FIFA

Recent friendly wins against Panama (2-0) and Curacao (7-0) helped the world Argentina (1840.93 points) leapfrog Brazil (1834.21), who paid a high price for defeat in their friendly against Morocco (2-1) and dropped to third place. Not only did Brazil surrender the top spot, but they also saw France move ahead of them to second place after their back-to-back wins in UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying against the Netherlands (4-0) and Republic of Ireland (1-0).

FIFA, who had an extensive discussion with the Peruvian Football Federation before making the decision, promised to keep the tournament schedule on November 10-December 2, 2023."The Bureau of the FIFA Council will now designate a new host in due course," it added.

After a historic campaign in the Hero Indian Super League (ISL), the Islanders have now shifted their focus to the task at hand against the Red Miners with an eye on the premier competition of Asian football. Even though Mumbai City FC have secured a win and a draw against Jamshedpur FC in the Hero ISL league stage this season, the Aidy Boothroyd-coached side made things hard for the Islanders on both occasions.

The 52-year-old Swiss, who succeeded Sepp Blatter in 2016, was elected unopposed in presence of delegates from the 211 member federations. "It is an incredible honour and privilege, and a great responsibility. I promise to continue serving FIFA and football around the world," Infantino said. "To those that love me, and I know there are many, and those who hate me ... I love you all," he added.

The decision for the 2026 World Cup, which will contain 48 teams instead of the 32 who played in Qatar last year, means there will be 40 more matches in the new World Cup, which will also last considerably longer than the month-long tournament in Qatar, reports Xinhua.

Spanish sports paper Diario AS explains that the Spanish and Portuguese have been negotiating with Morocco, with an agreement likely to be signed at the 73rd FIFA Congress, which will be held in Rwanda on Thursday, reports Xinhua. Spanish Football Federation president Luis Rubiales traveled to Morocco on Monday to meet with Fouzi Lekjaa, president of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation, to finalize details of the accord.

This is the second time Messi won the award after he first won it in 2019 and Argentina, champion of the 2022 Qatar World Cup, pocketed away with four trophies at the ceremony, reports Xinhua news agency. Argentina's head coach Lionel Scaloni won the Best Men's Coach Award, Emiliano Martinez won the Best Men's Goalkeeper Award.

Panama beat Paraguay to reach the FIFA Women's World Cup for the first time after a hard-fought 1-0 win in the Group C Play-off Tournament final. Lineth Cedeno scored the only goal of the tense play-off, ending the hopes of their South American opponents, who were also chasing a maiden Women's World Cup appearance.

Haiti has qualified for the elite tournament for the first time after a thrilling 2-1 victory over Chile in the Group B final of the Play-off Tournament held here, reports Xinhua news agency. Meanwhile, Portugal beat Cameroon 2-1 in the Group A final to reach the Women's World Cup finals in nearby Hamilton.

The playoffs will witness 10 teams divided into three groups, and only the group winners will attend the global finals. The playoffs will not be played in the round-robin format. Instead, Portugal will face off against the winner between Cameroon and Thailand to fight for the berth in Group A, reports Xinhua. In Group B, Senegal and Haiti will vie for the right to challenge Chile.