GIANNI INFANTINO

A reputation built over decades that European soccer body UEFA is the good guy compared to FIFA as a cartoon caricature villain is being tested in this tough season for off-field politics.

The president of Spain’s soccer federation has defiantly refused to resign for kissing a female player on the lips after the Women’s World Cup final.

The leader of Spain’s soccer federation marred the country’s Women’s World Cup victory after kissing a player on the lips during the medal ceremony, drawing criticism for inappropriate conduct in a sport that has struggled to overcome sexism.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino said Friday that the Women’s World Cup has “broken even” after generating more than $570 million in revenue but again dismissed suggestions for equal prize money with the men’s World Cup.

Players who reached the knockout round of the Women’s World Cup got larger individual bonuses that can be life-changing to many of them.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino says he is engaging with member federations to make sure that the $30,000 payments designated for every player at the Women’s World Cup reach the athletes.

At the behest of players from across the globe, FIFA has agreed that a chunk of the prize money pool at the Women's World Cup go straight to the players — all 732 of them.

A stampede by fans at a quarterfinals soccer match in the Salvadoran league has left 12 people dead and injured dozens more.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino's tactic of publicly criticizing broadcasters for offering too little to screen the Women’s World Cup has not worked out yet.

Indonesia has been stripped of hosting rights for the Under-20 World Cup amid political turmoil regarding Israel’s participation.

Indonesia could lose its chance to host a global youth soccer tournament, and its chance to qualify for the 2026 World Cup, after refusing to welcome a team from Israel.

The Women’s World Cup is getting an increase in prize money of more than 300% for this year’s tournament.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has been re-elected by acclaim to another four-year term after suggesting the financial results under his leadership would keep an industry CEO in the job for life.

The expanded World Cup in North America has gotten even more supersized.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino will be re-elected this week to lead a richer-than-ever soccer body with an ambition to add new and bigger competitions despite growing wariness of him in Europe.

A Swiss newspaper says a spying operation on behalf of World Cup host Qatar bugged a 2017 hotel meeting between FIFA president Gianni Infantino and Switzerland’s then-attorney general.

FIFA’s choice of Brazilian supermodel Adriana Lima as its first global fan ambassador is not popular with a leading advocate for women's soccer.

World Cup winner Lionel Messi has won FIFA’s Best Men’s Player award for 2022.

Women’s World Cup co-hosts Australia and New Zealand have urged FIFA not to sign a sponsor deal with the tourism authority of Saudi Arabia.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino was calling it “the best World Cup ever” in Qatar even before an epic final won by Lionel Messi and Argentina against France.

FIFA has described this World Cup as the best ever.

Morocco has been rewarded by FIFA with hosting rights for the next Club World Cup in February.

FIFA expects to earn $11 billion in the 2026 World Cup cycle with a 48-team men’s tournament in North America set to deliver a big increase in revenue amid ongoing uncertainty about the exact match schedule.

The idea that Morocco could co-host the 2030 World Cup with near-neighbors Spain and Portugal seemed a bit crazy when it was floated four years ago.

The high drama of split-screen tension during simultaneous matches in the final set of World Cup group games is now a thing of the past.

European soccer has again showed public frustration with FIFA president Gianni Infantino at the World Cup.

FIFA’s threat of on-field punishment for players has pushed World Cup teams to back down.

FIFA has tried to end a standoff with European teams about wearing unauthorized captain armbands for an anti-discrimination campaign that draws attention to World Cup host Qatar.

The World Cup began in Qatar 12 years after the tiny gulf nation secured the rights.

Qatar has opened the Middle East’s first World Cup with its ruler sitting next to the leaders of two countries that only a year and a half earlier were part of a boycott trying to bring the energy-rich nation to its knees.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has downplayed Qatar’s last minute ban on the sale of beer at World Cup stadiums as nothing more than a brief inconvenience to spectators.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has delivered a one-hour tirade on the eve of the World Cup’s opening match and then spent about 45 minutes answering questions from media about the Qatari government’s actions and a wide-range of other topics.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has urged world leaders to call for a ceasefire in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine during the World Cup that starts later this week.

Russia hosted the World Cup party in 2018 but now it's off the guest list.

Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter says picking Qatar to host the World Cup was a mistake 12 years ago.

Soccer's top officials have urged the 32 teams preparing for the most political World Cup in the modern to focus on the game in Qatar and avoid handing out lessons in morality.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has criticized broadcasters for what he calls unacceptably low offers for rights to screen the Women’s World Cup next year.

The first World Cup in the Middle East is only one month away.

The president of soccer’s world governing body has met with Indonesia’s president and pledged to help improve stadium safety to prevent a repeat of a tragedy in which police fired tear gas at a match, causing a crush that killed 132 people.

