The Scottish FA is “firmly against the idea of Great Britain football teams competing at the Rio Olympics in 2016.” The FA would like to field a men's and women's team for the Games, but the SFA fears participation would “threaten the country's independent status” within FIFA. An SFA spokesperson said, “We have been consistently clear in our opposition to Team GB” (BBC, 3/4). ... The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) announced on Wednesday that strikes by 18 of Spain's territorial federations have suspended nearly 15,000 football games and "paralyzed the competitive activity of nearly 30,000 teams." The RFEF said that 518,134 athletes "have participated in the protests against clubs being required to provide Social Security benefits to all employees receiving financial compensation" (AS, 3/4). ... Pele believes Australia "should be given the opportunity to host the FIFA World Cup." He believes Australia "is capable and deserving of staging the biggest sporting event outside of the Olympics." Pele: "I have been there a few times and it is something that that has been mentioned before. I have no doubt Australia could host the World Cup. Australia is getting stronger, they have players who are very good. I think they could do it" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 3/5). ... League One and Two clubs have been asked to “consider proposals” allowing Premier League U21 clubs to take part in the Football League Trophy. Clubs were “very much against the addition of Premier League B teams to the Football League pyramid” when it was suggested in June '14, and this has now been put forward as an alternative (PA, 3/4).
