Football Federation Australia "decided not to push round one of the upcoming A-League season back to cater for potential Socceroos' World Cup qualifying playoffs and New Zealand internationals." Should Australia finish third in its qualifying group, it will face "arduous" playoff rounds starting with home and away games against another Asian nation on Oct. 5 and 10. The A-League schedule, released on Wednesday, has the opening round starting on Oct. 6 (AAP, 6/27).
Head collisions experienced by footballers during the 2014 World Cup "were not tackled" according to FIFA’s own standards, research revealed. A team of doctors from Canada found that after almost two-thirds of the head collision events that occurred during the tournament, the players involved "did not receive an assessment on the sidelines by healthcare personnel." In addition, the "assessments that did take place were very brief -- a situation the doctors say is concerning" (London GUARDIAN, 6/27).
The Football Players' Association of India announced most of the Indian players do not want to be part of the Indian Super League draft scheduled for next month, "but they have no choice." FPAI GM Cyrus Confectioner said, "The draft has two problems. One, they might be left poorer. Two, they don't have the right to choose their own team or be part of any bargain." The ISL franchises will have a budget of "roughly" Rs 17-18 crore ($2.5M-$2.7M) per team (IANS, 6/28).
