FIFA Men's World Cup

The chairman of Qatar-based media group BeIN Sports and president of French soccer club Paris St Germain, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, was cleared in a case over the awarding of television rights for the World Cup, the Swiss Federal Criminal Court said on Friday.

Al-Khelaifi had been accused of inciting former FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke to commit aggravated criminal mismanagement. The trial was not connected to Al-Khelaifi's role at Paris St Germain.

Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba on Monday denied media reports that said he quit the France national team over comments made by the country's President Emmanuel Macron which were perceived to be against Islam.

The French leader this month declared war on "Islamist separatism,” which he believes is taking over some Muslim communities in France. The Sun newspaper alleged that Pogba, a practicing Muslim, reacted to Macron's comments by quitting the national team.

Argentina got their World Cup qualifying campaign off to the perfect start on Thursday when Lionel Messi's early penalty gave them a 1-0 win over Ecuador in a lackluster match in Buenos Aires.

The Argentine FA piped fan noise around the empty Bombonera stadium and the chants of "Messi! Messi!" were vindicated as early as the 12th minute when he put Argentina ahead from the spot after Lucas Ocampos was fouled inside the penalty area.

CONCACAF and FIFA provided an update on the 2022 World Cup qualifying process with an announcement that the First Round is being pushed back to March 2021 due to COVID-19 concerns. 

Update on the Concacaf Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 https://t.co/5OK6XtibM6

The preliminary draw for Concacaf 2022 World Cup Qualifying first round was revealed along with the schedules for teams in the Final Round on Wednesday. The usual Hex format has been scrapped with the new Octagonal. 

Eight nations will compete in the final Octagonal with five (USMNT, Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras and Jamaica) automatically qualified. The three nations joining these five will come from this pot of nations.