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SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) _ Some Brazilian players returned to the
hotel drunk after being given time off between matches during the
2006 World Cup, according to the president of the Brazil's soccer
confederation.
A year after Brazil's quarter-final elimination in Germany,
Ricardo Teixeira said a group of players lacked discipline during
the World Cup, but did not mention anyone specifically, the Estado
de S. Paulo newspaper reported Wednesday.
``There were players who arrived between 4 and 6 ...
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FIFA fired its director of marketing and TV and three others in the division Tuesday for dishonest sponsorship negotiations.
Jerome Valcke, Tom Houseman, Robert Lampman and Stefan Schuster were let go following a ruling in a U.S. court that said MasterCard could sponsor the 2010 and 2014 World Cups because FIFA didn't play fair when it awarded the rights to credit card rival Visa.
``The FIFA employees who had conducted ...
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Mastercard is entitled to sponsor the next two World Cups despite a deal Visa signed with FIFA calling for it to receive the rights on Jan. 1, a judge ruled Thursday.
U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska issued the 125-page ruling in Manhattan after MasterCard sued FIFA, saying the governing body of world soccer signed its deal with Visa even though MasterCard had a right of first refusal to sponsor ...
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Lawyers for FIFA and France's soccer federation criticized efforts by two groups of fans demanding an official investigation of Zinedine Zidane's expulsion from the World Cup final, calling it a ``publicity stunt.''
A Paris court held a hearing Thursday to decide whether to allow the probe, reviving memories of the star's head-butt of Italy defender Marco Materazzi in extra time, which stunned millions of fans and led to a red ...
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The road to the World Cup for CONCACAF countries like Canada got a little tougher Wednesday.
FIFA announced that the fourth-place country from CONCACAF, which covers North and Central America and the Caribbean, will meet the fifth-place South American country in a playoff to determine a berth for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Last time around, the CONCACAF playoff was against an Asian team, with Trinidad and Tobago ...
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More than four months after the World Cup, the German economy is rising, but the same can hardly be said for the country's soccer.
The world's biggest sports event ended July 9 in Berlin, and now Germany is grappling with contradictions as it tries to assess the tournament's lasting impact.
The Bundesliga is averaging a record 38,985 fans this season, although the quality of play leaves much to be desired. ...
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FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who suggested that World Cup champion Italy may have been lucky to reach the quarter-finals, attempted to clarify that statement Monday.
In an interview Sunday on SBS Television in Australia, Blatter said he was offering an apology to Australian soccer fans who saw their team knocked out of the of World Cup in the second round.
The Italians won 1-0 on a penalty called with only ...
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The South African government plans
to spend 15 billion rands (C$2.2 billion) on new stadiums and
related infrastructure for the 2010 World Cup.
Finance Minister Trevor Manuel told parliament Wednesday that
preparations for the tournament _ the first to be held in Africa _
were one of the country's top spending priorities for the next three
years.
``The hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup provides South Africa
and the region with a one-in-a-generation opportunity to showcase
our land ...
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The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg are ready to begin a campaign to jointly stage the 2018 World Cup, the organizer of the 2000 European Championship said Monday.
``We will certainly enter our bid during the month of January,'' said Alain Courtois, the organizer of the 2000 European Championship, which was co-hosted by the Netherlands and Belgium.
``We have a good opportunity,'' said Courtois on the Actua TV network. He said ...
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Franz Beckenbauer apologized for the confusion surrounding his comments about South Africa's ability to host the 2010 World Cup.
Beckenbauer, head of the organizing committee of this summer's World Cup in Germany, caused a stir last month when he reportedly said the tournament _ the first to be held in Africa _ was ``beset by big problems.''
His comments came amid national and international concerns over the state of stadium ...
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