The WNBA Board of Governors approved changes to the league’s playoff format and postseason seeding, effective with the 2022 season, the WNBA announced today. The reconfigured postseason structure will include three rounds of series-play using a best-of 3-5-5 format.
Beginning with the WNBA’s 26th season, the eight teams with the highest winning percentages over a 36-game schedule regardless of conference will qualify for the playoffs and be seeded based on their record. All eight playoff teams will participate in first-round, bracket-style play consisting of four best-of-three series.
Following presentations from RusAF Acting President Irina Privalova and Chair of the Russia Taskforce, Rune Anderson, the World Athletics Congress has today approved the World Athletics Council’s recommendation that the Russian Federation continues to be suspended while the Council oversees completion of the Russian reinstatement plan.
Andersen presented the Taskforce’s latest report before the Congress vote. All other documents and decisions will be published at the conclusion of the Congress tomorrow.
An Amnesty International report has claimed that migrant workers are still being trapped and exploited in Qatar as they work on new stadiums for next year’s FIFA World Cup.
ISSUED ON BEHALF OF THE INDEPENDENT MISCONDUCT COMMITTEE
An independent misconduct committee has found that behaviour displayed by SA Rugby Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus towards match officials during this year’s test series between South Africa and the British and Irish Lions constituted misconduct.
The committee was chaired by Christopher Quinlan QC, together with Nigel Hampton QC and Judge Mike Mika (both New Zealand).
The EFL has today confirmed that Derby County Football Club has received a nine-point sporting sanction with a further three points suspended after admitting to breaches of the League’s Profitability and Sustainability (P&S) rules.
This matter has been determined under the terms of an ‘Agreed Decision’ reached between the League and the Club and was formally ratified by an Independent Disciplinary Commission Chair as per the requirements of EFL Regulations.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is pleased to announce its Independent Observer (IO) program teams for the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Beijing, China, which will take place from 4-20 February and from 4-13 March 2022, respectively.
WADA’s IO program, which has been running since the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, and has included more than 50 major events during that time, is an important element of WADA’s compliance monitoring of Major Event Organizations. The IO teams provide an independent review of all aspects of the anti-doping programs as delivered at major events, including the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
An application for a change of nationality was accepted today by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board (EB) as it held a hybrid meeting from Lausanne, which concluded a series of commission meetings in the course of the week.
The European Parliament’s (EP) Committee on Culture and Education has published a report recalling “the need to regulate the activities of agents” and acknowledging the importance of the “recent reforms in the football transfer market”.
“We are honored to be involved at this stage to help draft and ultimately finalize gold-standard rules on anti-doping and medication control for the equine industry. We are excited with where this process is headed and with proposed rules being published for two additional rounds of public feedback.”
Today at a COP26 special event, Extreme E alongside Count Us In, the Drive Electric Campaign, Route Zero, and Bloomberg Green has supported the UN High Level Climate Action Champions, Nigel Topping and Gonzalo Muñoz, in their presentation of the Count Us In Citizens’ Declaration: an open call on world leaders - signed by more than 35 key policy, industry and civil society actors - to adopt comprehensive policy measures to accelerate the transition to zero-emissions road transport.
Sport Integrity Australia, together with 23 other major sporting organisations from around Australia, has teamed with the eSafety Commissioner to help combat online abuse in sport.
According to CEO David Sharpe, the agency joined the collective in signing the Online Safety Statement of Commitment as there is no place for abuse – whether it’s on the sporting field, off the field, or online.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has extended the analytical testing restriction (ATR) imposed on the Romanian Doping Control Laboratory in Bucharest (Bucharest Laboratory). The ATR, related to the Gas Chromatography / Combustion / Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (GC/C/IRMS) analytical method, was originally imposed in 1 May 2021 for a period of up to six months.
Reading Football Club has been deducted six points from this season’s (2021/22) points tally, with a further six points suspended until the end of the 2022/23 Season, after admitting to breaches of the EFL’s Profitability and Sustainability rules (P&S).
It follows a review of the financial submission from the Club for the four-year period 2017/18 to 2020/21 where it was determined the Club had recorded a loss of £57.8m, £18.8m in excess of the £39.0m Upper Loss Threshold.
World Athletics and the European Broadcasting Union are delighted to announce that they have extended and enhanced their long-running media rights partnership for all the events in the top-tier World Athletics Series.
New Brain Health Initiative reflects commitment to educate and support current and former elite players who might be concerned about their wellbeing and brain health
Global initiative includes new videos featuring leading independent experts outlining 12 modifiable risk factors for dementia and how rugby can play a positive role in reducing many of these
Campaign launched at World Rugby Medical Commission Conference as part of World Rugby’s ongoing engagement with member unions, local healthcare authorities and brain health experts to advance player welfare across the rugby family
We have today launched a version of the Football Leadership Diversity Code tailored for the National League System, Women’s pyramid and grassroots football, aiming to tackle inequality and improve representation of diverse groups across senior leadership positions, wider team operations and coaching roles.
