Latest news with #Rothenberg
Time of India
14-07-2025
- Sport
- Time of India
Soccer: Club World Cup serves as 2026 dry run amid heat and pitch concerns
NEW YORK: The inaugural 32-team Club World Cup wrapped up on Sunday with plenty of lessons learned for organisers FIFA , with the tournament in the United States, won by Chelsea , acting as a preview of the 2026 World Cup. A record 48 teams will descend on co-hosts United States, Canada and Mexico next year for the quadrennial spectacle, with 104 matches on the schedule, up from just 64 the last time the tournament was held in 2022 in Qatar. In anticipation, FIFA expanded the Club World Cup this year to more than four times its original size with 32 teams, in a format that mimicked what fans can expect next year. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like This Sticky Sweet Treat Is Healthier Than You Think – 15 Reasons to Add It to Your Diet! Learn More Undo "It's a dry run for FIFA," said Alan Rothenberg , the former president of U.S. Soccer who was responsible for overseeing the World Cup the last time it was held in the U.S., in 1994. "There were some mistakes early on and some issues early on but presumably they have now learned their lesson on how to stage a tournament in multiple cities in this vast country of ours. So I think it's going to make it a lot smoother from here on out for '26 because they now have experience." Live Events Organisers faced criticism from players, fans and coaches for a range of issues from pitch conditions to scheduling to heat, with some games played to packed stands and others to sparse crowds baking in temperatures of 85 degrees Fahrenheit (29°C) and higher. Global players' union FIFPRO said the heat, in particular, should "serve as a wake-up call", with organisers pressured to schedule matches earlier in the day to accommodate the extraordinary scale of the tournament. Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez described the temperatures as "very dangerous" to play in. "Every criticism that we receive is a source for us to study, to analyse, to see what we can do better," FIFA President Gianni Infantino told reporters ahead of the final. "Of course, the heat is definitely an issue. It's an issue all over the world." Infantino said that the tournament in 2026 would use stadiums with roofs and climate control to accommodate more of the daytime games. Of the 16 World Cup stadiums, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and Vancouver have roofs. "We need to look at what we can do better. We introduced cooling breaks. It's obviously very important we water the pitch. We can see how we can do things better in America as well as in Canada for next year, in Vancouver," said Infantino. FIFA is taking greater operational control over the 2026 tournament compared to previous editions, said Rothenberg, who is now chairman of Premier Partnerships, a division of Playfly Sports. "I don't think they did (Club World Cup) as an experiment but it turns out to be a great experience for FIFA going forward," said Rothenberg, whose forthcoming book "The Big Bounce" explores soccer's popularity in the U.S. 'HISTORIC EVENT' Global soccer's governing body has put boots on the ground in the U.S. in preparation for the World Cup, setting up field offices in Miami and at New York's Trump Tower. U.S. President Donald Trump was on hand to deliver the trophy at MetLife Stadium on Sunday to Chelsea, after the Premier League side thrashed Paris St Germain 3-0 in front of an enthusiastic crowd From January until the end of next year's tournament, FIFA will maintain a 485,000 square-foot broadcast centre in Dallas. A smaller version was used in the parking lot at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey for the Club World Cup. "This is not a test run - we're going to have a lot of learnings from '25 but this is a historic event for us," Oscar Sanchez, head of host broadcast production, told reporters. "It's massive - but 2026 is humongous." MetLife Stadium, which hosted Sunday's final, is set to host the 2026 World Cup's showpiece, with ongoing research to optimise pitch conditions in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Despite efforts, including transporting Bermuda grass overnight in refrigerated trucks, Club World Cup venues received criticism from coaches and players for pitch quality. "We'll report post this tournament and take lessons forward to 2026," said Blair Christensen, pitch venue manager. "These guys here that work on the pitch with me they are far sharper and better than they were 35 days ago and we'll take that forward to next year as well."
