The novel coronavirus outbreak will likely mean the end of the Hex, the six-team World Cup qualifying format used by the CONCACAF region, said CONCACAF chief Victor Montagliani in an interview with OneSoccer.
The United States, Canada and Mexico are teaming up in a bid to host the 2026 World Cup. The official announcement came on Monday at a media event in New York, with the heads of all three federations signing a Memorandum of Understanding.
Alfredo Hawit entered a guilty plea to four counts of corruption including racketeering, wire fraud and obstructing justice. The former vice president of FIFA and former interim CONCACAF president could face a maximum of 20 years in prison on each count of corruption. The 64-year-old Hawit must also forfeit US$ 950,000 to United States Department of Justice when he is sentenced.
As it tries to reclaim tens of millions of dollars pocketed illegally by corrupt former officials, FIFA has admitted for the first time that ExCo members sold their votes to help South Africa secure the 2010 World Cup.
The five contenders for the FIFA throne pitched the regional confederations in Zurich on Thursday in a last-ditch plea for votes in Friday’s election. Sheikh Salman, Gianni Infantino, Prince Ali, Jerome Champagne and Tokyo Sexwale made their appeals to CONCACAF, UEFA and Oceania congresses staged at various hotels in the Swiss city where Sepp Blatter’s successor will be 26 February.
CONCACAF (Central America, North America and Caribbean Football Confederation) deputy general secretary Jurgen Mainka says the purpose of this week’s meeting in Miami was to discuss FIFA and CONCACAF reforms, not to decide on which FIFA presidential candidate the regional confederation will support.
FIFA has cut off funding to the corruption-hit confederations for football in the Americas, the global football body said on Monday, in a move which could cause future cash flow problems for the two organizations.
Gianni Infantino has won the support of the seven-member Central American Football Union in his bid for the FIFA presidency. Leaders of the UNCAF federations, which are part of CONCACAF, endorsed the UEFA general secretary in a letter on Monday that Infantino posted on his Twitter page.
Sixteen more top football officials were charged in a dramatic widening of the FIFA corruption scandal on Thursday, as US prosecutors vowed to leave no stone unturned in their quest to root out graft. Several senior FIFA officials from the past or present were named in a 92-count US Justice Department indictment which came after a series of dawn raids at a luxury hotel in Zurich hosting FIFA officials.
The one-off Copa America Centenario will be played in 10 cities across the United States next summer. On Thursday, U.S. Soccer and CONCACAF, soccer's regional governing body, announced the final venues winnowed down from the list of two dozen interested markets released in January.