Soccer-Biennial FIFA Series Of Friendly Games To Launch In March

FIFA are launching a brand new sequence of pleasant matches in a single location in the course of the worldwide window referred to as the FIFA Series, with a pilot mission kicking off in 4 international locations subsequent month, world soccer’s governing physique mentioned on Monday.

Although there aren’t any trophies or prize cash, the sequence is designed to profit nationwide groups that would not have the chance to play groups from different confederations, with FIFA set to cowl journey prices.

A delicate launch of the FIFA Series will happen from March 18-26 at 4 areas — Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Azerbaijan and Sri Lanka. Four groups can be based mostly in a single location and can play two matches every.

“Some countries have never played teams outside their confederations,” Elkhan Mammadov, FIFA’s Regional Member Associations Director for Europe, informed reporters.

“They can gain competitive experience playing teams outside their own confederation, playing teams with a completely different style of play.

“Currently we have 20 teams for the pilot edition. For the 2026 edition we hope to have many more.”

Saudi Arabia will host two teams though the hosts themselves won’t be concerned within the matches, that are designed to profit groups which have by no means certified for the World Cup.

“The next World Cup (in 2026) will have 48 teams which means you may have many member associations who never played in a World Cup,” mentioned Kenny Jean-Marie, FIFA’s Chief Member Associations Officer.

“They may arrive in the U.S., Mexico or Canada with no international experience outside their continent.”

Mammadov mentioned they’re presently engaged on fixing tv broadcast offers for the Series whereas they may also look to stream matches on the FIFA+ platform.

He added there have been no disagreements with confederations relating to scheduling these tournaments as they have been being performed in the course of the worldwide break. The subsequent version in 2026 may see larger groups trying to participate.

“We’ve started discussions with high-ranked teams and they hope to play and even host the next edition in March 2026. There is interest to host,” he mentioned.

With FIFA solely facilitating and never organising the tournaments, Mammadov mentioned they have been inviting member associations with their very own sponsors on the bottom to sponsor the Series.

“But if companies approach to sponsor the FIFA Series, FIFA will not close the door,” he added.

FIFA SERIES – MARCH 2024

ALGERIA

Teams: Algeria, Bolivia, Andorra, South Africa

AZERBAIJAN

Teams: Azerbaijan, Mongolia, Tanzania, Bulgaria

SRI LANKA

Teams: Sri Lanka, Papua New Guinea, Bhutan, Central African Republic

SAUDI ARABIA

Group A: Cabo Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Guyana, Cambodia

Group B: Guinea, Vanuatu, Bermuda, Brunei

(This story has not been edited by News18 employees and is revealed from a syndicated information company feed – Reuters)