Hosts Guinea "ruled out switching the dates of the 2023 African Nations Cup finals to June" to accommodate the Qatar World Cup. Guinea Sports Minister Domani Dore contradicted a statement by FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke, who said last week that "the 2023 Nations Cup would be pushed back six months to June from its usual January date." Dore: "We cannot accommodate the Nations Cup in June, it is the rainy season" (BBC, 3/1). ... A bad season "could get worse" for A-League side Western Sydney fans as Football Federation Australia "is expected to launch an investigation over the igniting of flares during Saturday night’s 4-3 loss to Sydney FC in the derby at Pirtek Stadium." Not for the first time, an element among the club’s hardcore supporter group, the Red and Black Bloc, "let off several flares, one of which was thrown at the Sydney goal during the second half" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 3/2). ... All Nepal Football Association VPs are calling for FIFA to launch a “fully-fledged probe” into ANFA President Ganesh Thapa before his “self-imposed four-month suspension runs out next week.” In a letter to FIFA, ANFA VPs said that the ruling body “now needed to launch a full investigation and not a mere review of claims, listing a number of issues that require closer scrutiny.” ANFA VPs Karma Tsering Sherpa and Bijay Narayan Manandhar wrote, “The chaos in the administration of ANFA that has persisted for years under the leadership of Mr Thapa must be brought to an end. We urgently request your kind assistance” (REUTERS, 2/27). ... A pipe bomb “exploded outside the home” of a Cypriot football referee early on Friday, police said, the “latest in a string of threats and attacks against referees and their families.” The explosion damaged a vehicle “belonging to the wife of a 38-year-old first division referee.” The vehicle was parked outside their home close to the coastal town of Larnaca at the time and the “improvised explosive device packed in a pipe was placed on the windshield, police added” (REUTERS, 2/27). ... The Int’l FA Board announced on Saturday that the use of video replays to assist match officials will not be trialed for “at least another year.” The Royal Dutch FA had proposed “testing the technology in next season’s Dutch Cup,” but the IFAB revealed at its annual general meeting in Belfast that it “wants more information before sanctioning an experiment” (LONDON TIMES, 2/28).
