southern (Mexico City) is almost three thousand miles, which compares to nineteen hundred miles at this month's tournament in Russia. The tournament will mark the first time a World Cup has been shared by three host nations although one previous one - 2002's - was shared between two, South Korea and Japan. The 1994 World Cup, staged by the US, had the highest average attendance in the tournament's history, while Mexico was the first nation to host the event twice. Morocco Football Federation president Fouzi Lekjaa said: 'I wish to congratulate FIFA for the conduct of this process and congratulate the president for what he has done in order to move things towards more transparency and more inclusion. I would like to reaffirm the determination of my country to continue to work for football and realise one day our dream to host the World Cup in Morocco.' Morocco's bid faced unwanted attention when FIFA secretary general, Fatma Samoura, was the subject of an investigation into an alleged conflict of interest. Members of FIFA's World Cup bid evaluation task force said that she had 'an undeclared family link' with Morocco 2026 bid ambassador El Hadji Diouf. She was subsequently cleared of any wrongdoing and dismissed the claims as 'laughable and unfortunate.' The same evaluation task force later expressed concerns over stadiums, the availability of accommodation and the travel network, despite ratifying their proposals. Nine of the fourteen stadiums included in Morocco's bid were yet to be built, while the remaining five required 'significant renovation or upgrading.' But bid chief Hicham el Amrani said that he was 'confident' the country's infrastructure 'could deliver' and made play of the North African nation's position, nine miles from the Southern tip of Spain - dubbing it a 'European' World Cup.
England should have 'great confidence' in bidding for the 2030 World Cup, says FIFA vice-president David Gill. Gill said that he was 'pleased' by the new bidding process for the 2026 tournament. England lost out to Russia for the right to host the 2018 tournament in a process that since-discredited FIFA president Sepp Blatter has admitted was pre-ordained. Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay have announced their plans to jointly bid for 2030. Since the 2018 and 2022 tournaments were awarded to Russia and Qatar respectively in December 2010, widespread corruption has been exposed in the global game, including allegations of bribery and payment for votes. As a result, FIFA's executive committee is no longer responsible for the final say on which country is awarded a World Cup. Instead, FIFA member nations cast their votes. 'What it does is gives great confidence that the procedures in place now are appropriate and relevant,' said Gill. 'So, for me, I was very pleased with the process and delighted with the work that was done over many, many months.'
There's a very interesting piece by Tom Gerken on the BBC Sport website asking the question Does England have the most critical media in world football? To which the answer would appear to be 'of course it does, what planet have you been living on since 1970?'
The fixtures for next season's Premier League were released on Thursday. Yer actual Keith Telly Topping's beloved (though unsellable) Magpies' opening five games are, at home to Stottingtot Hotshots (same as last season), away to newly-promoted Cardiff, at home to Moscow Chelski FC, away to Champions Sheikh Yer Man City and at home to The Arse. So, that'll be United bottom of the league after five game, then.
The 'United' World Cup will generate over ten billion knicker in revenue for FIFA, says Cordeiro. FIFA, needless to say, had their greed right-on when they heard this. Of the sixteen host cities, ten will be in the United States while the remainder will be split evenly between Canada and Mexico. Sixty matches will take place in the US, while Canada and Mexico will host ten games each. The final will be held at the eighty four thousand-capacity MetLife Stadium, which is home to NFL sides the New York Giants and the New York Jets. The distance between the most Northern host city (Edmonton) and the most Southern (Mexico City) is almost three thousand miles, which compares to nineteen hundred miles at this month's tournament in Russia. The tournament will mark the first time a World Cup has been shared by three host nations although one previous one - 2002's - was shared between two, South Korea and Japan. The 1994 World Cup, staged by the US, had the highest average attendance in the tournament's history, while Mexico was the first nation to host the event twice. Morocco Football Federation president Fouzi Lekjaa said: 'I wish to congratulate FIFA for the conduct of this process and congratulate the president for what he has done in order to move things towards more transparency and more inclusion. I would like to reaffirm the determination of my country to continue to work for football and realise one day our dream to host the World Cup in Morocco.' Morocco's bid faced unwanted attention when FIFA secretary general, Fatma Samoura, was the subject of an investigation into an alleged conflict of interest. Members of FIFA's World Cup bid evaluation task force said that she had 'an undeclared family link' with Morocco 2026 bid ambassador El Hadji Diouf. She was subsequently cleared of any wrongdoing and dismissed the claims as 'laughable and unfortunate.' The same evaluation task force later expressed concerns over stadiums, the availability of accommodation and the travel network, despite ratifying their proposals. Nine of the fourteen stadiums included in Morocco's bid were yet to be built, while the remaining five required 'significant renovation or upgrading.' But bid chief Hicham el Amrani said that he was 'confident' the country's infrastructure 'could deliver' and made play of the North African nation's position, nine miles from the Southern tip of Spain - dubbing it a 'European' World Cup. 
