Representatives from 15 Chinese football clubs "completed a four-day fact-finding trip" to Spain on Monday, with the aim of "learning more about La Liga and its organization." Chinese Super League VP Yan Peixue said that the goal of the trip was to "ensure that the knowledge acquired in Spain can be implemented across Asia's football landscape." Yan: "La Liga is a long-established competition, and its history is unmatched, but we can learn a lot from its business organization, including the creation of a business environment between clubs" (XINHUA, 12/18).
Qatar "will not take a decision on whether to expand its 2022 World Cup to 48 teams from 32 until it has seen the details of a feasibility study from FIFA," an official from the country’s World Cup organizing committee said on Monday. Qatar's Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy Assistant Secretary General Nasser Al Khater said, "FIFA is undergoing a feasibility study and is now in the consultation process and we don't have any details to know what the feasibility study has" (REUTERS, 12/17).
The FA announced replays will be scrapped from the fifth round of this season's FA Cup, "one season earlier than originally planned." The FA said that the move "would help ease fixture congestion" with six Premier League teams participating in the knockout stages of European competitions and a midweek round of EPL fixtures scheduled in late February and March (REUTERS, 12/18).
Olympique Lyonnais and Norway striker Ada Hegerberg said that football federations "must do better in giving the same opportunities and treatment to female players as they do to their male counterparts." Hegerberg became the inaugural winner of the female Ballon d’Or award earlier this month but is not currently involved in int'l football "due to a dispute with her home federation about how women’s football is treated in Norway." She said, "The male players are treated as our colleagues (at Lyon). It's that simple. Isn't that the way it should be everywhere?" (REUTERS, 12/17).
