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Scotsman
6 hours ago
- Sport
- Scotsman
Fifa and Scottish football clubs take note as Refugee World Cup shines light on marginalised players
24 teams compete for four trophies across five hours of football at Toryglen Sign up to our Football newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Over in America, the sprawling Club World Cup grinds on. In Glasgow this weekend, meanwhile, something far more rewarding will be done and dusted within a day despite involving as many as 24 teams. Follow that, Fifa. The Refugee World Cup, a seven-a-side tournament attracting players from over 50 nationalities, kicks off on Sunday at 11am and will be wrapped up by 4pm, when, in a departure from recent years, four trophies will be presented. The winners of the four groups of six teams will compete for the Refugee World Cup 2025 title. The second, third and fourth-placed teams will play for different cups: the Unity Cup, Equality Cup and Peace Cup. Unity, equality and peace. All concepts worth extolling at this time. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad On hearing the organisers are in discussions with Fifa to officially endorse the tournament, it's possible to wonder why. Why risk ruining it? The bloated, financially motivated Club World Cup that – checks internet – yup is still plodding on in the States is an example of what can happen when Fifa are anything to do with it. Glasgow Afghan United managing director and tournament organiser Abdul Bostani launches the 2025 Refugee World Cup at Hampden Park with Cammy Bell and Packie Bonner. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group) | SNS Group 'I don't see it from that angle,' says Abdul Bostani, managing director of the charity Glasgow Afghan United and one of the leading lights behind the Refugee World Cup. 'Fifa are an international body of football around the world and involvement of Fifa will benefit this tournament and make us stronger and more official in the world.' Discussions with world football's governing body are, he reveals, ongoing. He wants an open discussion about whether it might be held every four years, every year and in one or in several countries. As it stands, Glasgow is alone. The competition, which started in 2012, was previously known as the Refugee Football Festival. Renamed the Refugee World Cup in 2024, it's slightly surprising to hear they haven't received a cease and desist letter from Fifa president Gianni Infantino protesting about the use of 'World Cup' in the name. Maybe Fifa have found a soul. Maybe they can appreciate what Bostani says the Refugee World Cup is all about – a celebration of football and community and a reminder of our shared humanity. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Scotland, too, ought to embrace it because, as Bostani confidently predicts, players of refugee backgrounds will one day proudly wear the Scotland jersey, 'just as France's national team reflects the diversity of its own heritage'. He wonders whether a 'Scottish Kylian Mbappe' is already here. Former Celtic winger Karamoko Dembele, currently with Queens Park Rangers, played in the competition as recently as last year, as did his brother Siriki, now at Oxford United. They grew up in Glasgow after their parents moved to Britain from Ivory Coast and represented a team called Scoutables FC, who are involved again this time around. Karamoko Dembele of Queens Park Rangers, and formerly of Celtic, has previously played in the Refugee World Cup. (Photo by) | Getty Images 'This tournament is an invitation to see refugees not as statistics, but as individuals,' explains Bostani. 'It's about fostering empathy, understanding and inclusion, values that have long defined Scotland and the UK as welcoming nations. 'There over 120 million displaced people in the world,' he adds. 'And we have millions of refugees around the world. This type of population is almost denied everything. If you are a refugee, you are not allowed to work, you are not allowed to do this, do that. We need to recognise the reality of what is happening in the world, and football is a main way of bringing people together. You might not speak the same language, but no matter where in the world you are from the minute you kick a ball you have made a connection.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Behind every refugee is a story of courage, of leaving behind home, loved ones, language and culture to seek safety and a future free from fear,' he adds. Bostani should know. He fled Afghanistan in 2001 and arrived in Glasgow, graduating in accountancy from the University of Strathclyde in 2011 and then gaining a master's degree in community development and adult education from the University of Glasgow in 2019. He is a local councillor for the SNP in Maryhill and has British citizenship. He was still a teenager when he first landed in Glasgow, alone and cut adrift from his family. He was last in Afghanistan in 2014. His father died when he was a young boy. He hasn't seen his mother since his last visit home 11 years ago. The Taliban's subsequent return to power has made it impossible for him to return although he has built a new life – and family – in Scotland, having married and had seven children, all born in Glasgow, aged between four and 20. Two of his sons will be playing on Sunday at Toryglen Regional Training Centre, where the Refugee World Cup takes place. Chris Priestley, manager of Burnhill FC, one of the competing teams, is also fixtures secretary of the Scottish Football Unity League, which was set up to create an environment free from all forms of prejudice and discrimination. He maintains there's work still to be done. Few from minority backgrounds have established themselves in the Scottish senior leagues, far less the Scotland national team. Edinburgh-born Rayan Mohammed, who has just been released by Dundee, was included in Pakistan's squad to play Myanmar earlier this month but is currently clubless. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Our frustration is that there is a lot of untapped talent here in Scotland but when it does break through it tends to go to England,' Priestley tells me. 'We have had players from the Unity League who have gone to Brentford, Southampton…I guess our frustration is these marginalised players are capable of making a contribution to semi-professional and professional clubs and yet are only getting this opportunity when they move to nations, typically England but other places, more used to diverse dressing rooms.
