FIFA to hold extraordinary general meeting
FIFA, football’s world governing body, has announced an
extraordinary general meeting in Cape Town on December 2 to
discuss a series of pressing matters.
Thierry Henry's handball in the World Cup play-off game against Ireland, the discovery of a match-fixing ring by German police and trouble surrounding the Algeria-Egypt qualifier are all expected to be on the agenda.
The executive committee was already due to meet on December 3 on Robben Island to discuss the draw to be held the following day.
"Due to recent events in the world of football, namely incidents at the playoffs for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, match control (refereeing) and irregularities in the football betting market, the FIFA president [Sepp Blatter] has called an extraordinary meeting of the Executive Committee," said a FIFA statement.
Ireland's Football Association formally asked for a replay of the France-Ireland draw after Henry’s blatant handball, which FIFA refused, and on Friday German police said they had dismantled a match-fixing gang with more than 200 suspected members operating in nine European leagues.
The Egypt-Algeria qualifier on November 14 in Cairo and subsequent play-off in Khartoum four days later were also surrounded by controversy. Twenty Algerian fans were injured in clashes with Egyptian fans across the Sudanese capital that night and according to Algerian press reports, crowds of football fans attacked homes of Egyptian workers in south-eastern Algeria.

0 Comments
Click here to sign up now.