The Canadian Soccer Association yesterday said that the arrest of several top FIFA and FIFA-related marketing officials "won't impact" the upcoming Women's World Cup, which takes place in six Canadian cities starting June 6, according to Keaton Robbins of the OTTAWA SUN. The CSA last night in a statement said, "We are extremely disappointed by today's developments and welcome and support all efforts to eliminate this type of behaviour in the sport." But Robbins notes the CSA "weren't willing to discuss how the charges impact the upcoming tournament" (OTTAWA SUN, 5/28). TSN, which has the broadcast rights for the women's tournament, said that it is "closely monitoring the investigation." The CP noted CBC "had the broadcast rights for the last major FIFA event," the '14 World Cup in Brazil. Canada Minister of State for Sports Bal Gosal said that he is "confident that Canadian soccer authorities won't be pulled into the criminal investigations." Gosal called the allegations "terrible, but an internal matter" for FIFA (CP, 5/27).
CANCEL TRAVEL PLANS? TSN.ca's Rick Westhead wrote soccer officials who "suspect they might be under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department might want to avoid travelling to Canada for the Women’s World Cup." In "almost every instance since Canada rewrote its extradition law" in '99, the Canadian government has "agreed to international extradition requests, the vast majority of them filed by the U.S. government." Canadian extradition attorney Gary Botting said that U.S. officials have "probably already contacted the Canadian government to seek provisional warrants in case any of those who have already been indicted travel to Canada" (TSN.ca, 5/27).
SOUNDS OF SILENCE: YAHOO SPORTS' Eric Adelson noted the U.S. women's national team yesterday gathered in N.Y. for "what was to be a standard media availability but found themselves thrust into the whirlwind" of the FIFA controversy. Asked if she felt FIFA had done enough to support women's soccer, D Ali Krieger "laughed and mulled for a moment." She then said, "I don't want to comment on it." Adelson: "The answer is: Of course, FIFA hasn't done enough." USWNT F Abby Wambach "led a group of 40 international players who sued FIFA last year" after the governing body decided to play the '15 WWC on artificial turf. Every men's World Cup has been "played on grass," but the women "have to play on the fake stuff." Adelson: "Credit Wambach and the others for going to the lengths of suing FIFA for this injustice, but on Wednesday the team mostly decided to talk about the tournament. ... It's hard to blame the players, as they do have a once-in-a-lifetime shot coming up in a matter of days" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 5/27).
