How the Qualified
Costa Rica cruised through qualifying winning all four games, scoring 22 goals and not conceding any. Saint Kitts and Nevis, Guatemala, Curacao and US Virgin Islands were all put away by five goals or more.
Star Players
Raquel Rodriguez and Priscilla Chinchilla
Costa Rica’s strength is in their midfield. Portland Thorn’s Raquel Rodriguez is a pivotal box-to-box player for Costa Rica.
July 1 – FIFA will receive another $92 million in compensation for losses sustained in global football corruption schemes, the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) said on Tuesday.
July 1 – A second English team has cancelled a fixture against Qatari opposition following a backlash over the World Cup host’s human rights record.
June 30 – Fans convicted of football-related online hate crime can now be banned from attending matches in the UK, Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service has announced.
June 30 – Qatar 2022 chief Hassan Al-Thawadi, UEFA’s financial sustainability guru Andrea Traverso and European Leagues chairman Claus Thomsen are amongst the first headliners from football who are lined up to speak at Sport Integrity Week, September 12-16.
June 24 – The Sport Integrity Global Alliance (SIGA) has timed the announcement of a new partnership with Yale University to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of Title IX.
June 23 – Russian football’s appeal against the decision to ban their clubs and national teams from international competition because of the country’s invasion of Ukraine is set to be heard in early July by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
June 22 – Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Patrice Motsepe (pictured) has been implicated in the latest criminal case against South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
June 21 – Four-time African footballer of the year Samuel Eto’o (pictured) has been handed a 22-month suspended sentence after pleading guilty to a €3.9 million tax fraud relating to his image rights while playing for Barcelona.
June 21 – Ryan Giggs has formally quit as coach of the Welsh national team even though he has been on the sidelines for several months.
June 20 – Over half of the players who competed in the latter stages of Euro 2020 and the African Cup of Nations finals were abused online before, during and after the game, according to a shocking report released jointly by FIFA and FIFPRO, the international players’ union.
June 16 – Prosecutors in the criminal trial of former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and ex-Uefa boss Michel Platini have demanded both men be handed 20-month suspended prison sentences, accusing them of defrauding FIFA.
June 16 – Former FIFA finance director Markus Kattner has told the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona, Switzerland, that he didn’t flag the payment of CHF2 million from FIFA, requested by Sepp Blatter, to Michel Platini to the Swiss federal authorities and that he doesn’t believe it was an illegal payment.
June 14 – The fifth day of the trial of former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and former UEFA president Michel Platini continues with former FIFA finance director Markus Kattner expected to testify in the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona in Switzerland.
