2022 World Cup: FIFA Speaks On Changes Ahead Of Kick-Off

World football governing, FIFA has reacted to viral claims that it is considering changing its calculation of playing and stoppage times in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Naija News understands that the rumoured reports also claimed that FIFA made the changes so that fans can get to see the ball in play more.

However, FIFA has in a statement rubbished the reports credited to its President, Gianni Infantino.

According to the speculations, the football chief had consented to an extension of match time to 100 minutes or longer against the usual 90 minutes of full-time play.

FIFA has, however, said there was never a deliberation on such. It noted that even if such a decision is in the works, it cannot be enforced before this year’s tournament.

“Following some reports and rumours spread today, FIFA would like to clarify that there will be no changes to the rules regarding the length of football matches for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 or any other competition,” FIFA said on its official Twitter account, Naija News reports.

Meanwhile, the Executive Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation met on Tuesday, 5th April 2022 at the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja to deliberate on important issues in Nigeria Football.

Read below the NFF resolve:

1. The committee apologized to the President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari for the team’s failure to qualify for Qatar.

2. The committee applauded and appreciated the minister of youths and sports, Sunday Dare.

3. The committee established that the coaches were promised 2 and half year deal plus players to earn 35% of the qualifying bonus to spur them to victory. It was emphasized.

4. The committee regretted the death of Dr Joseph Kabungo and reiterated that he died as a result of sudden cardiac arrest from the autopsy report and disclosed that his body has been flown to Zambia.

5. The committee disclosed that in line with the statutes, a roadmap for new elections into the NFF Board will be designed at the Annual General Assembly (AGA) of the NFF once the ex parte injunction suspending Congress from meeting is vacated.

6. The committee mandated its Technical and Development Sub-Committee to, within the next 5 days, make recommendations to the Executive Committee on coaching crews for the Super Eagles, the CHAN team, the U20 Boys (Flying Eagles) and the U17 Boys (Golden Eaglets) ahead of upcoming assignments.

7. The committee promised to provide the Super ample support for adequate preparation for the Championship, aware that the event also serves as a qualifying tournament for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup finals.

8. The committee also commended the U20 Women National Team, Falconets, for its qualification for this year’s FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup taking place in Costa Rica in the month of August, and charged the U17 girls, Flamingos to put in the hard work necessary to win a ticket to this year’s FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup taking place in India in the month of October.

This article was originally published on Nigeria News