The Star
14-07-2025
- Sport
- The Star
Soccer-Club World Cup serves as 2026 dry run amid heat and pitch concerns
NEW YORK (Reuters) -The inaugural 32-team Club World Cup wrapped up on Sunday with plenty of lessons learned for organisers FIFA, with the tournament in the United States, won by Chelsea, acting as a preview of the 2026 World Cup. A record 48 teams will descend on co-hosts United States, Canada and Mexico next year for the quadrennial spectacle, with 104 matches on the schedule, up from just 64 the last time the tournament was held in 2022 in Qatar. In anticipation, FIFA expanded the Club World Cup this year to more than four times its original size with 32 teams, in a format that mimicked what fans can expect next year. "It's a dry run for FIFA," said Alan Rothenberg, the former president of U.S. Soccer who was responsible for overseeing the World Cup the last time it was held in the U.S., in 1994. "There were some mistakes early on and some issues early on but presumably they have now learned their lesson on how to stage a tournament in multiple cities in this vast country of ours. So I think it's going to make it a lot smoother from here on out for '26 because they now have experience." Organisers faced criticism from players, fans and coaches for a range of issues from pitch conditions to scheduling to heat, with some games played to packed stands and others to sparse crowds baking in temperatures of 85 degrees Fahrenheit (29°C) and higher. Global players' union FIFPRO said the heat, in particular, should "serve as a wake-up call", with organisers pressured to schedule matches earlier in the day to accommodate the extraordinary scale of the tournament. Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez described the temperatures as "very dangerous" to play in. "Every criticism that we receive is a source for us to study, to analyse, to see what we can do better," FIFA President Gianni Infantino told reporters ahead of the final. "Of course, the heat is definitely an issue. It's an issue all over the world." Infantino said that the tournament in 2026 would use stadiums with roofs and climate control to accommodate more of the daytime games. Of the 16 World Cup stadiums, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and Vancouver have roofs. "We need to look at what we can do better. We introduced cooling breaks. It's obviously very important we water the pitch. We can see how we can do things better in America as well as in Canada for next year, in Vancouver," said Infantino. FIFA is taking greater operational control over the 2026 tournament compared to previous editions, said Rothenberg, who is now chairman of Premier Partnerships, a division of Playfly Sports. "I don't think they did (Club World Cup) as an experiment but it turns out to be a great experience for FIFA going forward," said Rothenberg, whose forthcoming book "The Big Bounce" explores soccer's popularity in the U.S. 'HISTORIC EVENT' Global soccer's governing body has put boots on the ground in the U.S. in preparation for the World Cup, setting up field offices in Miami and at New York's Trump Tower. U.S. President Donald Trump was on hand to deliver the trophy at MetLife Stadium on Sunday to Chelsea, after the Premier League side thrashed Paris St Germain 3-0 in front of an enthusiastic crowd. From January until the end of next year's tournament, FIFA will maintain a 485,000 square-foot broadcast centre in Dallas. A smaller version was used in the parking lot at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey for the Club World Cup. "This is not a test run - we're going to have a lot of learnings from '25 but this is a historic event for us," Oscar Sanchez, head of host broadcast production, told reporters. "It's massive - but 2026 is humongous." MetLife Stadium, which hosted Sunday's final, is set to host the 2026 World Cup's showpiece, with ongoing research to optimise pitch conditions in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Despite efforts, including transporting Bermuda grass overnight in refrigerated trucks, Club World Cup venues received criticism from coaches and players for pitch quality. "We'll report post this tournament and take lessons forward to 2026," said Blair Christensen, pitch venue manager. "These guys here that work on the pitch with me they are far sharper and better than they were 35 days ago and we'll take that forward to next year as well." (Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York, additional reporting by Fernando Kallas, Miguel Lo Bianco and Kurt Hall in New YorkEditing by Toby Davis)
Politico
13-07-2025
- Politics
- Politico
America's soccer dad has some advice for the White House
When the United States last hosted the men's soccer World Cup, Bill Clinton was president, the country did not have a professional league and its national team had competed in the tournament only twice in the previous half-century. Just five years earlier, the sport's governing body FIFA had snubbed an American bid to be the emergency host for the 1986 tournament. The man at the center of the nation's soccer breakthrough was Alan Rothenberg, an attorney at the politically well-connected Los Angeles law firm Manatt who helped organize the 1984 Olympics there. As president of the U.S. Soccer Federation, he served as chair and CEO of the 1994 World Cup and led the organization through a match four years later against Iran — a geopolitically contentious face-off that Rothenberg has called 'the mother of all games.' (He was also a founder of Major League Soccer and chair of the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup.) He has since advised FIFA through multiple tournaments including the 2002 World Cup hosted by Korea and Japan, the first to be played across national borders. Now, as the U.S. gears up to host the World Cup again, this time with matches being played in 16 cities across the U.S., Mexico and Canada, Rothenberg is watching from the sidelines. The 86-year-old has written a memoir of his soccer career, entitled The Big Bounce: The Surge that Shaped the Future of U.S. Soccer, to be published next year. But for now he has some advice for Andrew Giuliani, whom President Donald Trump has appointed to run the FIFA World Cup 2026 Task Force. A novel organizing structure, Rothenberg warns, could leave cities and states empty-handed.
