Women’s World Cup grows
FIFA’s Council has unanimously approved expanding the Women’s World Cup from 24 teams to 32 for 2023 and has reopened bidding to host the tournament but made no mention of changing prize money.
FIFA said Wednesday the decision was made remotely.
Nine national associations had expressed interest in hosting and were due to submit their formal bids by Oct. 4: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa and South Korea, which could bid jointly with North Korea.
Under the new timetable, any national association has until December to make a bid. FIFA expects a bid evaluation report next April and a decision the following month.
FIFA’s statement made no mention of prize money. The U.S. received $4 million of a $30 million prize pool for winning the World Cup on July 7, a small percentage of the $38 million from a $400 million pool that France got for winning the 2018 men’s World Cup.
SOCCER
Five-time winners Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi were among the 10 candidates for the FIFA best player award announced Wednesday. United States forward Megan Rapinoe is the favorite for the women’s award.
Ronaldo and Messi were joined by three Liverpool players, Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Sadio Mane. Liverpool won the Champions League title in June.
Also in the list were Ajax players Frenkie de Jong and Matthijs de Ligt, who have since joined Barcelona and Juventus, respectively, along with former Chelsea forward Eden Hazard, who has joined Real Madrid, Tottenham striker Harry Kane and Paris Saint-Germain striker Kylian Mbappe.
Luka Modric, who won the award last year after leading Croatia to the World Cup final, was not on the list.
Rapinoe was in a list of 12 players that included teammates Alex Morgan, Rose Lavelle and Julie Ertz. Ada Hegerberg, a Norway forward who won the Ballon d’Or but skipped this year’s World Cup, was also nominated.
HOCKEY
The Colorado Avalanche locked up defenseman Samuel Girard with a seven-year extension that runs through the 2026-27 season.
The 21-year-old Girard played in all 82 games last season. He finished with four goals and 23 assists for a Colorado team that’s made back-to-back playoff appearances.
It was Girard’s second season with Colorado after being acquired from Nashville as part of a threeteam deal with Ottawa on Nov. 5, 2017. He was originally a second-round pick in ’16 by the Predators.