Representatives of Argentina's lower-tier football leagues met on Friday with Argentine FA Normalization Committee Chair Armando Pérez and "reached an agreement to lift the strike that had been called and resume activity this weekend." The meeting at AFA HQ lasted more than three hours and Pérez "listened to the demands of execs and shared his proposals to resolve the conflict regarding travel and security costs" (CLARÍN, 9/30).
Germany coach Joachim Löw is against FIFA President Gianni Infantino's plans to "expand the World Cup to 40 teams, saying it would dilute the value of the tournament." Löw: "I don't think its a good idea to dilute the sporting value (of the tournament)." He added that he had "an absolute understanding for the smaller nations who, thanks to this, could take their place on the big stage." However, Löw, who was "also against enlarging the European championship from 16 to 24 teams," said that expanded tournaments placed a greater "sporting and mental" burden on the players (REUTERS, 10/2).
The Confederation of African Football president will be limited to three terms in office from next year's election in March. It is a "major change" for the governing body, whose incumbent president Issa Hayatou has been in power for 28 years. The limit will also apply to the members of CAF's Exec Committee (BBC, 9/30).
The system of additional assistant referees, the "brainchild" of former UEFA President Michel Platini, is to be adopted by Asia. The concept of two extra officials to aid the referee "has only been used in Europe until now but the Asian Football Confederation plans to implement the idea" in the AFC Asian Cup 2019 and major club competitions. The AFC said in a statement, "According to the committee, the benefits were to give referees additional support when a decision has to be taken around the penalty area, to help make decisions on the goal line and assist in making offside decisions" (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 9/30).
The Scottish government has told football authorities it could "try to force them to deal with crowd trouble." The warning follows "the failure of disciplinary action over disorder" at last season's Scottish Cup final between Hibernian and Rangers. Scottish FA disciplinary charges against the clubs "were dismissed by an independent judicial panel on Wednesday" (BBC, 9/29).