Ukrainian soccer federation president Andriy Pavelko says hosting World Cup matches in 2030 would be “the dream of people who survived the horrors of war” after his country launched a joint bid with Spain and Portugal.

Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo says locked gates had contributed to the crush at the soccer stadium that left 131 dead and over 400 injured when police fired tear gas and set off a panicked run for the exits.

A minute of silence has been observed before soccer matches around the world in honor of victims of the disaster at a stadium in Indonesia that claimed at least 125 lives.

FIFA has formally moved the World Cup start up by one day to Nov. 20.

The World Cup in Qatar could start one day earlier than scheduled.

The Olympic soccer competition at the 2024 Paris Games will conclude with the women’s final for the first time.

Alex Morgan converted on a penalty in the 78th minute and the U.S. national team won the CONCACAF W Championship 1-0 over Canada on Monday night to secure one of the region’s spots in the 2024 Olympics.

Atlanta, Houston, Miami, Philadelphia and Seattle and Kansas City, Missouri, were the newcomers among the 11 U.S. sites picked to host games at the 2026 World Cup, while Baltimore, Cincinnati, Denver, Nashville, Tennessee, and Orlando, Florida, were left out.

U.S. Soccer's agreement with its men's and women's national teams for equal pay has its roots in the past while it looks toward the future.

The U.S. Soccer Federation has reached milestone agreements to pay its men’s and women’s teams equally.

The name “FIFA” can bring to mind images of the World Cup and soccer’s greatest players.

Electronic Arts will stop making its hugely successful FIFA video game in its current name.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino says migrant workers gain pride from hard work while he was being questioned about workers suffering in Qatar while building World Cup infrastructure.

The most controversial World Cup ever will feature in Qatar the most politically charged matchups.

A senior Qatari leader overseeing security for the World Cup has told The Associated Press that rainbow flags could be taken from supporters.

The appearance by video of the head of Ukrainian soccer, wearing an armored vest from the streets of Kyiv, brought the impact of Russia’s war into the FIFA Congress.

A Norwegian soccer official has delivered a scathing criticism of World Cup host Qatar and FIFA to an audience of executives on the eve of the tournament’s draw.

Qatar is the next stop on the global tour of major sports events to nations led by autocratic governments who are often decried by human rights activists.

Russia’s request to freeze a FIFA ban on its soccer teams ahead of next week’s World Cup qualifying playoffs has been denied.

The ban on Russian soccer teams from European competition has been upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The Russian soccer federation has appealed to have its FIFA and UEFA bans frozen and other punishments overturned.

FIFA has intervened to allow foreign players and coaches based in Russia to leave their clubs, although only for the rest of the season.

Cindy Parlow Cone was re-elected to a four-year team as U.S. Soccer Federation president, beating predecessor Carlos Cordeiro in an endorsement of the governing body’s settlement of a lawsuit by women players.

A behind-the-scenes scuffle is taking place for American soccer’s leadership.

Patrice Motsepe is approaching the end of his first year as Confederation of African Football president.

FIFA’s fading plan for biennial World Cups has been labeled a threat from soccer to all other sports by the International Olympic Committee.

Israeli soccer coach Avram Grant has been accused in a new investigative report of sexually harassing multiple women.

The head of the U.S. Soccer Federation says the unions for the women’s and men’s national teams have not committed to agreeing to a single pay structure.

Host Cameroon came from behind to beat Burkina Faso 2-1 in the opening game of the African Cup of Nations.

The U.S. Soccer Federation and the union for its women’s national team agreed to a three-month extension of their labor contract through March, a move announced on the same day players filed a brief asking a federal appeals court to reinstate their equal pay claim.

Boxing, weightlifting and modern pentathlon have been set a target of about 18 months to make changes in order to keep their status as Olympic sports for the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton says Formula One is “duty bound” to raise awareness of human rights issues as the series closes its season in the Middle East.

The U.S. Soccer Federation says it has offered identical contract proposals to the players’ associations for the men’s and women’s national teams, and the governing body said it would refuse to agree to a deal in which World Cup prize money is not equalized.

The pitch intruders claimed to have very good reason to be confronting players only seven minutes into Brazil’s World Cup qualifier against Argentina.

Players on the U.S. women’s national soccer team urged a federal appeals court to reinstate their equal pay lawsuit, saying their greater success than the American men was not taken into account by a trial court judge who dismissed their case.

UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin says the shock of Slovenia's 10-day war 30 years ago prepared him for the battle that nearly split European soccer last week.

Athletes who make political or social justice protests at the Tokyo Olympics have been promised legal support by a global union and an activist group in Germany.

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has directly appealed to the owners of English clubs in the Super League project to change their minds out of respect for soccer fans.

UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin says players at the 12 clubs setting up their own Super League could be banned from the European Championship and next year’s World Cup.