The Independent
a day ago
- Business
- The Independent
Fifa's use of ‘adaptive pricing' model sees Club World Cup ticket prices skyrocket
Official tickets for Club World Cup group games were being sold for up to £1,250 as supply and demand means prices can go through the roof. It's even more expensive on re-sale sites, which have seen prices hit well over £5,000 for some games. The best seats for Real Madrid 's final group game against FC Salzburg in Philadelphia were being sold by StubHub on Wednesday for over £4,450, while a day earlier those prices got as high as the US equivalent of £5,864. According to Fifa, tickets are available through its website but they've already been sold and prospective buyers are redirected to the governing body's official partners, Ticketmaster. The ticket sales site carries an 'important event info' message on its site for the Club World Cup that reads: 'Please note that ticket prices may change from day to day due to fluctuating market conditions.' Fifa says prices can go down as well as up and that, amid the price hikes, tickets for Real Madrid's match last night were still available through Ticketmaster for around £124. The organisation says it can do nothing about the fact that in the United States, by law, re-sale sites are allowed to buy up tickets and sell them on. At present, tickets for the final in New Jersey on 13th July range from around £526 to £2,352. With the World Cup being held in the United States next year, prices are expected to reach their most expensive ever and top the average £286 per ticket in Qatar during the 2022 finals.
BBC News
a day ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Extreme heat, poor pitches & plenty of goals - Club World Cup reaches halfway stage
Fifa's expanded Club World Cup in the United States has reached the end of its group phase, with two weeks of knockout matches to risen from seven teams to 32, the competition has received criticism over player welfare concerns with matches played in extreme temperatures, often with poor say the Club World Cup is purely there to boost Fifa's finances, while football's governing body argues the event is needed to build up to next summer's five-week World Cup, which will feature 48 nations and be held in 16 cities across Canada, the US and has been a competition of massive contrasts. From hugely one-sided thrashings, such as Bayern Munich setting a new tournament record when they crushed New Zealand part-timers Auckland City 10-0, to thrilling matches, including 4-4 and 4-3 have taken a look at five talking points so far. 'Impossible' conditions and thunderstorm threats Ever since the tournament expansion was announced, there have been major concerns over the workload of the players, especially with the World Cup coming up in 12 the main European seasons began in August, Real Madrid have now played 65 times, Inter Milan 62, Paris St-Germain 61 and both Chelsea and Manchester City 60 apiece, with four more games to come if they reach the has made it worse is the temperatures the matches are being held in. Temperatures reached 36C during the game between Bayern Munich and Benfica in Charlotte, North Carolina, while Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca said it was "impossible" to organise normal training sessions amid a "code red" severe heat warning in breaks have been used with players dashing to get some shade, often while wearing an ice-cold towel or throwing bottles of water over their heads in an attempt to cool threat of thunderstorms has caused lengthy delays to five matches because play in American stadiums has to be halted when lightning is recorded within a 10-mile three venues in Mexico, as well as cities including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta and Miami hosting matches in the 2026 World Cup, weather delays could well be a feature of that tournament as well. Fantastic atmospheres or near-empty arenas There have been crowds of more than 40,000 at 18 of the 48 group games with numerous superb highest attendance so far has been the 80,619 that watched European champions Paris St-Germain thrash Atletico Madrid 4-0 at the Rose Bowl in 10 attendances of the Club World Cup80,619 - Paris St-Germain 4-0 Atletico Madrid (15 June, Pasadena)70,248 - Real Madrid 3-1 Pachuca (22 June, Charlotte)64,811 - Red Bull Salzburg 0-3 Real Madrid (26 June, Philadelphia)63,587 - Bayern Munich 2-1 Boca Juniors (20 June, Miami)62,415 - Real Madrid 1-1 Al-Hilal (18 June, Miami)60,927 - Al Ahly 0-0 Inter Miami (14 