June 16, 2022
The brief from today:
Galal sacked
The Egyptian Football Federation has acted swiftly, relieving Ehab Galal of his duties as manager of the Egypt national team only two months after his appointment. He replaced former Portugal coach, Carlos Queiroz, who recently led Egypt to the AFCON final earlier this year. After a shock 2-0 defeat to Ethiopia in a 2023 AFCON qualifier last week, Galal was on thin ice, and it seems the Federation simply chose to make the change sooner than later.
Brief stay at the helm for Galal
New Premier League rules for postponement
The Premier League announced the 2022/23 season’s schedule today, but they also established the new requirements in place for matches to be postponed. After 22 fixtures were rescheduled last season because of COVID, but also due to loopholes in the old rules, changes have been made going forward. The league statement today said, “Approval [for postponements] will only be granted where the impact of player unavailability on a club’s squad is truly exceptional.” Previously, clubs could apply for rescheduling if they had at least four players out with COVID. Some clubs, however, were factoring injured starters into their absences,. a tactic that drew Antonio Conte’s ire when Arsenal exercised it right before the North London derby, and successfully had the match postponed. Time will tell whether the new standards will have the desired effect.
World Cup 2026 venues announced
Qatar 2022 in still five months away, but the next World Cup—the first to be held in three countries—now knows which cities will host matches. Among the three hosts: United States, Mexico, and Canada, the former will stage the most matches across 11 cities, while Mexico and Canada will have 3 and 2 cities respectively. The cities—and stadiums—selected are the following:
US
New York/New Jersey (MetLife Stadium)
Boston (Gillette Stadium)
Philadelphia (Lincoln Financial Field)
Atlanta (Mercedes-Benz Stadium)
Miami (Hard Rock Stadium)
Kansas City (Arrowhead Stadium)
Houston (NRG Stadium)
Dallas (AT&T Stadium)
Los Angeles (SoFi Stadium)
San Francisco (Levi’s Stadium)
Seattle (Lumen Field)
Mexico
Mexico City (Estadio Azteca)
Monterrey (Estadio BBVA Bancomer)
Guadalajara (Estadio Akron)
Canada
Vancouver (BC Place)
Toronto (BMO Field)