FIFA lifts Pakistan international ban
Kane set to return to training in April
ZURICH, March 14, (Agencies): Pakistan’s ban from international soccer has been lifted by FIFA following the end of “undue third-party interference” in the country’s football federation (PFF), the world governing body said on Wednesday.
The ban, in force since October, had barred Pakistan’s teams, including the senior national side, from playing in international competition while the PFF was denied access to FIFA development and training programmes.
FIFA said it lifted the ban after an administrator appointed by the Lahore High Court was directed to hand control back to the PFF.
FIFA said the PFF had “successfully taken back control of the PFF offices along with the PFF accounts on March 1” and added that it was still closely following the situation at the federation. According to FIFA records, Pakistan, 203rd of 211 teams in the world rankings, have not played a full international since a 0-0 draw with Yemen in a World Cup qualifier in March 2015.
Harry Kane is set to return to training in April after suffering an ankle injury against Bournemouth, meaning the Tottenham and England striker should be fit for the World Cup.
“Preliminary assessments have confirmed that Harry Kane has damaged lateral ligaments in his right ankle,” the club said on their website.
“The England striker sustained the injury following a challenge in our 4-1 win against Bournemouth on Sunday and is expected to return to first team training net month.”
A scan to establish the full extent of the injury had been delayed because of swelling around the joint.
Tottenham has apologized for asking whether “a woman’s place is in the home” in an online survey sent to American fans.
The Premier League club blamed a third-party company, which included the question when asking fans how much they agreed with a series of statements.
Toward the end of the survey, fans were presented with “a woman’s place is in the home” and asked if they “Definitely agree,” “Tend to agree,” “Neither agree nor disagree,” “Tend to disagree” and “Definitely disagree.”
Kane
Gylfi Sigurdsson should be able to make his World Cup debut with Iceland despite possibly missing the rest of Everton’s season.
Everton says its record signing has been ruled out for 6-to-8 weeks with a knee injury sustained in Saturday’s game against Brighton.
Everton’s last game of the Premier League season is in two months, on May 13 against West Ham. Iceland’s World Cup campaign opens on June 16 against Argentina.
Everton manager Sam Allardyce says “we’ll continue to assess Gylfi’s progress on a week-to-week basis and the medical team will work very closely with him, as they would with any injured player, to get him back playing as quickly as possible.”
Brazilian soccer confederation president Marco Polo Del Nero will remain suspended by FIFA for a further 45 days while he is under investigation for taking bribes.
FIFA says its file on Del Nero, who was previously suspended from soccer for 90 days, is now with ethics committee judges, who have formally opened their own proceedings.
The FIFA case against Del Nero is progressing more than two years after he was indicted by the US Department of Justice in its sprawling investigation of international soccer corruption. Del Nero has not been extradited to face charges of racketeering, wire fraud, and money laundering conspiracies.
British police said Wednesday they were probing a spitting incident involving TV football pundit Jamie Carragher as broadcaster Sky Sports suspended the former Liverpool and England defender for the rest of the season.
Carragher was filmed leaning out of the driver’s window of his Range Rover before spitting at a car containing a Manchester United fan, hitting the driver’s 14-year-old daughter in the face after some goading following Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat at Old Trafford on Saturday.