Nicky Butt: "I would get some money out of UEFA to put into a pot to fund tier two or tier three teams."GETTY IMAGES
European football's U19 league needs £10M ($12.8M) of investment from UEFA to "make it better," ManU Academy Dir Nicky Butt said. The competition runs parallel to the Champions League, "with most matches played on the afternoon of the senior team's game in the evening." Butt wants the extra funding to "help smaller teams travel to games earlier so they can play the night before" (BBC, 11/28).
FIFA was urged by its human rights advisory panel to "give Iran a deadline" for allowing women to attend football matches. In a report, the panel said that Iran's ban on women fans violated FIFA's ethics code, which "specifically prohibits discrimination including on the basis of gender." Iranian women have not been allowed to attend any men's sporting events in the country for "much of the 39 years since the Islamic revolution" (REUTERS, 11/26).
The FAs of China and Qatar signed a five-year collaboration on Monday. The countries will "create exchange programs in various age groups to develop youth football." The QFA will "rely on assistance" from the Aspire Academy and Aspetar Sports Medicine Hospital to strengthen its exchange programs with the CFA (YUTANG SPORTS, 11/28).
England Manager Gareth Southgate is "urging coaches and parents to only give positive encouragement to young players" as part of the FA's "Respect" campaign. According to FA research, 90% of young players "perform better in a supportive environment" and that is the idea behind the "Respect" campaign's new "We Only Do Positive" handbook. Launched on Wednesday, the coaching guide is based on Southgate's five principles of positive coaching (London INDEPENDENT, 11/28).
The Asian Football Confederation Exec Committee pledged its support to the Palestine FA after recent interference in its football jurisdiction by Israeli military forces and proposed the establishment of a task force to address the situation. AFC President Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa: "We will discuss with FIFA to set up a task force to address this issue immediately" (AFC).
FIFA wants the Pakistan Football Federation election to be held "according to the timeline it has set," the governing body said on Tuesday, weeks after the country's Supreme Court ordered the PFF to "hold polls within a month." Last month, FIFA's Member Associations Committee gave the Faisal Saleh Hayat-led PFF until March '20 to hold fresh elections (DAWN, 11/28).
FIFA officially opened its second regional development office in Africa. The new office in Johannesburg is providing dedicated assistance and support to member associations in the successful delivery of the FIFA Forward program on the content (FIFA).