The Football Leadership Diversity Code has been developed in collaboration with club leaders, community football representatives, County FA chief executives and others across the game to ensure English football at all levels better represents our modern and diverse society.
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has suspended Iranian Para athletics athlete Nikoeimajd Mehran for a period of four years for committing an anti-doping rule violation (ADRV).
The athlete was found to have committed an ADRV pursuant to IPC Anti-Doping Code Article 2.2 of the IF Rules: Use or Attempted Use by an Athlete of a Prohibited Substance or a Prohibited Method.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has launched a new education course on its Anti-Doping Education and Learning platform (ADEL), specifically designed for athletes (including their guides) and coaches aiming to attend the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games.
The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) announced today that Phillipe Marcil, a powerlifting athlete, received a two-year sanction for an anti-doping rule violation. The athlete’s urine sample, collected during in-competition doping control on August 21, 2021, revealed the presence of tamoxifen, a prohibited hormone and metabolic modulator.
The first edition, published in 2007 by FIFA, was a tool to supplement the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (RSTP), which were first adopted in 2001 following cooperation and negotiations between FIFA and the European Commission.
The commentary on the RSTP is a crucial document which will support member associations, clubs, players, leagues and football legal experts in ensuring that the RSTP is applied consistently across the global football community.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is pleased to invite stakeholders to the eighth International Conference on Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS). The event, which will take place virtually from 17-19 November 2021, is jointly organized by WADA, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), the International Society for the Study of Emerging Drugs (ISSED), the University of Hertfordshire, and the Centre for Forensic Science Research and Education (CFSRE).
Landmark decisions have been approved at an extraordinary general meeting of the Malta Football Association (MFA) following a wide consultation process undertaken by the MFA over the past year, culminating in the approval of important amendments to the association’s statutes.
Last year, the ECA’s General Counsel decided to have a rethink at what sort of legal services ECA should be delivering to its members. The latest stage of that process is the introduction of the ECA Legal Journal.
The first issue is available to read now and, going forwards, will be published on a bi-annual basis.
As ECA CEO Charlie Marshall explains in his introduction to this new publication, “Many of you will remember the ECA Legal Bulletin, our annual publication designed to provide you with useful and practical information regarding football law matters.
Manama: Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa met with the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) President Karma Tsering Sherpa, with the AFC General Secretary Dato’ Windsor John also in attendance.
Shaikh Salman welcomed the ANFA President to Bahrain and emphasised the importance of continuous engagement with the Asian football family and discussed the possible ways to further develop the game, as well as to strengthen the spirit of collaboration between the AFC and its Member Associations (MAs).
Sport Integrity Australia acknowledges the decision of the Australian Weightlifting Federation to sanction athlete Nathan Mortensen for the presence of prohibited substances and their metabolites and the use and possession of prohibited substances.
Mr Mortensen returned an Adverse Analytical Finding (AAF) from an out-of-competition doping control test on 10 September 2020.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced an extension to its support agreement with The Adecco Group, the world’s leading talent solutions company, to help strengthen its support for athletes through Athlete365 Career+.
Port Vale have agreed a pioneering partnership with psychological and technology resources company AIM-FOR which will offer free mental health support to players, club staff and supporters.
The EFL’s Community Club of the Year is investing in Mental Health Safety Net – a bespoke suite of digital tools which will enable club employees and supporters to identify issues which may be affecting them and access a raft of information support services.
Six members of UIPM’s Athletes Committee, Coaches Committee and Technical Committee met today to begin the consultation process announced by the UIPM Executive Board (EB) on November 4.
Current and incoming members of the three committees had preliminary discussions about the consultation process and were briefed by UIPM President Dr Klaus Schormann as well as UIPM Vice-President Joel Bouzou and Secretary General Shiny Fang.
From 27-29 September 2021, the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA’s) Strategic Testing Expert Advisory Group held three virtual meetings focused on the following topics:
An overview of new and existing areas of testing, including the implementation of Dried Blood Spot (DBS) and sample collection best practices for transgender athletes;
A review of the implementation of, and compliance with, the Technical Document for Sports Specific Analysis (TDSSA), including the implementation of the haematological module of the Athlete Biological Passport (ABP); and
The progress of a feasibility study on alternative sample collection programs.
The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) is delighted to announce the appointment of its first Ethics Officer and a further four members to its Ethics Commission.
The CGF Ethics Commission is a completely independent body tasked with maintaining the highest standards of probity throughout the Commonwealth Sport Movement.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) extended their memorandum of understanding (MoU) to further strengthen the cooperation between the two organisations in fighting corruption and crime in sport.
Athletics coach Rana Reider set to be investigated by the US Center for SafeSport after multiple complaints of sexual misconduct were made against him.
Reider is a well renowned athletics trainer as he has trained multiple World and Olympic Champions including Tokyo 2020 Olympic 200m gold medallist Andre de Grasse and two-time Olympic champion Christian Taylor.
