FIFA shuts down reporter’s sexuality question at Women’s World Cup

FIFA has shut down a reporter’s question to Morocco’s national captain asking about gay players on her team at a tense Women’s World Cup press conference.

The 2023 Women’s World Cup is underway in Australia and New Zealand. Morocco is the first Arab country to qualify for the tournament.

The Moroccan national team will face Germany in their first match on Monday night in Melbourne.

At the press conference on Sunday a journalist – believed to be from the BBC – asked Moroccan captain Ghizlane Chebbak about gay players in her squad.

Same-sex relationships are illegal in Morocco and punishable with fines and jail.

The reporter asked, “We know that gay marriage is illegal, are there any gay players in the team, and what’s it like for them?”

At the press conference, a FIFA official pounced to shut down the question after it was asked. The mediator reportedly told the room the media were there to discuss the match, not politics.

‘Not an appropriate question for a player’
Some of the reporters at the conference recalled the “tense” moment and argued the question wasn’t appropriate.

Steph Yang from The Athletic pointed out, “From a harm reduction perspective, this is not an appropriate question for a player and would have endangered the players themselves.”

She added, “We are obviously going to talk about the intersection of politics and sports at this World Cup, and it’s vital to do so.

“But we should take care that our questions don’t cause further harm to those impacted by those very politics.”

Reporter Shireen Ahmed tweeted, “I was at this press conference. The reporter was completely out of line.

“Harm reduction matters and posing the question to the captain or coach was unnecessary.

“The question was waved off by a FIFA media officer moderating but it shouldn’t have been asked.”

How To Watch The Club World Cup Draw Live On DAZN: Date, Time, Draw Format

The FIFA Club World Cup takes place in July 2025 in the US, with the world’s best clubs and players fighting it out to be crowned world champions and it will all be broadcast live on DAZN.

All 63 matches in competition will be broadcast by DAZN worldwide, in multiple languages, and all for free, as clubs from Europe, Asia, North and South America, Africa and Oceania all compete.

The build up to the expanded, 32-team competition heats up when the tournament draw is made on Thursday, December 5,which you can watch for free exclusively on DAZN. Sign up here for a free DAZN account to watch.

The new format is set to be played every four years, just like the World Cup.

Who is in the Club World Cup draw?
The 32 clubs involved are some of the biggest in the football world. They include Real Madrid, River Plate, Flamengo, Juventus, Boca Juniors, Manchester City, Bayern Munich and Paris St-Germain.

Qualification for the tournament was based on either winning a continental title – IE: UEFA Champions League or CONMEBOL Libertadores – in one of the four most-recent seasons or by having a high ranking of performance in the top-level continental tournament over the four-year period.

So, for a country like England, who were given two slots, Manchester City and Chelsea will represented them, rather than say Liverpool, because the former two clubs have won the Champions League more recently.

Pot 1: Manchester City, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Paris St-Germain, Flamengo, Palmeiras, River Plate, Fluminense
Pot 2: Chelsea, Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan, Porto, Atletico Madrid, Benfica, Juventus, Salzburg
Pot 3: Al Hilal, Ulsan, Al Ahly, Wydad, Monterrey, Club Leon, Boca Juniors, Botafogo
Pot 4: Urawa Red Diamonds, Al Ain, Esperance Sportive de Tunisie, Mamelodi Sundowns, Pachuca, Seattle Sounders, Auckland City, Inter Miami
How to watch the Club World Cup draw
The Club World Cup draw will take place at 6pm GMT; 1pm ET; 12pm CT on Thursday, December 5. It will be broadcast live and for free on DAZN worldwide.

To watch on DAZN, simply enter your email address to setup a free account and that is it. Sign up here.

Or, if you are already a DAZN subscriber or Freemium member, then the draw is part of your current membership.

DAZN News will also be running a live blog of the draw to keep you fully up-to-date with proceedings.

How does the draw work and key rules?

The pots
Pot 1 is made up of the highest-ranked teams from Europe and South America. Pot 2 is the rest of Europe.

Pot 3 is the best of Asia, Africa, Concacaf and the rest of South America

Pot 4 is all remaining clubs.

The rules of the draw
No group can feature more than one team from the same confederation except for UEFA, which has 12 teams across the eight groups
Teams from the same country cannot be drawn together, which only affects Atlético Madrid and Real Madrid
Inter Miami CF take position four in Group A and will play the opening game
Seattle Sounders take position four in Group B to ensure they play at their home ground
There is also a seeding structure in place, which means UEFA’s top seeds Real Madrid and Manchester City will be in opposite halves of the draw, as will CONMEBOL’s Flamengo and Palmeiras. It means these teams will not potentially meet until the semi-finals, if they all win their respective groups.

