Swiss prosecutors on Wednesday began interviewing beIN Media Group CEO Nasser Al-Khelaifi as "part of a criminal investigation into World Cup broadcasting deals." The Office of the Attorney General said on Oct. 12 that it suspected banned former FIFA Secretary General Jérôme Valcke had accepted "undue advantages" from Al-Khelaifi in connection with the award of media rights for the '26 and '30 competitions (REUTERS, 10/25).
Football Federation Australia will spend A$250,000 ($192,500) to give its national team a "crucial 24-hour advantage" over Honduras in next month's World Cup playoff. FFA's charter will return the squad "more than a day earlier" than if it was to travel by commercial flights. The charter allows the Australian squad to "take off two hours after the final whistle" of the first leg in the Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano in San Pedro Sula (Sydney DAILY TELEGRAPH, 10/25).
The English Football League defended the ball criticized by Man City Manager Pep Guardiola and called for talks with him to "discuss the issue." Guardiola branded the Mitre ball as "highly unacceptable" following the club's 4-1 penalty shootout win over Wolverhampton Wanderers in Tuesday's EFL Cup last-16 tie at the Etihad Stadium. He complained that it was "too light, it moves all over the place" and that it was "impossible to score with" (London GUARDIAN, 10/25).
Real Madrid Manager Zinedine Zidane said that he has "no security concerns" around Sunday's La Liga game at Girona amid reports that his club "decided against using" its usual team bus for the trip to Catalonia "given the political climate." He said, "We are just going to play a game of football. We are going to have security there, as always. We just think about preparing for the game, not about what can happen outside" (ESPN.com, 10/25).
Premier League side Everton fans "have been given cause to smile" after it was found that searching for the term "gobshites" in Google Maps would direct them to Liverpool's Anfield stadium. Though it is not known who is responsible for the prank, it was "probably done using the crowdsourcing features on Google Maps, which allow users around the world to make edits to keep the map up to date" (GUARDIAN, 10/25).
