FIFA UNDER FIRE FOR DISBANDING ANTI-RACISM TASK FORCE

ZURICH: FIFA was under fire on Monday for winding up its antiracism task force with former presidential candidate Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan describing the move as worrying and shameful.

The decision emerged on Friday when Osasu Obayiuwana, a Nigerian lawyer who was a member of the panel, published a letter on Twitter which he received from FIFA saying “the task force was dissolved and no longer in operation”.

“The notion that the current FIFA leadership believes that the task force’s recommendations have been implemented is shameful,” said Prince Ali, who has twice run for the FIFA presidency. He added that the announcement was “incredibly worrying”.

BILIC FUMES AT

WEST HAM FLOPS

LONDON: Slaven Bilic has warned his West Ham flops that they won’t be allowed to live off past achievements after Southampton condemned them to a fourth successive EPL defeat.

Threatening to axe his stars, Hammers boss Bilic fumed: “A player can make a mistake but it is all of us. These are the same players, at least 80 percent of the team was here last year.

“As a team at the moment we have to be clear, everything that was really good last year is bad this season. We are way below par. We can say the season has only just started, but it’s happened for four games now.”

PLAYERS IN EAST EUROPE NOT PAID: FIFPRO

ZURICH: Club football in Eastern Europe is in a fragile state and late payment of players is a chronic problem, the world players’ union FIFPro said on Monday. FIFPro said that at some leading clubs in the region, there was a two-tier system where top players were paid punctually and others had to wait.

“There is a big difference between the contracts of the star players and everyone else,” Dejan Stefanovic, president of the Slovenian players union SPINS, said in a FIFPro statement.