Business Recorder
02-07-2025
- Business
- Business Recorder
Oil rises on signs of strong demand
NEW YORK: Oil prices edged higher on Tuesday as investors took stock of positive demand indicators, while also treading cautiously ahead of an OPEC+ meeting to decide the group's August output policy. Brent crude was up 18 cents, or 0.3%, to $66.92 a barrel at 11:36 a.m. ET (1536 GMT), while US West Texas Intermediate crude was up 27 cents, or around 0.4%, to $65.38 a barrel. The gains were likely due to supportive data from a private-sector survey in China, which showed factory activity returned to expansion in June, said Randall Rothenberg, risk intelligence expert at US oil brokerage Liquidity Energy. Expectations that Saudi Arabia will raise its August crude oil prices for buyers in Asia to a four-month high, and firm premiums for Russian ESPO Blend crude oil, were also supporting the notion of robust demand, Rothenberg said. Meanwhile, oil's gains were kept in check by expectations that the OPEC+ group will raise its August crude oil output by an amount similar to the outsized hikes agreed in May, June, and July. Four OPEC+ sources told Reuters last week that the group plans to raise output by 411,000 bpd next month when it meets on July 6. 'All eyes will be on OPEC+'s decision over the weekend, when the group is expected to add another 411,000 bpd of production in an effort to gain more market share, primarily over the US shale producers,' StoneX energy analyst Alex Hodes wrote to clients. Besides gaining market share from US shale producers, which pumped oil at a record pace in April according to official data released on Monday, the group has also been trying to punish overproducing members. OPEC+ member Kazakhstan, one of world's 10 largest oil producers, raised oil production last month to match an all-time high, a source familiar with the data told Reuters on Tuesday. Saudi Arabia, the de facto leader of the OPEC+ group, raised its June crude oil exports to the fastest rate in a year, data from Kpler showed. 'These exports are flooding out even faster than the OPEC+ deal implies during the summer when peak domestic demand typically keeps oil supplies closer to home,' Hodes said. Investors are also watching trade negotiations ahead of US President Donald Trump's tariff deadline of July 9. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that countries could be notified of sharply higher tariffs despite good-faith negotiations as that deadline approaches, when tariff rates are scheduled to revert from a temporary 10% level to the ones Trump announced on April 2 and then suspended. The European Union wants immediate relief from tariffs in key sectors as part of any trade deal with the US due by the July 9 deadline, EU diplomats told Reuters.
Business Recorder
01-07-2025
- Business
- Business Recorder
Oil rises on signs of strong demand, investors await OPEC+ output decision
NEW YORK: Oil prices edged higher on Tuesday as investors took stock of positive demand indicators, while also treading cautiously ahead of an OPEC+ meeting to decide the group's August output policy. Brent crude was up 18 cents, or 0.3%, to $66.92 a barrel at 11:36 a.m. ET (1536 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up 27 cents, or around 0.4%, to $65.38 a barrel. The gains were likely due to supportive data from a private-sector survey in China, which showed factory activity returned to expansion in June, said Randall Rothenberg, risk intelligence expert at U.S. oil brokerage Liquidity Energy. Expectations that Saudi Arabia will raise its August crude oil prices for buyers in Asia to a four-month high, and firm premiums for Russian ESPO Blend crude oil, were also supporting the notion of robust demand, Rothenberg said. Meanwhile, oil's gains were kept in check by expectations that the OPEC+ group will raise its August crude oil output by an amount similar to the outsized hikes agreed in May, June, and July. Four OPEC+ sources told Reuters last week that the group plans to raise output by 411,000 bpd next month when it meets on July 6. 'All eyes will be on OPEC+'s decision over the weekend, when the group is expected to add another 411,000 bpd of production in an effort to gain more market share, primarily over the US shale producers,' StoneX energy analyst Alex Hodes wrote to clients.. Oil prices slip on easing Middle East risks Besides gaining market share from U.S. shale producers, which pumped oil at a record pace in April according to official data released on Monday, the group has also been trying to punish overproducing members. OPEC+ member Kazakhstan, one of world's 10 largest oil producers, raised oil production last month to match an all-time high, a source familiar with the data told Reuters on Tuesday. Saudi Arabia, the de facto leader of the OPEC+ group, raised its June crude oil exports to the fastest rate in a year, data from Kpler showed. 'These exports are flooding out even faster than the OPEC+ deal implies during the summer when peak domestic demand typically keeps oil supplies closer to home,' Hodes said. Investors are also watching trade negotiations ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff deadline of July 9. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that countries could be notified of sharply higher tariffs despite good-faith negotiations as that deadline approaches, when tariff rates are scheduled to revert from a temporary 10% level to the ones Trump announced on April 2 and then suspended. The European Union wants immediate relief from tariffs in key sectors as part of any trade deal with the U.S. due by the July 9 deadline, EU diplomats told Reuters. Morgan Stanley expects Brent futures to retrace to around $60 by early next year, with the market being well supplied and geopolitical risk abating following the de-escalation of the Israel-Iran conflict. It expects an oversupply of 1.3 million bpd in 2026.
