News: Copa America to align with Euros

I wouldn't mind getting rid of one of the Gold Cups per cycle for a more robust WC Qualification campaign. Almost half of CONCACAF is out after just two games, I'm not a big fan of that.

 

The only certainty is that it does not coincide with the Gold Cup, which is played in odd years. Still need to know more details. My speculation is that it will be a tournament of 16 participants like the Centennial Copa America " in order to harmonise with the UEFA European Championship "

 

Doing the Copa América on Olympic years is still a bad idea.

 

Then it would be the end of that forced release in front of the European Court of Justice. This rule has everything in it screeming forced labour/abuse of power by invading the labour rights of a player and employer.
The European Comission already has ruled against the ISU in a conflict and at the same time has warned Sports organizations as UEFA etc. that abuse of power will be met with measures.

 

In World Cup 2018 qualifying, 13 out of 35 teams (37 percent) were out after two games.

 

Either way. For too many nations their World Cup qualifying cycle is literally two games.

 

good decission, would be great if it can get slightly shifted and does not run total in parallel with euro

 

I always expected FIFA to rubber-stamp this. CONMEBOL president Alejandro Dominguez seems to be close to Infantino.

Now I just hope FIFA shows some backbone on the CONCACAF angle - i.e. FIFA calendar treatment for the CONCACAF teams and any potential US hosting. CONMEBOL can have their nth Copa America......in South America. If FIFA tell Girona that they must play league matches in Spain (as opposed to Miami) then surely they can tell CONMEBOL that they must play the Copa America in South America.

Right?

RIGHT?

 

?? Where did they do that? FIFA has zero say in those matters. That's UEFA territory.

 

From the FIFA meeting:

"

• La Liga match outside Spain in the 2018/19 season

Following a request for guidance from the Spanish FA, US Soccer and CONCACAF, the FIFA Council discussed La Liga’s proposal to host an official 2018/19 regular season league match outside Spain (in Miami).


Consistent with the opinion expressed by the Football Stakeholders Committee, the Council emphasised the sporting principle that official league matches must be played within the territory of the respective member association.

1st it was a request for a guidance opinion and 2nd they gave an opinion.
There's no mentioning of any blocking of it, which can't be done as it's UEFA territory (UEFA league, UEFA clubs and UEFA players).

 

When the European Court of Justice starts ruling international football and taking decisions on the subject by themselves (or at least at european level), than you could posibly have a point.

But at present times all International football, is ruled and subject to FIFA's authority (btw, same goes for everything concerning the international pass of players).

 

Someone quotes this to say FIFA has a say in it, "article 71 of FIFA’s statutes does give FIFA “the final decision on the authorization of any international matches or competition."
However it isnot an international match, it's a La Liga match.

 

Sorry, but FIFA is subjected to EU law, when it's about anything taking place within the EU or concerning EU citizens. The ISU case and the warning to the FIFA/UEFA by the EU Commission is there and if you think FIFA can brush that away, than you should offer your services to FIFA and UEFA as they will be generously thankful for the loophole you see for them.

 

https://www.marca.com/en/football/barcelona/2018/09/21/5ba4acbb46163fd6908b45ed.html
After the public outcry surrounding the proposal to stage a LaLiga Santander fixture in the United States, the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), backed by FIFA, have confirmed that they will block any move to bring the idea to fruition.

The Girona vs Barcelona match was set to take place in Miami on January 27 2019, but the RFEF do not wish to see their competition taken outside the Spanish borders and, according to Cadena Cope's El Partidazo show, RFEF chief Luis Rubiales will send a letter to LaLiga president Javier Tebas to make their stance officially known on Friday.

The RFEF are believed to have said that there is a "zero percent chance that the Girona vs Barcelona match will take place in Miami".

In the letter, Spanish football's governing body will explain that neither UEFA, FIFA nor the Spanish government support the proposal and the Spanish Footballers' Association (AFE) are also against it.

