The World Cup is the biggest sporting even in the world, yet the women’s version of the game is more humble. That however is changing as more and more women are taking to the field professionally.

FIFA organizers have said that the current cap of just 16 teams will be bumped to 24. Having more teams in the World Cup is a sign that the popularity of the game played by women is increasing.

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The decision to change FIFA’s officiating rules comes after France’s Henry deliberatly touched the ball to send France into the lead against Ireland in an important World Cup Qualifying match.

Personally I don’t see what the big deal is in allowing cameras the chance to replay to officials certain plays that come into question or are challenged by the coaches. If it wasn’t for the help of replays Hockey would be very different. If you aren’t going to allow cameras than you need to have more refs on the field. In a game like soccer this isn’t such a big deal since the field is so big, but in a game like hockey of basketball you want to have fewer refs and more TV replay action.

What do you all feel about FIFA decision to amend the reffing rules?

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Zidane & Henry

Because there are no video review of plays by the officiators, infractions need to be seen on the spot. Naturally allot gets missed. To blame the refs for their problems seems like a bit of a cop out to me. It’s just another diversion of attention from the real matter which is that Henry deliberately touched the ball to gain the advantage for France in the World Cup Qualifiers. It was an important game so he did whatever he had to to get the job done.

Zidane spent the day defending his old team mate by saying that Henry is anything but a cheat and that he merely had a slight lapse of judgment.

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France player Patrice Evra (13) fights for the ball with Serbian player Milos Krasic (17) during Serbia vs France World Cup 2010 group 7 qualifying soccer match at the Marakana Stadium of Belgrade, SERBIA

The decision has not been taken lightly, but something had to be done to curb the growing soccer violence in Serbia. Last week a Frenchman was beaten to death in Sarajevo in what was a soccer fan related incidence. So far one man has been arrested while two more are on the run from the police.

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Nigeria's players and team's head coach 'Yemi Tella' (C) celebrate their victory against Spain at the final match of the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Seoul, 09 September 2007.

FIFA has announced that they will randomly test players from the 24 competing U-17 nations with a new bone magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner that will determine the age of the players. The test in non-invasive and causes no harm to the players. The integrity of the sport however is what is at stake. It’s not uncommon for teams to recruit players who are over aged but who look under-17 years old to give themselves the competitive edge. Players may also lie about their age to make the cut.

The U-17 FIFA World Cup Games are scheduled from October 24th through to November 15th and are being held in Nigeria, the current and defending U-17 title winners.

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Canadian Soccer Association

Soccer critics have blamed the Canadian Soccer Association for not giving their best players more support in the game. But I guess that’s what happens when there is no money from sponsors for the game.

The United States on the other hand has almost been able to take the top ten spot. This comes as renewed funding for the games has improved since the USA are looking towards sponsoring the World Cup games in the future.

The best Canada has ever done in the past was in 1996 when they placed 40th place in the ranking system.

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Spain celebrates 1-0 victory over Iraq. June 18, 2009

Coach Bora Milutinovic had an unexpected smile on his face when his team lost the game.

“I’m very, very happy for the way my team played. Especially to play against a team like Spain in this way, when we didn’t have so much time to prepare for this game.”

To be honest its truly was remarkable that a team like Iraq was able to fend of Spain as well as they did. Spain has been able to win the last 15 games they’ve played in and outside of the Confederation Cup games.

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FIFA president Sepp Blatter

This they hope will help encourage young talent by giving them a platform from which to shine. Other rules being brought up is the baring of players who have played in the World Cup games. This they say is unfair for other teams who can’t possibly compete against these teams.

Personally I think they should implement both of these rules. It is unfair for countries like Canada to compete against Brazil or anyone else for that matter. I know that in hockey Canada sometimes decides to use their junior players to represent in the Olympics, and when they do they still win! They don’t do it to brag but because they want to see more young talent being used to further the game in their own country. What better way to get kids playing soccer than to give them a platform to play other than local community games.

Source: The Canadian Press

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FIFA revealed today that they have earned over $957 million in revenues. After all of the bills were paid $184 million turned out to be pure profits. Executives believe that the earnings show that the world still love soccer and are willing to support their national teams.

Most of the revenue for FIFA was earned through sponsorship programs, brodcasting rights and so forth. FIFA also reports to have claim to over $1.6 billion in assests.

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WADA and FIFA came to an agreement after soccer players voiced concern over the new rules enforced by WADA. At first WADA pointed out that they could have complained earlier if there was a problem but they went ahead with renegotiations anyways. With everything settled FIFA players are still grumbling over the new rules.

WADA was established to act as a referee of sorts against professional drug use. Soccer players, who are not known to use steroids are being tested anyways. For some this is an invasion of their privacy as WADA will be allowed to monitor their whereabouts during the off seasons.

I have a problem understanding what the big deal is with these soccer stars? I mean they are acting like they are guilty of taking drugs and fear getting caught. I mean if I were taking drugs I would want to be tested either. I guess that after the pressures of an intense season they need time to chill on the beach with a reefer. No problem in that. Unless you make millions of dollars playing soccer. Sometimes you just have to give up a few things for your career.

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