Category World News

On Monday, the European Union’s antitrust regulators will hear a joint complaint about FIFA’s international match schedule and risks to players’ health from the consortium of European football leagues and the representative body FIFPRO Europe.

Two weeks after the top court of Europe’s football leagues ruled that Lassana Diarra’s former player transfer regulations were in violation of EU law, the European Leagues and FIFPRO Europe made their decision on Thursday.

The complaint also highlighted a growing trend by disgruntled athletes and sports organizations to approach the EU antitrust enforcement agency to promote equality and stifle the authority of governing bodies.

FIFA is alleged to be abusing its market power by European Leagues and FIFPRO’s grievance centers on the international match schedule, which they claim have become unsustainable for national leagues and pose a health risk for players.

FIFA’s response to this was that its council, which included FIFPRO and league bodies, unanimously approved the current calendar.

The 27-country bloc’s member companies have the power to impose sanctions and order them to stop anti-competitive practices.

#FIFPRO’s latest workload report reveals the troubling impact of expanding competitions on men’s footballers.

⚠️ 54% of players face heavy workloads
???? 31% played 55+ games last season
???? &lt, 1 full day off per week for some
???? 80+ games projected by 2025

???? @Football_BM

A FIFPRO report from September warned that the increasingly active football schedule had a negative impact on players’ health and that some players had only a portion of the year to rest, which is equivalent to less than one day off per week.

FIFPRO claimed that the lack of rest was a result of competition organizers not putting a premium on player welfare. It was in contravention of international health and safety standards.

A report for the 2023-24 season said 54 percent of 1, 500 players monitored faced high workload demands, with many exceeding medical recommendations.

Nearly a third (31 percent) were in matchday squads for more than 55 games, and 17 percent played in more than 55 matches. At least six straight weeks of two or more games per week featured 30% of them.

This season, the three European club competitions have been expanded to 36 teams, and FIFPRO’s European member unions have filed a lawsuit against FIFA for the expanded men’s 32-team Club World Cup starting in the United States in June 2025.

International fixtures, with club or country, account for 30 percent of the matches for players with excessive workloads. Last season, players spent up to 18% of their workingdays in national team camps or media and partnership events.

“The gap between those who plan and schedule complex international competitions and those who play and experience them has never been bigger”, Alexander Bielefeld, FIFPRO’s director of global policy and strategic relations, said in a statement.

Due to the expansion of competitions, the report also predicted that a player’s future seasons, such as Federico Valverde, Nicolo Barella, and Phil Foden, would see up to 80 games play.

There hasn’t been any tangible evidence of a rise in the demand for elite players since the 2000s, according to another report from the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES).

The independent research centre in Switzerland, which was founded in 1995 in a joint venture including FIFA, reported that national leagues accounted for 82.2 percent of all matches played by players from 40 leagues surveyed between the 2012-13 and 2023-24 seasons.

According to the report, only about 40% of clubs and seasons played at least 60 games per season, compared to just over 40% between 2012 and 2024, and about 5% of them played at least 60 (excluding friendlies).

In the 2023-2024 season, England recorded the highest number of domestic back-to-back matches (87) among top European leagues, with Premier League clubs averaging the shortest recovery time between games at 67.3 hours. Additionally, English clubs also topped the list for the most “non-European” friendlies played.

Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA, stated that although the governing body only organizes a small percentage of matches, its financial contributions help promote football on a global scale.

“All other matches, 98 to 99 percent, are organised by other organisations, by different leagues, associations and confederations”, Infantino said during his speech at the FIFA Congress in Bangkok in May.

Hezbollah’s member of parliament discusses Israel’s continuing aggression in Lebanon and the group’s significant setbacks.

One of the fortunate whose homes remained intact when Hurricane Helene tore through the western region of North Carolina in late September was Chris Heath, a resident.

But he and his wife packed their three children into the car and drove nine hours south to Florida to stay with friends after three days without power or water and no apparent relief.

“There were a lot of trees down the road.” We had to cut our way out”, Heath, an executive chef in North Carolina’s mountain city of Asheville, told Al Jazeera.

