The FIFA Congress met in the Bahamas (nice choice) today, and held a press conference afterwards. You can see the press conference here or you can keep reading for a nice tidy overview. I’ve watched the press conference, and recommend that you keep reading.
Here are six things that emerged from the 2009 FIFA Congress:
1. FIFA = $£€
World football’s governing body made a net profit of $184 million in 2008. I can’t decided whether that’s good news or bad news.
2. Age limits removed on players switching nationality.
Used to be that a player with dual nationality had to choose his national team by the age of 21. The Algerian Football Association put forward a motion to remove that age limit, which was passed with a 58% majority.
If you play for a senior national team, then you’re still tied to that national team. But now players don’t have to make a choice at the age of 21, which makes perfect sense to me. You don’t know what your future holds at 21. So, basically, if you’re Senegalese and French and you play for the French youth teams but then never get an international call up, you can still play for Senegal.
3. Host cities chosen for Brazil 2014
The 12 Brazilian host cities for the 2014 World Cup will be: Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Cuiaba, Curitiba, Fortaleza, Manaus, Natal, Porto Alegre, Recife, Rio De Janeiro, Salvador, Sao Paulo
4. Sepp still loves Six Plus Five.
The Seppster says “6+5″ is “only a matter of time”, and he believes the Treaty of Lisbon will make it possible:
“If we get that by end of year - then next year we will be able to announce that we were on the right path and can begin implementing it,” he said. “If there is the political will a law can be amended, a law can be interpreted, all laws can be changed or amended.”
That second sentence is a bit scary, no?
5. But he hates fences.
Nothing official, but Uncle Sepp used the press conference to call for the removal of fences at all football stadia. “Ladies and gentlemen, fences in the stadium are not adequate for (football),” he said.” Who are behind fences? Prisoners and wild animals. Are fans in these two categories?”
6. No decision on Olympic football
It was expected that the U-23 age limit for Olympic football would be reduced to U-21 at this congress. But rather than any firm decision, a task force has been setup to figure out exactly what needs to be done. But the message was that football will remain an Olympic sport. Blatter suggested several different approaches, such as getting rid of the age limit altogether and allowing any player who hasn’t already played at a World Cup to compete.
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