2024-03-21 05:00:00
FOCUS – This new competition, launched by FIFA, brings together 24 teams from 6 different confederations. Objective ? Encourage the emergence of “small” nations by making them compete all over the world.
You probably haven’t heard of it, unless your country or your origins lead you to follow a relatively under-publicized selection. Choose from: Andorra, Mongolia, Guyana, Cambodia, Vanuatu, Brunei… Welcome to the astonishing and intriguing world of the “FIFA Series”, the latest discovery from the governing body of international football. Le Figaro explains everything you need to know about this umpteenth funny initiative.
Why did you create the FIFA Series?
A key idea above all: that of allowing nations, mainly in the depths of the FIFA rankings, to face opponents from the four corners of the globe. And thus confront them with other types of play, technique, physics, to better consider qualification for future World Cups. FIFA wishes to make this first edition a pilot phase, before making the competition permanent. It would then be held every two years, during the international window of March.
Which teams participate in the FIFA Series?
Twenty-four nations are represented this year. According to FIFA’s explanations, these are those who were willing to participate and who did not have matches already scheduled during the international window in March. These nations were grouped into six groups of four:
- Algeria Group: Algeria, Andorra, Bolivia, South Africa
- Azerbaijan Group: Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Mongolia, Tanzania
- Saudi Arabia Group (A): Cape Verde, Cambodia, Equatorial Guinea, Guyana
- Saudi Arabia Group (B): Bermuda, Brunei, Guinea, Vanuatu
- Groupe Egypt : Egypt, New Zealand, Tunisia, Croatia
- Groupe Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Central African Republic, Papua New Guinea
When are the FIFA Series held?
See you from March 21 to follow, live and for free via the FIFA + website or application, the first three posters of the tournament: Andorra – South Africa, Cape Verde – Guyana and Guinea – Vanuatu (see calendar below). The next edition, scheduled for 2026, foreshadows an upwardly revised sporting objective. “ The fact that there is a real stake will give much more value and interest to the matches, for the players as well as for the teams and the supporters, and this will contribute in a tangible way to the development of our sport », Promises Gianni Infantino. So be patient.
Where is the FIFA Series taking place?
All matches in the same group take place in one of the five host countries for this 2024 edition: Algeria, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Sri Lanka, each participating in this new competition… or else Saudi Arabia, which will host the matches of two different groups even if its selection does not play in the FIFA Series. Another subtlety, each team will only face two of the three other teams in its group. Algeria, for example, will challenge Bolivia and South Africa, but not Andorra, third selection in this group.
Who are the players to watch during the FIFA Series?
If, of course, the main current stars (Mbappé, Haaland, Bellingham…) are not in the game, the FIFA Series field can boast of the presence of star midfielders Luka Modric (Croatia – Real Madrid ), Mateo Kovacic (Croatia – Manchester City), Ismaël Bennacer (Algeria – AC Milan) or even scorer Amine Gouiri (Algeria – Stade Rennais). On the hopeful side, young defenders Logan Costa (Cape Verde – Toulouse), Tyler Bindon (New Zealand – Reading), the twirling Omari Glasgow (Guyana – Chicago Fire) and the creative Miguel Terceros (Bolivia – Santos).
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