Multi-stakeholder group to monitor tournament in real time
Integrity workshops and briefings organised with all teams and referees
On 24 November 2021, the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA’s) Executive Committee agreed on a proposal from WADA Management to organize a Sixth World Conference on Doping in Sport in November 2025. Today, WADA is calling upon interested cities and countries that may be interested in hosting the Conference.
UEFA has taken another important step to protect players’ health and safety by launching a concussion charter for teams taking part in the European men’s and women’s club and national team competitions.
The International Testing Agency (ITA), leading an independent anti-doping program for the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF), asserts an anti-doping rule violation (ADRV) against Russian weightlifter Kseniya Kozina for the use of prohibited substances based on data retrieved by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) from the Moscow Laboratory
The 52 Members of the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) today unanimously voted to support the proposal for a biennial FIFA World Cup.
The 13th CAF Extraordinary General Assembly met in Cairo, Egypt today. The meeting was attended by Minister of Sport and Youth in Egypt, Dr. Ashraf Sobhi, FIFA President, Gianni Infantino, CAF President Dr. Patrice Motsepe and presidents from CAF Member Associations.
World Rugby can confirm that it has issued a written warning to Rugby Australia and Rugby Australia’s men’s 15s head coach Dave Rennie for comments made immediately after Australia’s final Autumn Nations Series match against Wales in Cardiff on 20 November.
Match officials are the backbone of the sport, and without them there is no game. World Rugby condemns any public criticism of their selection, performance or integrity which undermines or threatens their role, the trust-based coach-officials feedback process, and more importantly, the values that are at the heart of the sport and must be upheld.
Statement from the World Players Association:
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) meets in Paris today and tomorrow and appears certain to once again avoid urgently needed governance reforms to address the escalating crisis facing the global anti-doping effort.
Following feedback from Clubs remaining in this season’s Papa John’s Trophy, the EFL can confirm Clubs will be permitted to make five substitutions from the seven they nominate for the remainder of the 2021/22 competition.
The amendment to Competition Rule 10.1 comes into effect ahead of the next round of ties which will take place during the week commencing Monday 29 November 2021.
The change was made after consideration of the proposal which highlighted concerns of a demanding fixture schedule over the coming months.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has published the IOC Anti-Doping Rules applicable to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
A WADA statement said “The IOC, as the World Anti-Doping Code (Code) Signatory responsible for establishing the Rules applicable to the Games, has established and adopted these Rules to be in line with the 2021 Code and International Standards; most notably, the 2022 List of Prohibited Substances and Methods, which was published on 30 September 2021 and comes into force ahead of the Games on 1 January 2022. The Rules will cover the period from the opening of the Olympic Village on 27 January until the day of the closing ceremony on 20 February 2022.”
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has issued its decision in the appeal arbitration procedure between the Russian high jumper Aleksandr Shustov and World Athletics (WA) & the Russian Athletics Federation (RUSAF). The CAS Panel confirmed the decision dated 5 June 2020 (the Challenged Decision) in which Aleksandr Shustov was found to have violated Rule 32.2(b) of the 2012-2013 IAAF Competition Rules in force in 2013 ("Use or Attempted Use by an Athlete of a Prohibited Substance or a Prohibited Method.") and sanctioned with a four-year period of ineligibility commencing on 5 June 2020 and the disqualification of all competitive results obtained by him from 8 July 2013 to 7 July 2017.
Singh joins English football’s governing body after five years with the prestigious United States Golf Association. As chief commercial officer, he led the USGA’s global commercial strategy for its assets including the major men’s and women’s U.S. Open championships.
I write to address the misunderstandings caused by an inaccurate and wayward attack on our International Federation in recent days.
Discussions around the future composition of Modern Pentathlon and especially the Riding discipline have stirred emotions since UIPM announced the 5th Discipline consultation process on November 4. This is nothing new. There were question marks around Riding when I competed in the 1980s and early 1990s (even the IOC President, Juan Antonio Samaranch, suggested after the Olympic Games Barcelona 1992 that horses should be replaced by bicycles).
