Andy Murray confirms retirement after Paris Olympics

LONDON: The United Kingdom appears set to host the 2035 Women’s World Cup after FIFA President Gianni Infantino on Thursday described its interest as the “one valid bid” for the tournament.
England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales announced last month that they would submit a joint bid to host the finals.
England’s men won the World Cup for the first and so far only time when the country hosted the finals in 1966. It has never staged the women’s tournament.
“We are honored to be the sole bidder for the FIFA women’s World Cup 2035,” FA CEO Mark Bullingham said in a statement.
“Hosting the first FIFA World Cup since 1966 with our home nations partners will be very special. The hard work starts now, to put together the best possible bid by the end of the year.”
The United States, with the possibility of other countries in the CONCACAF region joining the US, is also poised to be named host of the 2031 Women’s World Cup as the only bid.
Infantino said the tournament will increase from 32 teams to 48 in time for the 2031 World Cup to match the men’s event.
“We received one bid for 2031 and one bid — one valid bid I should add — for 2035,” he added at the UEFA Congress in Belgrade. “The 2035 bid is from Europe, from the home nations.”
The US hosted the 1999 and 2003 Women’s World Cup.
Brazil will host the 2027 event featuring 32 teams.

FORMAL BIDS
Member associations must formally submit bids to FIFA in the final quarter of this year. The world governing body currently plans to confirm the Women’s World Cup hosts for 2031 and 2035 at the 76th FIFA Congress in the second quarter of next year.
“So, the path is there for the Women’s World Cup to be taking place in ‘31 and ‘35 in some great countries, in some great nations, to boost even more the women’s football movement,” Infantino said.
FIFA said last month that members associated with the Confederation of African Football and CONCACAF were eligible to bid for the 2031 World Cup, while CAF and UEFA member associations could bid for the 2035 tournament.
Reports had suggested Spain, Portugal and Morocco, who are jointly hosting the 2030 men’s World Cup, planned to launch a rival bid for 2035 before Infantino’s comment on Thursday that the UK had the only valid bid.
England’s women’s manager Sarina Wiegman said hosting the tournament will be a big boost to the women’s game.
“It’s the biggest female event we have in the world, that’s so exciting,” she told a press conference on Thursday.
“We know with the experience of the Euros (the women’s European Championships in 2022, which England won) how big the game is already here, and what that momentum did here in the country, but also worldwide.
“So another tournament, even on an even bigger stage, would be incredible, and that will give another boost to the game.”
Expanding to 48 teams will help, the Dutchwoman added on the eve of England’s Nations League game against Belgium.
“It will grow the game again in different countries, because different countries have opportunities to come, because countries are at different stages of their development,” she said. “So it will help empower women in football, women in sport and women in society.”

BARCELONA: Spain’s National Sports Council (CSD) on Thursday upheld an appeal filed by Barcelona players Dani Olmo and Pau Victor which will allow them to play for the club until the end of the season.
LaLiga had lowered Barcelona’s wage cap on Wednesday after it said the club’s recently revised accounts do not match the end-of-year figures from its previous auditor.
The previous accounts included proceeds from the sale of VIP seats in the renovated Camp Nou which allowed Barca to comply with LaLiga’s Financial Fair Play rules and extend the registration of Olmo and Victor.
LaLiga said Barca did not have the capacity to register the two players based on their accounts, but the CSD annulled the agreement between the Spanish top flight and the country’s football federation (RFEF).
The CSD said the two players’ registrations remain valid as the RFEF acknowledged that “there is no federation resolution that agreed to the cancelation of the licenses” and their decision not to grant a license is “null and void.”
“In any case, the professional careers of Dani Olmo and Pau Victor have been protected since January 8 by the urgent precautionary measure granted by the CSD, with the sole aim of avoiding irreparable harm until this procedure is resolved,” it said.
“In short, for reasons of incompetence, for not having followed the appropriate procedures established in the regulations, and for not being the body authorized to make decisions, the agreement of the Monitoring Committee of the RFEF-LaLiga Coordination Agreement must be considered null and void, and all effects derived from it invalidated.”
In January, the CSD had allowed Barcelona to provisionally register the pair, four days after Spanish football authorities rejected their requests.