Women football supporters are launching a campaign before the World Cup "with the aim of changing the way that female fans are represented on the internet -- particularly in the images displayed by search engines." The campaign by This Fan Girl, which is also being supported by energy drink Carabao, aims to replace what the organization describes as "over-sexualised and non-representative" images at the top of search results when people look for images of female football fans. This Fan Girl argues that "most of the images that come top in search almost exclusively feature young, slim white women, which only represents a fraction of female football fans" (London GUARDIAN, 6/12).
The St. Petersburg Stadium, which has cost more than £750M ($1B) and is designed to be one of the "showpiece arenas" of the 2018 World Cup, has contractors "fighting a race against time to ensure it is ready" for kickoff. The stadium, which stages its first match on Friday and will also host a semifinal, has been "dogged by delays and controversy." Russian officials were "left red faced" by a nine-year delay in the completion of the 67,000-seat stadium which was due to be ready in '08, but was "only fit for its first match" in '17 (London DAILY MAIL, 6/12).
FIFA President Gianni Infantino will "not have to vie for attention with his disgraced predecessor," Sepp Blatter, on Thursday at the opening game of the World Cup. Blatter, 82, has an open invitation from Russia President Vladimir Putin to attend the tournament, "though he will skip the first game" when the host country plays Saudi Arabia at the Luzhniki Stadium. But "any relief felt" within the FIFA administration is "likely to be short-lived." Blatter "remains determined" to travel to the World Cup (N.Y. TIMES, 6/12).
The musical instrument "to master" for this year's World Cup is the Russian spoon. Eight years after South Africans "blared away on their plastic vuvuzela horns" when the country hosted the contest, Russians are hoping fans at the tournament will celebrate by clacking their "lozhkas" -- spoons that beat out an "insistent, but quieter rhythm" (REUTERS, 6/11).
FIFA said that Argentine referee Nestor Pitana will take charge of Thursday's opening World Cup match between Russia and Saudi Arabia in Moscow. Assisting him at the Luzhniki Stadium will be compatriots Juan Pablo Bellati and Hernan Maidana, with Sandro Ricci from Brazil designated as the fourth official. The Video Assistant Referee team is composed of Massimiliano Irrati of Italy, Mauro Vigliano of Argentina, Carlos Astroza of Chile and Italian Daniele Orsato (REUTERS, 6/12).
Catapult Sports announced its tracking devices received FIFA’s stamp of approval. The devices will bear the organization's IMS mark to "denote they can be used in official matches." Until now, such technology was "only allowed in training." More than 1,500 football teams in 142 countries use Catpult technology to deliver performance analytics (GADGETS AND WEARABLES, 6/12).