June, Miami)60,914 - Inter Miami 2-2 Palmeiras (23 June, Miami)57,393 - River Plate 0-0 Monterrey (21 June, Pasadena)55,574 - Boca Juniors 2-2 Benfica (16 June, Miami)54,619 - Flamengo 3-1 Chelsea (20 June, Philadelphia)However, many games have not sold as well, with nearly 50,000 seats left unfilled for Chelsea's opener against Los Angeles FC in of the 10 lowest attendances have come from matches played between Monday and Friday and six of those 10 started between midday and 3pm local time with Fifa struggling to balance the local demand for tickets, tournament prices and scheduling matches to satisfy the lucrative television markets in Europe and Asia. Worst 10 attendances of the Club World Cup3,412 - Ulsan HD 0-1 Mamelodi Sundowns (17 June, Orlando)6,730 - Benfica 6-0 Auckland City (20 June, Orlando)8,239 - Borussia Dortmund 1-0 Ulsan HD (25 June, Cincinatti)10,785 - Wydad AC 1-2 Al Ain (26 June, Washington)11,974 - River Plate 3-1 Urawa Red Diamonds (21 June, Seattle)13,651 - Los Angeles FC 0-1 Esperance de Tunis (20 June, Nashville)14,006 - Mamelodi Sundowns 3-4 Borussia Dortmund (21 June, Cincinatti)14,147 - Al Hilal 2-0 Pachuca (26 June, Nashville)14,312 - Mamelodi Sundowns 0-0 Fluminense (25 June, Miami)14,312 - Urawa Red Diamonds 0-4 Monterrey (25 June, Pasadena) 'Ball bounces like a rabbit' - poor quality pitches heavily criticised PSG manager Luis Enrique has been among those criticising the playing surfaces, saying Fifa needs to "bear in mind" the quality of both match and training pitches if it wants the Club World Cup to be "the most high-level competition in the world"."I wouldn't imagine an NBA court full of holes," the 55-year-old said after his side beat Seattle Sounders 2-0."What I really care about is the state of the field of play. The ball bounces almost like if it were jumping around like a rabbit."Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham also found fault with the pitch following his team's 3-1 victory over Pachuca."The pitches aren't great at all. It holds up the ball, the ball barely bounces," said the England midfielder. "It's tough on the knees as well. Hopefully there's someone who will look at that going into the World Cup next year." How seriously have teams taken it? In short, very seriously. But then that is understandable considering there is a £775m prize pot, which will be split between the 32 teams, with the winners earning up to £ will take home a set figure for each round they reach. A win in the group stage earns them £1.5m, a draw £800,000, while they get an additional £5.8m for reaching the last 16, another £10.1m for getting to the quarter-finals, £16.2m for making the semi-finals, £23.2m for being in the final and £30m for winning the whole City were the only team to win all three of their group matches, beating Moroccan side Wydad AC 2-0, Al Ain of the United Arab Emirates 6-0 and then Italy's Juventus 5-2 on Thursday. Europe tipped to dominate - but have they? Before the tournament started, football data specialists Opta said the 11 most likely teams to win the trophy were all from three of the continent's 12 sides have gone out in the opening phase with Porto, Atletico Madrid and Red Bull Salzburg all exiting after finishing third in their respective were six sides from South America and while both of those from Argentina have been eliminated, all four from Brazil have made it through with Palmeiras taking on Botafogo in a last-16 of the five teams from North America - Inter Miami and Mexico's Monterrey - are still going, while Saudi Arabian outfit Al Hilal, who play Manchester City in the first knockout round, are the only Asian side left four African teams failed to make it out of their groups, as did Oceania's only representative Auckland City, although the part-timers did gain a memorable 1-1 draw with Boca Juniors of 16 fixtures (all times BST)Sat, 28 June 17:00 - Palmeiras (Brazil) v Botafogo (Brazil)Sat, 28 June 21:00 - Benfica (Portugal) v Chelsea (England)Sun, 29 June 17:00 - Paris St-Germain (France) v Inter Miami (United States)Sun, 29 June 21:00 - Flamengo (Brazil) v Bayern Munich (Germany)Mon 30 June 20:00 - Inter Milan (Italy) v Fluminense (Brazil)Tue 1 July 02:00 - Manchester City (England) v Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia)Tue 1 July 20:00 - Real Madrid (Spain) v Juventus (Italy)Wed 2 July 02:00 - Borussia Dortmund (Germany) v Monterrey (Mexico)The quarter-finals will be played across 4 and 5 July, the semi-finals on 8 and 9 July, with the final taking place on 13 July.
