Sports breaking news... Fifa World cup to be contested by 48 teams

World cup to be contested by 48 nations

The Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) on Tuesday voted to expand the World Cup from its current format of 32 teams to 48 teams.
There were five proposals on the table, from which FIFA’s 37-member council voted unanimously to increase the tournament to 48 nations – a plan that was led by FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
The expansion will kick in from the 2026 World Cup, and the new format will see 16 groups of three countries, with the top two advancing to the knockout round, as number of games will also increase from 64 to 80.
Though it has not been decided, it’s likely that the bulk of the additional 16 country spots will go to the continents of Africa and Asia, while Europe could get an additional three places on top of its current 13.
But in spite of the expansion, the tournament will still last 32 days, and no team will play more than seven matches – as is the case currently.
But while FIFA has given the proposal the go ahead on Tuesday, many fans are unconvinced it’s a good move, having perceived FIFA’s motivation to be the increase in revenue that would result. For their own report suggests revenue will increase to £5.29 billion – producing a rise in profits of £521 million.

Ronaldo Wins Fifa Best Mens Player Of The Year

Real Madrid ace Cristiano Ronaldo has won the FIFA Best Men’s Player of the Year award for 2016 at The Best FIFA Football Awards in Zurich on Monday.
The Portugal international defeated Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Atletico Madrid’s Antoine Griezmann to the prize, after the three had been named as the finalists.
The Best FIFA Men’s Player award is voted for by each of 211 nations comprising the national team captain, manager, and a journalist, and fans registered on FIFA.com — each group holding 25 percent of electoral weight — for a player’s performances from Nov. 20, 2015 to Nov. 22, 2016.
Ronaldo earned 34.54 percent of total votes while Messi finished second with 26.42 percent and Greizmann was third at 7.53 percent.
“I’d like to thank my team, national team, Real Madrid, my trainer, my family that came here, my son, my brothers,” Ronaldo said while accepting the award.
“2016 was the best year of my career, the trophy shows that people aren’t blind and watch the games.
“With everything I won with my national team and club, with great individual performance, I can’t forget this incredible year. Thanks for voting for me.
“I don’t have much more to say, I think the awards speak for themselves. I’m not going to do the scream, just the motion,” he stated.
Ronaldo won both the UEFA Champions League with Real Madrid and Euro 2016 with Portugal in 2016, and scored 61 goals and registered 20 assists in 60 games for club and country during voting period (48 goals in 47 games for Real Madrid; 13 in 13 games for Portugal).
Also at the Awards, Carli Lloyd was named the world’s best female player of the year, while Leicester City’s Claudio Ranieri picked up the prize for best men’s coach, and the Puskas award for best goal over went to Penang’s Mohd Faiz Subri.