Human rights activists are denouncing FIFA President Gianni Infantino's starring turn in a promotional video for the Saudi Arabian government in which he claims the kingdom has made important changes. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)FIFA is unveiling a program to educate its member associations worldwide about how to properly handle player harassment and abuse. This is the objective of the FIFA Guardians Programme," FIFA president Gianni Infantino said in a statement. The FIFA program also addresses physical abuse and other forms of harassment. Cook said the FIFA Forward program obligates member federations to participate, although the organization may introduce more strident mandates.

Infantino overlooked FIFA's own significant issues with Saudi Arabia in the meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. That has not happened with beIN, which owns the rights to World Cup matches across the Middle East, outlawed in Saudi Arabia. FIFA did not say if Infantino challenged Prince Mohammed on human rights issues in Saudi, given the governing body's own code. Scrutiny over Infantino's links to Saudi Arabia in 2018 led to FIFA offering assurances that no nation would be allowed to fund its plans for new competitions. The takeover collapsed amid concerns about piracy and human rights complaints.

(Piroschka van de Wouw/Pool via AP)U.S. women's national team players and the U.S. Soccer Federation settled their long-running lawsuit over inequitable working conditions compared with the men's team while leaving their dispute over unequal pay for additional litigation. “We want the women’s team as well as their lawyers to see that we want to move in a different direction,” Parlow Cone said. "We remain as committed as ever to our work to achieve the equal pay that we legally deserve. Or else when I’m president, you can go elsewhere for World Cup funding,” referring to the 2026 men’s World Cup, set to be co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada. FIFA scheduled the 2015 Women's World Cup in Canada on artificial turf but the men's World Cup has been played exclusively on grass.

ZURICH – FIFA president Gianni Infantino has tested positive for COVID-19. Infantino has traveled little during the coronavirus pandemic, but he attended a signing ceremony at the White House last month to mark normalized relations for Israel with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Infantino’s infection comes as Switzerland reports a spike in COVID-19 cases. Switzerland has reported 127,000 cases this year, with more than 23,000 since last Friday. ___More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/Soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

WASHINGTON The U.S. Justice Department has entered into a sports dispute involving the company of a longtime friend of President Donald Trump, warning FIFA that a prohibition against staging league matches internationally could violate American antitrust laws. The letter from the Justice Department was included in a filing by Relevent on Tuesday seeking permission to amend its complaint by adding FIFA, soccer's governing body, as a defendant. Relevent alleges the stakeholders committee on Feb. 27 recommended the policy against international league matches be added to FIFA's statutes. Relevent withdrew its state court suit and filed this latest action in federal court, citing antitrust law. Delrahim wrote the department is raising the concerns to protect competition for the benefit of American consumers and soccer players."

Krasimir Balakov, manager of Bulgaria, speaks with Kieran Trippier of England during the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifier between Bulgaria and England on Oct. 14, 2019, in Sofia, Bulgaria. (CNN) - European soccer's governing body has charged the Bulgarian national federation over the racist chanting directed at England players at a European championship qualifier match on Monday. UEFA said the disciplinary proceedings would cover the chants and Nazi salutes seen from the stands when England played Bulgaria in Sofia. As well as the monkey chanting, some Bulgarian fans made Nazi salutes. "His decision is a consequence of the tensions caused in recent days; an environment, which is damaging to Bulgarian football and to the Bulgarian football association," read a statement on Bulgarian Football Union's website.

(CNN) - Iran's World Cup qualifier against Cambodia on Thursday will be a landmark moment for the country, as women will be able to officially enter a football stadium for the first time in decades. "This is a hugely historic moment for Iranian football, but also for the Iranian women who have protested in the face of [the risk of] being caught and almost certainly sent to Evin Prison, the famous prison for political prisoners in Tehran," football author and writer James Montague told CNN. READ: FIFA tells Iran -- Women have to be allowed into soccer stadiums'Discriminatory, deceptive, dangerous'Iran's ban on women attending sports stadiums is not written into law but was put in place shortly after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. While Thursday's game marks a step forward for Iranian women watching football matches, Human Rights Watch (HRW) called the cap of 4,600 female fans "discriminatory, deceptive, and dangerous." The Iranian Football Federation (FFIRI) was not immediately available for comment.

Activists have fought for the rights of women to be able to enter soccer stadiums in Iran. ZRICH - The ban on women attending soccer matches in Iran is "unacceptable" and must be lifted, says FIFA president Gianni Infantino. CNN has reached out to the Iranian Football Federation (FFIRI) and Iranian government for comment. FIFA responded, saying it "refutes any suggestion it has been inactive in the fight for these women's rights in Iran. We are working with the Iranian Football Association in the hope and expectation that women will be in attendance at future games beginning with the FIFA World Cup qualifiers in October."