Middle East Eye
2 days ago
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
Legal experts tell Fifa Israel breaking international law as it considers sanctions
A group of legal experts that includes two former UN special rapporteurs has told Fifa that Israel and its football association is breaking international law by holding professional football matches on occupied Palestinian territory. The unprecedented letter to international football's governing body comes as it continues to deliberate over whether it should sanction the Israeli Football Association (IFA), after a proposal submitted by the Palestine Football Association (PFA) in March 2024. Over a year later, two Fifa committees are still investigating the complaints, one of which relates to discrimination by the IFA, the other to Israeli football teams playing in illegal settlements on occupied Palestinian territory. Since the start of its war on Gaza, Israel has also killed over 350 Palestinian footballers, including Hani al-Masdar, one of Palestine's greatest players, and has destroyed the blockaded enclave's pitches and stadiums. In December 2023, footage showed Israeli troops turning Gaza's al-Yarmouk, once a 9,000-seat football ground, into a makeshift internment camp for Palestinian detainees. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Beitar Jerusalem, whose Israeli fans call themselves 'the most racist team in the country', has a de facto policy to exclude Arabs and Palestinians. The club has received support from senior Israeli government figures, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Letter to Fifa In the letter to Bruno Chiomento, chairman of Fifa's governance, audit and compliance committee, which is investigating what it calls 'the participation in Israeli competitions of Israeli football teams allegedly based in the territory of Palestine', the group of judges, lawyers and scholars outlined the 'unassailable facts' relating to the illegality of Israeli settlements. The 30 signatories to the letter include former UN special rapporteurs on human rights in occupied Palestine John Dugard and Michael Lynk, Ardi Imseis, who is representing Palestine at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Israeli historian Ilan Pappe and William Schabas, a member of the Sierra Leone truth and reconciliation commission. 'This letter doesn't explicitly tell Fifa to suspend or expel Israel, but it leaves them in no doubt that that's what their own rules require them to do' - Nicholas McGeehan, FairSquare The letter cites ICJ's 2024 pronouncement on Israel's illegal occupation of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. It refers as well to the Fourth Geneva Convention, to UN Security Council Resolutions 446 from 1979, and to 2016's UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which describes settlements as 'a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the achievement of the two-state solution'. 'In light of the above, the governance, audit and compliance committee need not concern itself with the question of the legality of Israeli settlements, but simply the issue of whether Israeli teams continue to play football matches in settlements in the West Bank,' the letter reads. 'If that is the case, as the PFA alleges and the IFA has never denied, then the IFA is ipso facto in violation of article 64 (2) of the Fifa Statutes, which states that 'Member associations and their clubs may not play on the territory of another member association without the latter's approval'.' Legal obligations Nicholas McGeehan, founder of FairSquare, a non-profit human rights group, told Middle East Eye that 'it speaks to the seriousness of the issue at hand, that academics of this stature would make an intervention like this'. McGeehan said that while 'this letter doesn't explicitly tell Fifa to suspend or expel Israel from international football, it leaves them in no doubt that that's what their own rules require them to do.' Shane Darcy, a law professor who signed the letter and is the deputy director of the Irish Centre for Human Rights, told MEE that the ICJ opinion of 2024, which found that Israel's presence in occupied Palestine was unlawful and must be ended 'as rapidly as possibly', was 'especially significant'. 'International organisations such as Fifa must play their part to ensure the respect of long-established rules' - Shane Darcy, Irish Centre for Human Rights 'Moreover, the court said that international organisations - which would include Fifa - are under an obligation not to recognise as legal the unlawful situation arising from Israel's presence in the West Bank,' he said. By allowing Israeli teams to play there, Darcy said, Fifa was not just going against its own statutes, it was going 'against fundamental precepts of international law as laid out by the World Court'. 