However, less than a week later, Heath’s family was traveling once more, this time escaping Hurricane Milton, which was expected to pass close to their Orlando, central Florida, home.

“It’s pretty grim”, Heath said after he returned home from Florida, where Milton made landfall late on Wednesday.

The political storm after the hurricane

Little has changed since Heath left, aside from the unwelcome intrusion of politics and the disinformation war that has erupted around the election results, in Asheville, which is one of the hardest hit by Helene and the torrential flooding it unleashed.

For many people, the last thing on their minds is party politics. Because of the once-in-a-century flooding, tens of thousands of people in the area are still without power or clean water. This situation may take weeks to resolve.

Schools are closed indefinitely, and residents are hauling tanks of water from creeks to flush toilets.

Statewide, at least 91 people have lost their lives and hundreds are still missing – many in remote, mountainous areas hard for rescuers to reach. The villages’ borders have all but disappeared.

“It’s pushed the imagination as to what’s possible from such a storm”, Parker Sloan – a commissioner in North Carolina’s Buncombe County, where Asheville is located – told Al Jazeera.

Playing politics

Even so, the fallout from Helene – which also claimed lives in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia – has spilled into the political arena just a month before the US presidential election.

Republican nominee Donald Trump has reportedly sounded one of the loudest voices criticizing Democratic leaders for the state’s pivotal swing state, North Carolina, which could determine the outcome of the election.

Trump accused Vice President Kamala Harris of abandoning North Carolina and leaving victims of hurricanes “to drown” in a social media post on September 30. He claimed that Democratic officials had stopped providing aid to Republican-stricken areas and that FEMA had sent “billions of dollars” of hurricane relief funds to undocumented immigrants.

The unfounded assertions have been echoed and amplified by Trump’s allies in Washington, DC. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican-backed congresswoman, claimed that the Category 4 storm may have been caused by nature to hit predominantly Republican-areas.

“Conspiracy junk”

On TikTok, conspiracies abound with bizarre claims that Helene was “geo-engineered” by the government to disrupt voting in Republican districts. According to scientists, there is no technology that can cause a storm.

According to emergency responders and officials, including President Joe Biden, the flurry of conspiracies about Helene is not only creating confusion but also undermines relief efforts.

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell stated to the ABC TV network on Sunday, “This kind of rhetoric is not helpful to people.” “It’s really a shame that we’re putting politics ahead of helping people, and that’s what we’re here to do. The state has backed us without a doubt.

Republican state Senator Kevin Corbin pleaded in a Facebook post on October 3 to “Please stop this conspiracy theory junk.” People trying to do their jobs are merely distracted by it.

North Carolina Congressman Chuck Edwards, also a Republican, sent out a detailed news release on Tuesday dispelling many of the “outrageous rumours”, particularly regarding FEMA, which has been central to relief efforts.

The organization has so far provided $40,000 in relief funds to 30, 000 homes in North Carolina and assisted in finding shelter for thousands of people who had been evacuated from their homes.

Around 1,500 active-duty soldiers are stationed in the state, and $100 million in federal funds are available for road and bridge repairs.

The White House and FEMA have “appreciated and praised our state’s willingness to help it respond, recover, and rebuild,” according to North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper.

Real-life problems

Locals are not without legitimate complaints because of the abundance of federal support.

Many irritable residents in North Carolina referred to Helene’s clobbered, aging pipelines and water infrastructure. Given the magnitude of the disaster, some claim that the federal response was slow and underwhelming.

“If you want me to tell you how people feel today – day nine without water – it’s frustrating”, Sloan said.

Heath worries that if most restaurants close because there isn’t enough water, the government will have to take action.

He appreciates the $750 check FEMA has already given him, but he is aware that without a job and three children to provide for them, it won’t go far. “They eat like horses”, he said.

He was able to negotiate a three-month reprieve from his mortgage payments, but he worries that finding a new job will take some time. The food and beverage sector doesn’t currently have any jobs. All the hotels and restaurants are out of business”, he said.

