World Cup

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

Big news from Down Under. The Football Federation Australia (FFA) announced that a new home facility for the Australia women’s national team in Victoria has taken a huge step forward in its progress. 

CONCACAF has unveiled a new qualification format for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar after COVID-19 forced a rejig of the usual system, the governing body for soccer in North and Central America and the Caribbean said on Monday.

The new format, which will feature all 35 of the region's members, has been split into three rounds with the first being played in October and November with teams ranked from No. 6 to No. 35 in CONCACAF as of July 16 drawn into six groups of five.

World Cup fans will be able to watch an unprecedented four games a day on television, spread out over 11 hours, during the group stage of the Qatar 2022 tournament after the 2022 World Cup schedule was confirmed on Wednesday.

With the relatively short travel distances for the venues in and around Doha, it could be possible for fans who travel to the 32-team tournament to attend multiple games each day.

The early games will kickoff at 1300 local (6 a.m. ET) with the fourth match starting at 2200 local (3 p.m. ET) and finishing just before midnight.

ZURICH — Switzerland named a special prosecutor to review criminal complaints against FIFA chief Gianni Infantino and Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber after the men held undocumented meetings while Lauber's office was investigating suspected graft surrounding the global soccer body.

Lauber last month became the subject of an impeachment process relating to his handling of the soccer inquiry.

A joint bid from Australia and New Zealand was voted the 2023 Women's World Cup host by the FIFA Council on Thursday.

The Australia-New Zealand bid was a heavy favorite to win the hosting rights after Brazil and Japan both pulled out in the weeks leading up to the vote. Colombia was the only other nation vying to become the 2023 Women's World Cup host.

SYDNEY — The task of building on the huge success of last year's Women's World Cup will fall to a region that has never staged it before when Colombia and a joint bid from Australia and New Zealand vie for the 2023 hosting rights in Thursday's FIFA vote.

The 2019 World Cup in France was hailed as a watershed for global interest in the women's game and FIFA President Gianni Infantino personally drove the campaign to increase the field to 32 teams from 24 for 2023.