The International Cricket Council today unveiled its global growth strategy which places women’s cricket firmly at the heart of its long-term ambitions. The strategy which has been developed in partnership with ICC Members is aimed at strengthening, growing, and protecting the game with the vision of more players, more fans and more nations enjoying cricket.
EU sports ministers today adopted a Resolution of the Council of the EU on a European Sport Model. The Resolution, unanimously approved by the ministers on behalf of the EU’s 27 member states, calls for strengthening values-based organised sport in Europe and protecting it from threats such as closed competitions.
The adoption of the Resolution follows recent vocal support for the European Sport Model from both the European Parliament and the European Commission. The Resolution of the Council of the EU is a milestone that will shape European sport in the decades to come. UEFA applauds EU sports ministers’ determination in reaching the agreement and welcomes the Council of the EU’s vision for the future of European sport policy.
World Rugby has announced that it will increase the pace of women’s rugby development through the second phase of its 2017-25 strategic plan. The transformative “Accelerating the global development of women in rugby” plan reflects the international federation’s commitment to increasing competitiveness, player, fan and commercial interest, and further advancing women in rugby around the globe.
The Bureau of the FIFA Council has decided to appoint a normalisation committee for the Guinean Football Association (FGF) following a series of irregularities that took place during the electoral process of the FGF. In order to guarantee that the FGF can hold transparent and fair elections as well as to help restore trust amongst all football stakeholders in Guinea, the normalisation committee’s mandate will include the following tasks:
The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) Coordination Commission will undertake its latest review of Birmingham 2022 preparations later this week.
The Coordination Commission (CoCom) is responsible for delivery oversight of the Commonwealth Games and tasked with monitoring the Games to ensure it is delivered to scope, schedule and budget.
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A fan led review into English football has called for an independent regulator to stop it “lurching from crisis to crisis”.
Former sports minister Tracey Crouch chairs the review and told BBC Sport “This is a huge opportunity for football. We've seen football lurching from crisis to crisis over the past decade and unfortunately we haven't had the right levels of regulation in place to stop that from happening.” The review has commissioned by the Government, and it is understood that they would support the idea of an independent regulator.
Reported revenues for the year are £97m (£167m in previous year) and profit to reserves £20.5m (loss of £27.1m in prior year).
Revenues in the year were nearly £120m less than pre-COVID forecasts with an underlying loss to reserves of £21.3m (c£30m worse than pre-COVID forecasts).
Kuala Lumpur: The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has today announced Sky Network Television Limited (Sky) as their new media partner in New Zealand. The two-year deal from 2021 to 2022 includes the AFC Asian Qualifiers - Road to Qatar™, the AFC Women’s Asian Cup India 2022™, as well as the AFC Champions League™ featuring Asia’s top forty clubs.
Report focuses on key issues such as good governance, safe sport, inclusiveness and anti-discrimination
FIFA’s transfer system reform gains support as part of improving good governance and integrity
We welcome the publication of the Fan Led Review and want to take this opportunity to thank Tracey Crouch and the Panel for their hard work.
We have been fully engaged with the review since its inception and recognise its importance for English football.
UK Sport has for the first time introduced pregnancy guidance for Olympic and Paralympic athletes and sport governing bodies.
The guidance includes advice for both pregnancy and continues once the athlete has given birth. UK Sport said “starting a family and being an elite athlete should not be mutually exclusive.” Five-time Olympic archer Naomi Folkard who gave birth in early 2021 before competing at this years Tokyo Olympics said “Female athletes should no longer have to make a choice between their athletic career and having children. I hope in a short time it will encourage sports science to not only begin to cover women and men equally, but also have pregnancy specific research projects for female athletes.”
In the wake of Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai's call with International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach, the World Players Association has released the following statement:
The World Players Association repeats its call for the urgent establishment of a special delegation of international organizations and human rights experts to meet with Peng Shuai in order to ensure and obtain the necessary guarantees for her rights, health and safety.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has issued its decision in the arbitration procedure between the Tanzanian football club Young Africans Sports Club and the Ghanaian football player Bernard Morrison in relation to the decision issued on 12 August 2020 by the Legal and Players’ Status Committee of the Tanzania Football Federation (the Challenged Decision).