'At a time when international humanitarian law is being disregarded with impunity in Gaza, international organisations such as Fifa must play their part to ensure the respect of long-established rules by its members.' The PFA first complained to Fifa about Israeli teams playing matches in occupied West Bank settlements, including Ma'aleh Adumim, Kiryat Arba, Givat Zeev, Bikat Hayarden and Ariel, in 2013. Four years later, in 2017, Fifa's council declined to take any action, saying that the 'final status of the West Bank territories is the concern of the competent international public law authorities', and that Fifa 'must remain neutral with regard to political matters'. In May 2024, after the PFA submitted its request to adopt sanctions against Israel, citing international law violations and the failure of the IFA in 'taking decisive action against discrimination and racism', Fifa President Gianni Infantino ignored requests for the matter to be put to a vote at the 74th Fifa congress. The decision has continued to be deferred since then. The IFA has called the Palestinian Football Association's request a 'cynical political move'.
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Fifa hikes Club World Cup ticket prices as re-sale sites hit £5,000
Tickets for Club World Cup group games are being sold for as much as $1,707 (£1,251) because Fifa are using a controversial 'adaptive pricing' model based on supply and demand in which they can rise dramatically. The prices rocket even further on re-sale sites with the best seats for Real Madrid's final group game against FC Salzburg in Philadelphia in the early hours of Friday being offered for an incredible $6,091 (£4,464) by StubHub on Wednesday. On Tuesday, the prices were even higher – going for as much as $8,000 (£5,864). Fifa claim that tickets are available through their website – and are advertised as such on posters in the US – but those have already been sold and anyone wanting to buy is directed to Ticketmaster who are the official partners. Ticketmaster also has pre-existing partnerships with most of the 12 stadiums being used for the Club World Cup. The US-based company notoriously uses 'dynamic pricing' whereby prices fluctuate based on demand so that sellers and event organisers can maximise revenue. An 'important event info' message on Ticketmaster's website for Club World Cup sales says: 'Please note that ticket prices may change from day to day due to fluctuating market conditions.' Fifa's argument is that the prices go down as well as up – and also that tickets for the Madrid game are still available on Ticketmaster for 'only' $169 (£124) in the 67,594-capacity Lincoln Financial Field stadium which is expected to sell out. The issue for Fifa, it says, is that re-sale sites are allowed to buy up tickets under US law and as this tournament is being held in America they are under that country's jurisdiction. Fifa claims it cannot stop it from happening but it is its choice to partner with Ticketmaster. It also points out that there have been allocations of tickets available to participating clubs, at lower prices, but was unable to say how many they had been given. 'Adaptive pricing', which is being used throughout the tournament, is slightly different from so-called 'dynamic pricing' because the prices are not using a semi-automated system. The most expensive tickets available through Ticketmaster for the final at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on July 13 are $3,209 (£2,352) with the cheapest available for $718 (£526) at present. Fifa has defended its approach but it leaves itself open to criticism that it is trying to maximise revenue from fans. Typically for major tournaments such as the World Cup, Fifa sets fixed prices and sells tickets via its own online portals. But it claims it is not allowed to limit that under US law. Tickets to matches at the last World Cup in Qatar cost an average of £286 – the most expensive ever – but are expected to be considerably higher next year when 75 per cent of games will be played in the US. A Fifa spokesperson said: 'In accordance with local market practices and regulations, and as reflected in the Ticketing General Terms and Conditions, variable pricing has been implemented for general public ticket sales for all matches in the competition since the start of the ticket sales in late 2024. This means that ticket prices have been and will continue to be adjusted based on demand and availability for each match.'