He added that some of his friends found it ironic that Americans were using billions of dollars to fund wars in Ukraine and the Middle East while domestic sufferers were being harmed.

‘ Harder to vote ‘

Beyond its humanitarian toll, Helene has added uncertainty to the electoral outlook of North Carolina, where Trump has a razor-tight edge on Harris, according to the latest polls.

However, there is concern that voter turnout could be halted by persistent blackouts and roadworks, according to analysts.

“It is simply going to be much harder for people to vote in the more rural, outlying communities, which tend to be heavily Republican”, Steven Greene, professor of political science at North Carolina State University, told Al Jazeera. “And when it’s harder to vote, fewer people do”.

Betina Wilkinson, associate chairwoman of Wake Forest University’s Department of Politics and International Affairs, noted that 11 of the 13 hardest-hit counties in North Carolina are predominately Republican.

One of the two others, Buncombe County, is home to the state’s Democratic stronghold of Asheville.

Still, according to Wilkinson, “Hayden will probably have a slight advantage over Trump” based on “low voter turnout in mostly red districts.”

While the election board of North Carolina has approved emergency measures to facilitate voting, such as authorizing officials to set up new voting locations and extending early voting hours, it remains to be seen how effective they will be.

According to Greene, “I anticipate the county boards of elections to make heroic efforts to ensure that all of their citizens have the right to vote.” “But it would be genuinely surprising if this did not depress turnout,” he said, “but with all the damage and chaos.”

There is no sign that this trend will end, according to Wilkinson, adding that “North Carolina has a history of very close presidential elections.”

According to the UN, Israel’s military fired twice in less than 48 hours on the Lebanon peacekeeping force.

Israeli forces repeatedly fired at a guard tower at the headquarters of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) on Thursday, injuring two members of the force, and&nbsp, again fired at a watchtower, injuring two more peacekeepers, on Friday.

How significant are these incidents in the ongoing conflict in Lebanon given that it is almost unheard of for a UN member state to criticize a peacekeeping force?

What happened?

Israeli forces opened fire on a Merkava tank on Thursday morning at a UNIFIL observation tower in Naqoura, a small border town in southern Lebanon where UNIFIL has its corporate headquarters since 1978.

Two Indonesian peacekeepers were hit directly, falling directly.

“The injuries are fortunately, this time, not serious, but they remain in hospital”, a UN statement issued on Thursday read.

The statement added that on Wednesday, Israeli soldiers had “deliberately fired at and disabled” the monitoring cameras at UNIFIL’s headquarters.

A second statement from UNIFIL on Friday claimed that two more peacekeepers had been hurt in two explosions that occurred close to an observation tower. One patient was being treated in Naqoura while the other was being treated in a hospital in the Lebanese city of Tyre.

Israel’s attacks were condemned by members of the international community, including Indonesia, Italy, France, Spain, Ireland, Turkey, the European Union and Canada.

What is UNIFIL?

UNIFIL is a Lebanon-based peacekeeping organization established in March 1978 following Israel’s initial invasion during the South Lebanon Conflict.

After Palestinian Liberation Organization members entered Israel from Lebanon by sea, Israel sent its troops along the border with Lebanon in 1978.

UNIFIL was established to oversee Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon and ensure regional stability.

UNIFIL’s mandate was expanded to support Lebanese armed forces deployed throughout southern Lebanon following a 34-day war between Hezbollah and Israel in which 1, 100 Lebanese people were killed.

As of September 2, 10, 058 UNIFIL soldiers are deployed in Lebanon. They come from 50 countries.

The largest number of UNIFIL peacekeepers – 1, 231 – come from Indonesia. Italy, India, Nepal and China also contribute a large number of soldiers to the peacekeeping force.

How frequently are UN peacekeepers injured?

From 1948 to the end of August 2024, 4, 398 UN peacekeepers on missions all over the world have been killed.

Of these fatalities, 1, 629 were due to illness, 1, 406 were caused by accidents, 1, 130 by malicious acts and 233 were due to “other reasons”, according to data from the UN.

