FIFA Organization

ZURICH — The age limit for the Tokyo Olympics men's football tournament could be raised so that players who were eligible in 2020 will not miss out following the postponement of the Games until the following year, FIFA said on Friday.

Olympic football is usually restricted to under-23 teams for the men's tournament, with three overage players allowed per team.

MANCHESTER — FIFA is working on the details of a "Football Marshall plan" to deal with the financial fall-out from the coronavirus pandemic, which will almost certainly result in them dipping into their $2.7 billion reserves.

World soccer's governing body has set up a working group to look into the myriad of issues thrown up by the halting of the game across the globe as a result of the pandemic and this week it is expected to focus on ways in which it can help give a cash boost to those struggling.

BERN — World soccer players' union FIFPRO is "extremely concerned" at the number of clubs which have imposed redundancies and wage cuts after the stoppage caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Soccer has been brought to a standstill by the coronavirus crisis with domestic leagues suspended and international competitions such as Euro 2020 and the Copa America postponed.

FIFPRO and its affiliated national unions had already received "a large volume of calls for assistance from professional footballers," the union said on Friday.

Current contracts for players and coaches should be extended until the end of the delayed domestic soccer seasons, according to an internal FIFA document presented to its Coronavirus Working Group. The confidential document, seen by Reuters, also recommends allowing transfer windows to be changed in accordance with new season dates and urges clubs and players to work together to find solutions to salary payments during stoppages. 

ZURICH — FIFA has agreed to delay the first edition of its revamped Club World Cup, due to be held in 2021, to make way for the Euro 2020 and Copa America tournaments, which have been postponed for a year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

After a video conference meeting of regional leaders, global soccer's governing body FIFA said in a statement on Wednesday that it would "decide at a later stage when to schedule the new FIFA Club World Cup which was due to take place in June/July 2021."

Football is facing its first economic crisis for decades with the prospect of mass layoffs of players if nothing is done to bail out clubs left without matches by the coronavirus pandemic, the global players' union FIFPRO said on Tuesday.

Professional football has been wiped off the map for weeks, maybe months, after all the major leagues, cups and international competitions were suspended, culminating in the postponement of Euro 2020 and Copa America on Tuesday.

The International Olympic Committee does not plan any "drastic" decisions about the Tokyo 2020 Games, saying on Tuesday it remains fully committed to the event being staged in four months' time despite the global spread of the coronavirus.

Following discussions with international sports federations the IOC said changes would need to be made to the qualifiers due to the impact of the virus, but it still plans to go ahead with the July 24-Aug 9 Olympics.

MANCHESTER, England — When football's law-making body IFAB met last week, a decision that could massively impact the game at all levels passed barely noticed as the debate over VAR technology hogged the limelight.

Officials of IFAB, the International Football Association Board, made up of the four British home nations and FIFA, agreed to conduct a year-long review into the offside law, which is expected to end with a proposal for a new rule.

The implications were not lost on Mark Bullingham, chief executive of England's Football Association.