The FIFA Council has passed landmark reforms to better protect female players and football coaches, and approved several additional measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The meeting, which was held via videoconference, opened with the members observing a minute’s silence in honour of Diego Maradona, who died on November 25.

Increased protection for female players and football coaches

The Council approved groundbreaking reforms to better protect female players and football coaches. The new rules, which are the result of extensive consultations with football stakeholders, will establish new global minimum standards for female players, particularly in relation to maternity.

FIFA will also introduce specific provisions establishing minimum standards for employment conditions of coaches, recognising the crucial role they play in the game.

International match calendars

Following a comprehensive consultation process by the FIFA-Confederations COVID-19 Working Group with football stakeholders, the Council passed a series of additional amendments to the international match calendars, keeping a tailor-made and flexible approach for each confederation, reflecting the varied circumstances of the pandemic around the globe.

Men’s International Match Calendar

  • For CONCACAF, to extend by an additional day the existing windows of September 2021, October 2021, January 2022 and March 2022 to facilitate the playing of three matches, in place of the existing two, in each of these windows
  • For UEFA, to extend by an additional day the existing windows of March 2021 and September 2021 to facilitate the playing of three matches, in place of the existing two, in each of these windows

Women’s International Match Calendar

  • For all Confederations except UEFA, to move the blocked period of October 31 to November 20, 2022 for the final competitions of the Confederations’ championships to January 17 to February 20, 2022.
  • For all Confederations, to move the blocked period of July 4 to August 7, 2022 to June 27 to July 31, 2022.
  • For all Confederations, to move the type I window, originally scheduled for June 13-21, 2022, by one week to June 20-28 2022 in order to coincide with the earliest possible start of the release period for the subsequent blocked period for Confederations’ final tournaments (June 27 to July 31).
  • For UEFA, to include the new dates for the UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 of July 6-31, 2022.

71st FIFA Congress

Acknowledging the significant challenges and unpredictability that remain as a consequence of the global pandemic, the Council decided that the 71st FIFA Congress, which was due to take place in May in Tokyo, will instead be held as an online event on May 21, 2021.

FIFA Club World Cup

Following the postponement of the revamped FIFA Club World Cup, initially planned to take place in 2021 in the slot previously reserved for the FIFA Confederations Cup, the Council decided that a Club World Cup, in the current format with seven teams, be organised for late 2021 and the hosting rights for this competition be awarded to Japan.

Transfer of minors

Acknowledging that the United Kingdom – one state with four separate FIFA Member Associations – will be leaving the European Union, the Council approved an amendment to the regulations to avoid situations in which minors would be unable to transfer within the same state.

This amendment will apply generally to all situations where there are more than one association in the territory of a country and it will allow the transfer of players aged between 16 and 18 between those associations.

Players’ health first

The Council also heard a report from the FIFA Medical Committee, which met in October and established a working group to advise on the strategy to tackle concussion in football and the management of concussion through education, awareness and research.

Next meeting

The FIFA Council will meet again on March 19, 2021.

Courtesy of FIFA

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