Morocco is "reportedly considering a new strategy" to challenge North America for the 2026 World Cup, the first edition to involve 48 teams. With "only a few countries able to stage an expanded tournament and Morocco keen to host having missed out four times," the north African country is "apparently weighing up" the idea of teaming up with Spain and Portugal, which lost out in the race for the 2018 World Cup. Morocco’s Assabah newspaper reported a counter-bid with Spain and Portugal "could present a serious challenge since it would have the backing of Africa, much of the Arab world and Europe" (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 3/1).
The founder of the "earliest recorded football club" wrote down rules for the game decades before the formation of the Scottish or English FAs, documents show. John Hope established the Foot-Ball Club of Edinburgh in 1824. Hundreds of papers newly-digitized by the National Records of Scotland include his notebook containing six rules of the game. Among them "are a ban on tripping and a specified area for goalposts" (BBC, 2/28).
The Asian Football Confederation called on FIFA to "urgently solve a long-running dispute between Israelis and Palestinians." AFC President Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa said that a deadline for ending the matter had been "repeatedly put off" and that Palestinians "merely" wanted to see "football played on their land." The dispute centers on six teams from lower divisions of the Israeli league that are based in settlements on the occupied West Bank (REUTERS, 3/1).
The German FA (DFB) said on Tuesday that it will extend its cooperation with the AFC to boost the development of professional football throughout Asia over the next four years. The DFB is expected to share its expertise with its Asian counterpart to improve the AFC's technical development, integrity and "good governance" (JAKARTA GLOBE, 3/1).
A European Union report published on Tuesday concluded that there is "at most, a very low level of concern from exposure to recycled rubber granules" in artificial sports fields, "allaying fears about risks posed by chemicals present in the rubber." Based on current evidence, the Helsinki-based European Chemicals Agency said that it "has found no reason to advise people against playing sports on synthetic turf containing recycled rubber granules" (AP, 2/28).
The Common Market for Eastern & Southern Africa "launched investigations" into how the Confederation of African Football leadership signed a 20-year marketing and broadcasting deal. In a notice released last week, "the regional trade block is looking into possible alleged breach of fair competitions practices." CAF entered into an agreement with Lagardère Sports on June 12, 2015 for the exclusive commercialization of marketing and media rights of main regional football competitions in Africa (THE HERALD, 3/1).