The same principle of being in opposite halves of the draw applies to Pot 1 seeds 3 and 4 for each confederation, which are Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain; and River Plate & Fluminense.

In Pot 1 the UEFA teams will be placed into groups so that, if they finish first in the group, they cannot play each other before the semi-finals. The same applies to the four South American teams.

To achieve the necessary draw build for Pot teams, pathways have been created.

Pathway 1: Winners of Groups A, C, E and G play the runners-up of Groups B, D, F and H.
Pathway 2: Winners of Groups B, D, F and H play the runners-up of Groups A, C, E and G.
In Pot 2 Chelsea, Borussia Dortmund, Internazionale and FC Porto will be drawn into a group with one of Flamengo, Palmeiras, River Plate, Fluminense.

Atlético Madrid, Benfica, Juventus and RB Salzburg will be drawn into a group with one of Manchester City, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain.

How the draw will run
Finally we can actually get to the draw. It will start by drawing all of the teams from team pot 1, then pots 2, 3 and 4. Groups will be filled in order, subject to draw rules.

For Groups A and B, the other teams take the same position as their pot (as Inter Miami and Seattle are in position 4).

For Groups C to H, the position in the group will be drawn. This influences the order of the fixtures.

Where is the Club World Cup being staged?
The July 2025 tournament will be hosted by the United States, as a warm up to them co-hosting 2026 World Cup alongside Canada and Mexico.

There will be 12 different stadiums used for the club competition.

The first match will be held in Miami on Sunday, June 15, at the Hard Rock Stadium, and will see home club Inter Miami play.

New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium will host the final on July 13.

Atlanta, Mercedes-Benz Stadium
Charlotte, TQL Stadium
Cincinnati, Bank of America Stadium
Los Angeles, Rose Bowl Stadium
Miami, Hard Rock Stadium
Nashville, GEODIS Park
New Jersey, MetLife Stadium
Orlando, Camping World Stadium
Orlando, Inter&Co Stadium
Philadelphia, Lincoln Financial Field
Seattle, Lumen Field
Washington DC, Audi Field

Watch the Club World Cup draw live on DAZN
Club World Cup

Or, if you are already a DAZN subscriber or Freemium member, then the draw is part of your current membership.

A DAZN Freemium account costs nothing and provides access to action across football, boxing, NFL, golf, darts, motorsports, basketball and padel.

This includes the UEFA Women’s Champions League, NFL, PDC Darts, LIV Golf, Super League Basketball and Saudi Pro League, plus other weekly specially selected games, leagues, sports and highlights.

Free TV Channels include Matchroom Boxing, PGA Tour, PDC Darts, PowerSports World, Billiard TV and Padel Time TV.

You only need an email address to register for a Freemium account, with no hidden costs or fees.

Media

How To Stream AC Milan vs Liverpool Match Online For Free

An online streaming service has exclusive rights to the big Champions League match – but it’s easy to watch it for free.

Liverpool will be returning to the Champions League on Tuesday night, hoping to get back to winning ways on the opening night of the new campaign, facing old foes AC Milan.

The side, who previously faced Milan in the 2005 and 2007, suffered a 1-0 defeat against Nottingham Forest on Saturday, so they will be hoping to get back to winning ways this week.

However, Milan have also had a tumultuous ride so far, with the team currently in 9th after four games, despite a solid 4-0 win over Venezia at the weekend.

It’s shaping up to be a thrilling match, then, with both teams having plenty to prove, and you can watch it for free on Amazon Prime Video.

Media

LaLiga Signs 2024-25 Broadcast Deal With China Media Group

Spanish soccer’s top-tier LaLiga has unveiled state-run China Media Group (CMG) as its official broadcast partner in the country.

Through a deal announced today, CMG returns as a Chinese broadcaster of the 20-team Spanish league.

The tie-up has come with the 2024-25 campaign already four matchdays in and follows a memorandum of understanding between the two parties in late July.

Last season (2023-24), LaLiga action was shown in China by the Migu streaming service, while rights for 2024-25 have also been snapped up by the iQiyi digital broadcaster.

Javier Tebas, president of LaLiga, has said: “China remains a key market for LaLiga, and we are thrilled to bring our league’s unique passion and excitement to Chinese fans through one of the most influential media platforms in the country.”

Over the last few weeks, LaLiga has been scrambling to add more partners to its stable of broadcasters for this season.

Earlier this month, a significant deal across numerous African markets was unveiled with SportyTV, while mid-August saw BeIN Sports extend its exclusive rights deals across the Middle East and North Africa, and Asia-Pacific.

Domestically, DAZN and Movistar are the main rights-holders through deals running between 2022 and 2027.

Sportcal