The global player association movement is deeply concerned for the health and safety of Peng Shuai. Players who speak out are frequently targeted and left exposed to harm and abuse without protection or support, and that must end.
The independent Disciplinary Panel of the British Horseracing Authority will convene from Tuesday 30 November 2021, with five additional dates reserved, to consider whether Licensed Jockey Robbie Dunne is in breach of the following Rules of Racing:
The pandemic has had a significant impact on key revenue streams for national football associations. The UEFA Grow programme has responded by expanding the financial management services offered to UEFA’s member associations.
For the 2022/2023 the Adult Male Future Competitions Structure will see a change to League Cups and Lower XVs from Level 3 and below.
UEFA’s commitment to fostering positive relations with football fans is reinforced by a new Supporter Liaison Officer (SLO) practical guide compiled by UEFA in partnership with Supporters Direct Europe (SD Europe).
The British Horseracing Authority (BHA), the sport’s governing and regulatory body, has today announced that regulatory and sports law specialist Raj Parker has been appointed to its Board.
Raj takes up his role as an Independent Non-Executive Regulatory Director on 1 January, and will replace Sir Paul Stephenson, who joined the BHA Board in 2015 and whose term expires on 31 December.
Over the weekend, Dr. Motsepe alongside FIFA President Mr. Gianni Infantino participated in the official inauguration of the new EFA Technical Center and Headquarters in the 6th of October city, Cairo.
A meeting of the IWF Executive Board yesterday considered the written legal opinion sent by the independent IWF Legal Commission which made it clear the proper legal foundations for the planned IWF Elections had not yet been fully complied. Due to this reason the IWF Executive Board decided, that the Electoral Congress, scheduled for 20-21 December, will not therefore see voting take place on those days. However, the IWF wishes to move forward by holding a General Congress with all other points on the original agenda on 20-21 December 2021. Therefore, preparations will move forward with the same conditions as it was communicated by the IWF before.
In line with its commitment to making athletics a safe and welcoming environment for everyone, World Athletics today publishes findings of a study conducted during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games to identify and address targeted, abusive messages sent to athletes via social media.
SA Rugby and SA Rugby Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus have advised the independent misconduct committee and World Rugby that they have both withdrawn their notices of appeal to the misconduct decision and sanction issued by the independent disciplinary committee on 17 November, 2021.
The Innovation in Action and Reimagine Football ventures are exploring new ways to take the sport forward in the fields of fan engagement and carbon footprint reductions.
ATP has announced new rules relating to toilet breaks, attire changes to come into effect from 2022, in addition to a proposed change to the Medical Time Out rule (start date TBC).
Toilet Break & Change of Attire (Effective 2022)
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has upheld the appeal filed by the Russian badminton player Nikita Khakimov against the Badminton World Federation (BWF) in relation to the decision rendered by the BWF Hearing Panel on 18 November 2020 (the Challenged Decision) in which he was found have committed violations of the BWF Code of Conduct relating to betting and match-fixing and sanctioned with a five-year suspension from badminton-related activities.
The European Parliament today adopted a comprehensive resolution on EU Sport Policy and called for action to protect European sport from the threat of breakaway competitions like the attempted European super league. Spearheaded by former Polish international football player, MEP Tomasz Frankowski, the Resolution was approved by an overwhelming majority of the European Parliament’s members from the 27 member states of the European Union.
Bernard Guasch, owner and president of Catalans Dragons, has tonight been fined £10,000 (£2,500 suspended for three years) for comments made about the match officials following last month’s Super League Grand Final.
The tribunal found Guasch to have breached the following Operational Rules.
The WNBA announced today that former Atlanta Dream players Courtney Williams and Crystal Bradford have been suspended without pay for their roles in an altercation outside of an Atlanta-area club in May and for related health and safety protocol violations. Williams’ suspension is for two games and Bradford’s suspension is for one game.
At the request of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and as was the case for previous Olympic Games, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) posts the IOC’s Anti-Doping Rules (Rules) and accompanying circular letter applicable to the Olympic Games Beijing 2022 (2022 Games) taking place in February 2022.
