Category News

Fifa president Gianni Infantino wants football to keep an “open mind” about when World Cups are played.

The tournament has traditionally been contested in the northern hemisphere’s summer months – though the 2022 competition, in Qatar, took place in December to avoid playing in the hottest conditions.

“We have summer and winter and in the world if you want to play at the same time everywhere you can play in March or in October,” said Infantino, who runs the sport’s world governing body.

“In December you cannot play in one part of the world and in July you cannot play in another part.

“We need to consider all these elements and let’s see how we can make it better for everyone.

“Maybe there are ways we can optimise the calendar. We are discussing. We have to have an open mind.”

The international match calendar is fixed until 2030, with the United States, Canada and Mexico hosting next year’s men’s World Cup in June and July.

Morocco, Portugal and Spain host the World Cup in 2030 – with Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay holding matches to mark 100 years since the first World Cup was held in, and won by, Uruguay.

Saudi Arabia will host the tournament in 2034.

Meanwhile, Infantino also confirmed Fifa’s desire to further grow the Club World Cup.

The US hosted an expanded 32-team tournament during a major heatwave in the summer, with temperatures in New York reaching a record 39C in June.

This drew criticism from footballers and players’ unions, who raised issues over player welfare and the number of games adding to a packed calendar.

Professional Footballers’ Association chief executive Maheta Molango said in July the competition was devaluing football.

Chelsea beat Paris St-Germain in New York to claim the title.

Infantino, speaking at the European Football Clubs’ general assembly in Rome, said: “When the Champions League was created the first revenue was 40m (euros), now it is 4bn (euros). If the first Club World Cup generated 2bn (euros) in 30 years we should generate 200bn (euros).

“This has created revenues for the clubs. Now we work together to see how we can make it better, bigger and more impactful in collaboration with the clubs and stakeholders because it will benefit everyone.

“I’m biased but it was a huge success from every possible angle. We had 2.5m spectators in the stadiums. We had an average [attendance] of 40,000 and only the Premier League is doing better.

Infantino also warned that football is taking a gamble playing domestic league games overseas.

In February, AC Milan will play their Serie A match with Como in Perth, Australia, while La Liga clubs Villarreal and Barcelona will face each other in Miami in December.

European football’s governing body Uefa gave the games the go-ahead this week, stressing that it was opposed to the move but had no legal framework to stop it happening.

“We have a structure where we have games at national level, continental level and then at global level,” Infantino continued.

“This is a structure which made football the number one structure in the world. If we want to break the structure we take a big risk, if we want to regulate it we have to look into it.

“Now I have seen Uefa has approved it, it has to go to Concacaf as well, I don’t know if AFC [Football Australia] has approved the game in Australia.

“We need a reflection which is more global. Do we want everyone to play everywhere and do whatever they want, or do we want a regulated system which takes into a account which takes into account the interests of everyone?”

Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin doubled down on his body’s opposition on Wednesday, saying Europe’s top clubs risk “breaking” football if league games are moved overseas.

“Football is not just about balance sheets. It’s not just entertainment. It’s life in our communities, the streets, the clubs and the fans which shape it,” Ceferin told club officials at the European Football Clubs’ (formerly the European Club Association) general assembly in Rome.

Manchester United sources have rejected claims made by Saudi sports supremo Turki Alalshikh that the club is in advanced negotiations over a sale to a new investor.

Alalshikh, who has 7.2m followers on X, wrote on the social media platform: “The best news I heard today is that Manchester United is now in an advanced stage of completing a deal to sell to a new investor. I hope he’s better than the previous owners.”

Multiple sources close to United say the claim is untrue.

It has been anticipated there would be talks between United and the Saudi authorities in the coming weeks over the potential of playing at least one mid-season friendly to try and raise some funds in the absence of European competition.

And while it is not certain whether United want to play a Saudi Pro-League club or a similarly placed European giant, such as AC Milan, head coach Ruben Amorim said last week: “We have to do it.

“We knew that when we missed Europe, we had to compensate [for] a lot of things, including our fans and the budget. So we are putting [it] all together to do that.”

While there are no deals presently active, there is history between the Glazer family and Saudi Arabia.

In 2017, United agreed a Memorandum of Understanding with the country’s General Sports Authority (GSA).

When the contract was announced, United said the aim was ‘to help the GSA develop its football industry, as part of its 2030 Vision, to diversify its economy, and the club would be ‘lending its business and sporting expertise to clubs, sporting authorities and individuals in Saudi Arabia’.

In 2008, United signed a lucrative five-year sponsorship deal with Saudi Telecom, which was extended by a further five years in 2013.

Also, it is not clear if a Saudi purchase of Manchester United could get through the Premier League’s Owners and Directors’ test.

Sheikh Jassim’s attempt to buy the club never advanced far enough for the league to have to rule on it. However, as there was no competing Qatari owner, it could not have been ruled out on conflict of interest grounds.

That is not the case with Saudi Arabia, whose Public Investment Fund (PIF) has run Newcastle since 2021.

In his recent interview with The Times’ new podcast, The Business, Ratcliffe explained how the operation at United worked.

He now owns nearly 30% of the club after completing his part-purchase last year. Although they have an input, the Glazer family are letting Ratcliffe make all the major decisions.

“We’re local, and they’re the other side of the pond,” he said.

“That’s a long way away to try and manage a football club as big and as complex as Manchester United. We’re here with feet on the ground.