The letter will also be sent to international football bodies to make them aware of the situation.

Tebas, who received the news on Thursday night, had his say on the the El Partidazo show.

"That isn't an argument: UEFA haven't announced their stance publicly, FIFA don't have legal authority and we are negotiating with the AFE," the LaLiga president said.

The Catalan derby between both sides would be the first domestic fixture to take place outside of Spain, an idea that the Real Madrid coach Julen Lopetegui is not particularly fond of.

"All teams should play at the same grounds," he said in a press conference last week.

Jordi Alba, a player who would be directly affected by the decision, has also had his say.

"It's a decision that the club has to make, but for now they haven't told us anything. At least, not to me," the Barcelona left back said.


Actually if all organizations involved are okay with it (Spanish, US FA's, UEFA and Combol) the FIFA has no tools to stop it.
But it's only the La Liga that wants it, so as things are like this it will be a bag of hot air.

 

It’s an official La Liga match in another confederation. That’s what makes it a FIFA matter. If the match was proposed in say Austria, it would be a pure UEFA scenario. For example, FIFA have to approve the participation of Wellington Phoenix (OFC) in the A-League (AFC) periodically. Jurisdiction is relevant to territory. On that note, above all the approval of the USSF is necessary because it is their territory the match is supposed to be played on. The others are likely to go along with that decision.

In any case, my comment wasn’t entirely serious vis a vis the 2020 Copa America. But I do wish to point out that FIFA has no problems coming down hard on the club game (Barcelona transfer ban) while bending over backwards to accommodate any association/confederation requests. Enough is enough.

 

Hence the need for approval by the federations concerned I mentioned. If they approve, there's no way the FIFA can do anything about it.

 

You are simply taking things out of context here.

The EU comission has no say in any tournament of any sport taking place. That's completely within the jurisdiction of any relevant sport authority. In this particular case, of FIFA's.

You can argue their involvement in how contracts take place within diferent sport entities, such as teams, with some of their workers (players), but not on to how the diferent teams relate to their counterparts (other teams, both at local level and internationally). The whole international transfer market of players (one of teams biggest assets), depends exclusively on FIFA, and to work, teams must be affiliated indirectly, to FIFA (through their affiliation to a local FA, which actually must be affilliated to FIFA).

Besides, you talk a lot about EU citizens here, where the biggest concern on releasement of players, and their international pass, concerns citizens from elsewhere diferent to the EU (americans, africans and asians), in which case the EU commission has absolutely no say over them.

 

To be fair there's more people in Miami who probably consider themselves Spanish than in Barcelona.

So a Spanish League game there makes sense!

(I kid, I kid.)

 

Again, FIFA have the authority to intervene (as laid out in the statutes) but it is unlikely that they would go against the wishes of the national associations and their respective confederations. However, in this case it looks like the Spanish and US association, together with CONCACAF, don't want this to happen and are looking to hide behind a FIFA "guidance". Clearly no official request to stage the match has been made to the USSF because that request has to come from the Spanish FA - who don't want to do it - and not La Liga directly. Javier Tebas' incoherent rambling is embarrassing and it looks like the average poster on this very forum has a greater understanding of football governance. Why oh why would you announce such a game without even approaching the RFEF/USSF first? Amateur hour. Unbelievable.

And now back to the Americas.

 

Sorry, but no. A player, where ever he comes from, on EU territory and contracted by an EU club, has the same rights and the same protection as a regular EU citizen.

 

Out of context, once again.

When it gets to particular contracts (between team and the player), yes.

But when it gets to the international pass of players, it only depends on local FA's and FIFA.

 

Mmmm, perhaps you should read this to get the point:

https://www.politico.eu/article/margrethe-vestager-orders-skating-union-to-change-rules/
"The EU’s competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, warned sports federations across Europe that Brussels would step in if they abused their positions as she issued a ruling critical of ice skating’s governing body."