The England women's national football team will travel to Qatar on Jan. 15 for an eight-day, warm-weather training camp. Manager Phil Neville named a 28-player squad. The camp was planned "partly to learn more about what players and fans can expect" if England reaches the men's 2022 World Cup in the country (BBC, 1/8).
The Tianjin FA has started to run Chinese Super League side Tianjin Quanjian on an interim basis and started looking for new investors for the club, following the "fallout from the huge scandal" of the club's owner, Quanjian Group. In December, the group was "exposed as a pyramid selling scam business." The TFA will deal with the club's daily operations. If there are no new investors, the club "may face being dissolved" (YUTANG SPORTS, 1/8).
Barcelona's Lionel Messi and Chelsea's Cesc Fabregas have reportedly purchased shares in Andorra, the club that was purchased by Gerard Piqué's company Kosmos. This is according to El Diari d'Andorra (MARCA, 1/8).
The small amounts collected from Indian national team players as fines for minor breaches of discipline are "being put to use for a noble cause" as the team decided to donate 50,000 rupees ($715) to the Indian Blind Football Federation. The fines were collected from the national team over the past few years (PTI, 1/8).
The French Professional Football League (LFP) is exploring the possibility of organizing a “tournament” next summer in the U.S. for French clubs to “promote their brands.” LFP General Dir Didier Quillot said, “Our project is to organize a mini-tournament in the United States during the 2019 summer with several French clubs. We are currently in talks with these clubs, a few of which have already confirmed their interest” (L’ÉQUIPE, 1/8).