“They come to the board meetings. We sit down and we talk about things.”

When asked what would happen if the Glazers told him to sack Amorim, Ratcliffe replied: “It absolutely wouldn’t happen because it’s just a good working relationship.”

The details of the Ratcliffe investment includes a ‘drag on clause’, in place from August 2025 that means the 72-year-old would have to sell if the Glazers accepted an offer in excess of the $33 a share he paid for the club.

Ratcliffe referred to the clause when he spoke at a news conference in 2024, saying: “I don’t think we’re going to be taking the legal agreements out of the bottom drawer.”

In the latest set of financial accounts, released last month, it states there are additional restrictions in place to February 2027, including buying another club and paying dividends between the two parties. However, one of three stated exceptions is if they are ‘in connection with a change of control transaction’.

Yet Ratcliffe’s words do not suggest there are issues in his relationship with the Glazer family that would be so serious as they are negotiating behind his back, quite the reverse in fact.

The young Ralphie Albert did not know why people would stop his grandad in the street.

Maybe just for a chat or possibly an autograph. Probably a selfie. It’s usually a selfie these days, right?

Albert’s grandad is the snooker legend Jimmy White. A six-time World Championship finalist, the Whirlwind is one of the most popular players to ever draw back a cue.

Now the 17-year-old Albert, the son of White’s daughter Lauren, is growing the family sporting legacy, signing his first professional contract with Surrey.

“Mum used to say ‘one day you’ll understand how famous he is’,” Albert tells BBC Sport. “People would go up to him in the street and I couldn’t understand what was happening because I just knew him as my grandad.

“It still happens today. We were in the train station going to The Oval to watch the cricket, and maybe three or four people came up to him. I was laughing because I don’t understand how big he is.”

The signing of a multi-year deal at The Oval, a week short of his 18th birthday, is the latest step in a year of progress for Albert.

A left-arm spin-bowling all-rounder, he was first named in an England Under-19s squad as a 16-year-old last September.

He eventually made his debut for the national age-group side against a strong India team in June. Playing alongside Rocky Flintoff and Thomas Rew, he took 10 wickets in the second ‘Test’ in July.

In his second one-day game for Surrey, against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge in August, Albert made 96 batting at number seven.

He returned to school at Epsom College in September, only to be called up for a first-class debut on a spinning pitch in Southampton as Surrey looked for a win against Hampshire that might have given them a fourth successive County Championship.

Albert took two crucial wickets and made a priceless 63 in the second innings, against an attack including India off-spinner Washington Sundar. Surrey won, but it was not enough to deny Nottinghamshire the title. This winter he will once again link up with the under-19s on their tour of the Caribbean, then possibly for the World Cup in the new year.

Clearly the cricket career is full of promise, but the snooker talent has not been passed on. Albert says tackling the baize is “impossible”, though that does not mean he cannot draw on his grandad’s experience as a world-class sportsman.

“You have to be pretty mentally strong in both sports,” says Albert. “They’re over a long period of time and one error can mess your whole game up.

“He just gives me advice across the whole mental side, how to be a good sportsperson and manage your game, expectation and stay in the moment.

“Ever since I was young he’d ask me the same thing: ‘How much are you giving it?’

Even without the snooker prowess, Albert is surrounded by sport in his family. His father John played club cricket for Malden Wanderers in Surrey and brother Sonny, two years Ralphie’s senior, was “never out” in cricket played in the back garden. Albert has inherited his grandfather’s love of Chelsea Football Club.

First identified for his bowling, Albert says it is now “50-50” as to whether he is stronger with bat or ball in hand.

“I like taking the game on, I like to be attacking when I’m batting,” he explains. “I enjoy playing shots, but also trying to be smart with my options.

“When I’m bowling I like to get in the competitive aspect of it. Creating pressure with the ball, building dots and then trying to play a game of cat and mouse with the batter.”

Chris Taylor, head of talent pathway at Surrey, agrees with Albert in the assessment of his skills, and highlights other impressive aspects of his game.

“In his first-team debut for Surrey, in the One-Day Cup, just before he bowled his first ball he looked around and changed the field slightly,” says Taylor. “It was moving extra cover or mid-wicket a bit straighter.

“For a 17-year-old to have the clarity even to check the field before he bowls his first ball, then make a change is a very small thing, but a real indicator he’s got an inner-confidence.

“Cricket intuition is so difficult to coach, but is one of his biggest strengths at the moment.”

Albert has played for Surrey through the age groups, yet it came as a surprise to some at the club when his famous grandfather was revealed by a social media post from White earlier this year.

Taylor, the former Gloucestershire captain and England fielding coach, says that is in keeping with the quiet nature of Albert, who can “answer a question with very few words”.

“He’s super passionate about cricket. When he gets home at night, he’s probably on his phone checking all the players and scores,” says Taylor.

“He’s got a skillset which is very attractive. What we have seen so far is his character is up to it, which is the biggest compliment.

“He’s going to be a genuine all-rounder, able to win a game with ball and bat, and in all formats.”

Understandably, the buzz around Albert comes partly because of his superstar grandfather. Now, as his development continues and with a professional contract in his back pocket, he is ready to carve his own path, rather than simply be known as Jimmy White’s grandson.

“I wouldn’t say there’s a need to prove myself,” says Albert. “It’s a great thing that he’s my grandad, an elite sportsman.