He is certainly not the first to say this but World Cup and Ballon d'Or winner Rivaldo too feels India should follow the 'Japan model' in order to improve the standard of football in the country.
FIFA presidential candidate Jerome Champagne has protested to football's world governing body about the number of observers allowed into the hall for Friday's election, saying he believed they were working for his rivals.
Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan formally submitted his candidature to be FIFA president on Thursday, pledging to restore the reputation of world soccer's scandal-ridden governing body.
FIFA's ethics committee rejected criticism from UEFA president Michel Platini over the manner of his suspension, saying the argument that he was not allowed to defend himself is "not valid."
FIFA has completed a 22-month internal inquiry into allegations of high-level corruption and criminal misconduct that buffeted world football and handed its report to Swiss authorities, soccer's ruling body said on Friday.
The race to succeed Sepp Blatter as president of Fifa is picking up steam and there is a scramble for nominations.
History is not likely to be so kind to the 79-year-old Swiss, who only recently compared himself to a mountain goat that keeps "going and going and going and cannot be stopped." Instead, his name is likely to be associated with the succession of corruption scandals which occurred on his watch.
The committee also handed out a 90-day suspension to FIFA Secretary-General Jerome Valcke, who had already been put on leave by the football body, and banned former FIFA Vice-President Chung Mong-joon for six years and fined him 100,000 Swiss francs (67,021).
UEFA chief Michel Platini says he will not support FIFA president Sepp Blatter if he stands for another term. The Frenchman added that world soccer's governing body needs a breath of fresh air.
Diego Maradona, one of soccer's most gifted players, said he was "enjoying" the spectacle of several of the world governing body's top officials charged with corruption after US and Swiss authorities announced investigations on Wednesday.
Swiss authorities have opened criminal proceedings against individuals on suspicion of mismanagement and money laundering related to the allocation of the 2018 and 2022 FIFA soccer World Cups in Russia and Qatar.
FIFA presidential candidate Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein's election team informed police after being approached by an individual who said he could deliver 47 votes at Friday's election, they said on Tuesday.
FIFA chief Sepp Blatter, visiting the Middle East to try to persuade the Palestine FA (PFA) to drop a proposal to suspend Israel from the world body, on Tuesday proposed a peace match.
The general secretary of the world players' union FIFPro has blasted FIFA.
FIFA approved major reforms at a congress on Friday, part of world football's effort to end the culture of corruption that has plagued its governing body for years. The measures were adopted by 179 members, while 22 voted against and six abstained at a congress in Zurich that will also elect a replacement to FIFA's disgraced president Sepp Blatter. The reforms were developed since June by a committee led by Francois Carrard, a Swiss lawyer tasked with a similar cleanup effort at the International Olympic Committee more than a decade ago. Among the most crucial measures are changes in the role of FIFA's president and its executive committee. The president's job has been altered to function like a corporate chairman of the board, providing strategic guidance but with less management authority. FIFA's executive committee, which had become an epicenter of graft, has been re-branded as a FIFA council, and will operate similar to a corporate board of directions. FIFA's secretary general, previously number two to the president, will serve as world football's CEO.
- 'FIFA should have a leader with a lot of experience' -'Prince Ali is a good man, I work with him, I was a main supporter in the past, he is like my brother. He has a good future but I think he was in a little bit of a hurry. I think he needed to take the trust of Asia first before he earned the trust of the international community'
Sepp Blatter believes that any boycott of the Sochi Winter Olympics would change nothing and those who refused to go in protest against alleged discrimination in Russia would be "surrendering".
World soccer body FIFA ordered flags to be flown at half mast and a minute's silence to be held before the next round of international matches after the death of Nelson Mandela on Thursday.
Banned UEFA president Michel Platini could face further investigation from FIFA's Ethics Committee after attending an awards ceremony and conference in Dubai despite being barred from "all football activity".
Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu believes FIFA regulations concerning under-age player transfers needs to be revised and that current rules would have prevented Lionel Messi from joining the club.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
FIFA has reportedly raised objections of holding the 2022 Qatar World Cup in the summer in light of health risks and speculations are that the tournament would be held in winter.
The report said there was no corruption in bidding process. It criticised England's bid for the 2018 tournament for "inappropriate requests" from former CONCACAF president Jack Warner, a FIFA powerbroker at the time, in what it said was "an apparent violation of bidding rules". However, the report said ethics investigator Michael Garcia intended to open formal investigations against individuals, who were not named.
Real Sociedad midfielder Carlos Vela was called up by Mexico for November tour friendlies on Tuesday after turning his back on his country since March 2011.
Favourite to win February's FIFA presidential election until the end of last week, Michel Platini is suddenly facing the same doubts and criticism which he has himself cast upon incumbent Sepp Blatter.
After a week of public arguments about Premier League players, who earn an average salary of 240,000 a month, refusing to take a pay cut while top clubs use public money to pay their furloughed non-playing staff, there is little doubt that the game -- and its players -- have suffered a serious blow to their image. There is no question that many footballers do help out good causes generously, just as most clubs are engaged with effective community programmes all-year round.
Prince Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan, who failed in an attempt to replace Sepp Blatter as FIFA president in May, says Blatter should not be handling the reform process.
UEFA has hit back at suggestions that it and other continental confederations have been responsible for blocking reforms.
US prosecutors on Monday made public their 2013 plea agreement with Chuck Blazer, revealing that the former FIFA executive committee member had been secretly providing authorities information for nearly two years before he admitted guilt.
UEFA demand that FIFA presidential election be postponed
FIFA president Sepp Blatter shrugged off Luis Figo's accusation he had turned world soccer's ruling body into a dictatorship.
Gianni Infantino's election as FIFA president should give football's governing body the time it needs to begin tackling the corruption and other problems that have dragged it into the worst crisis in its 112-year history, current and former officials said.
Luis Figo was one of the most talented, successful and exciting players of his generation, leading Portugal to a series of impressive performances which put many bigger countries to shame.
The Iraq Football Association (IFA) pledged their support for Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein in next month's FIFA presidential election.
FIFA ended more than four years of uncertainty over the timing of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar by announcing on Thursday that it would be played in November and December with the final on December 18.
Kosovo is to be allowed to play friendly matches against FIFA member-states at club and international level with some limitations, world soccer's governing body said on its website (www.fifa.com) on Monday.
Former France winger David Ginola will announce on Friday that he is entering the race to become president of world soccer's governing body FIFA, The Sun reported on Thursday.
World athletics president Sebastian Coe said he reacted with "shock, anger and sadness" to this week's allegations of bribery, extortion and doping cover-ups and said the sport faces a "long road to redemption".
Russia will still stage the 2018 World Cup finals despite the continuing blight of racism in the country's soccer, FIFA president Sepp Blatter said on Sunday.
Al Hilal striker Nasser Al Shamrani said it was a normal reaction to spit at Western Sydney Wanderers defender Matthew Spiranovic at the end of the AFC Champions League final earlier this month after claiming to be verbally abused by the Australian.
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