UNIFIL is the most dangerous of the peacekeeping missions, having suffered the most casualties. In its 46 years, 337 peacekeepers have been killed. The UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali follows, which has resulted in 311 fatalities.

The highest number of peacekeeper fatalities in one year took place in 1993 when 252 peacekeepers died during missions in Somalia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia and other locations.

173 peacekeepers were killed in 2010, which was the second-highest number of fatalities. In exchange for altercations with unidentified attackers, they included three peacekeepers from the African Union-UN Mission in Darfur.

In the same year, 43 members of the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) died on January 12 in an earthquake in Haiti. Ten other MINUSTAH personnel died in 2010 in “acts of violence”, the UN website reported.

The Allied Democratic Forces armed group was alleged to have carried out an attack on peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2017. In 2017, the UN reported that. 14 Tanzanian peacekeepers were killed and 44 were hurt in that attack.

What is the legal position on targeting UN peacekeepers?

According to observers, the UN missions’ deliberate targeting constitutes a war crime.

“Under the laws of war, UN personnel involved in peacekeeping operations, including armed members, are civilians, and deliberate attacks against them and peacekeeping facilities are unlawful and amount to war crimes”, a report from Human Rights Watch (HRW) explained.

HRW cited Article 8 (2) (b) (iii) of the Rome Statute, which established the International Criminal Court in The Hague. It defines intentional targeting of humanitarian and peacekeeping missions as war crimes.

According to the UN statement that covered Thursday’s attack, the deliberate attack was a violation of both UN Security Council Resolution 1701 and international law. The UN stated in response to Israel’s attack on Friday at the UNIFIL headquarters: “This is a serious development, and UNIFIL reiterates that the security and safety of UN personnel and property must be guaranteed and that UN premises’ inviolability must always be respected.

According to Security Council Resolution 1701 (2006), “any deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law.”

Has Israel previously attacked UN peacekeepers?

Elijah Magnier, a military analyst, claimed that Israel had previously come under Israeli fire as a result of the recent incident.

In 1987, an Israeli tank squad opened fire on a village where a UNIFIL command post was located, killing an Irish peacekeeper.

In 1996, Israel shelled UNIFIL’s Fijian battalion in southern Lebanon’s Qana. More than 120 Lebanese civilians were killed and about 500 injured. Four UN soldiers were also injured.

No peacekeepers were hurt when Israeli forces opened fire on a UNIFIL patrol close to Aitaroun in southern Lebanon in late November 2023.

Because Israel must pass through Naqoura and launch the Lebanon invasion, Magnier claimed that the recent attacks were taking place. This axis is crucial for the Israeli army, “adding that a significant number of Israeli soldiers are ready to enter Lebanon.”

Because of their uniforms and well-known positions, UNIFIL troops can be identified clearly.

How rare is it for a UN member to attack peacekeepers?

It is very rare for UN members to attack peacekeepers.

According to UN releases following such incidents, the majority of peacekeepers’ injuries and deaths have been caused by crossfire between armed groups or rebel groups.

The Lebanese government’s ministry of public health reported that the Israeli airstrikes in central Beirut on Thursday caused at least 22 fatalities and 117 injuries, the third such attack since Israel’s bombing campaign began earlier this month.

According to Laura Khan, a reporter for Al Jazeera, many people who have recently been displaced from southern Lebanon have sought refuge in the capital.

“Many people who had fled southern Lebanon had found shelter here, and it’s just becoming re-traumatising, unpredictable and dangerous”, Khan said.

Local hospitals sent out a warning to people not donate blood because they were already overwhelmed by the number of casualties and the inflow of family members.

A family of five people who had fled southern Lebanon were killed along with three host families, according to Al Jazeera’s correspondents on the ground.

The attacks, which occurred without notice, are the third time Israel’s bombs have been fired outside Dahiyeh, a southern suburb that has experienced nearly daily air raids in recent weeks, since Israel expanded its airstrikes against Lebanon in late September.