GENEVA—Every player at the  will be paid at least $30,000 by FIFA, and the 23 players in the title-winning team will each get $270,000. The details confirmed Wednesday by FIFA fulfils a promise made in March to financially reward the 732 players taking part in the July 20-Aug. 20 tournament hosted by Australia and New…

GENEVA—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 during an investigation of soccer officials, Swiss daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung said Sunday. The report said intelligence operatives linked to a former CIA officer wiretapped a meeting involving Infantino and Swiss…

PARIS—World Cup champion Lionel Messi edged Kylian Mbappé again, this time to take FIFA’s best men’s player award on Monday. The best women’s player was Spain’s Alexia Putellas for a second straight year. After steering Argentina to World Cup glory in an epic final against Mbappé’s France last year in Qatar, Messi won the best…

Argentina forward Lionel Messi is on the shortlist for the FIFA Best Male Player award, joined by Paris St Germain team mate Kylian Mbappe and Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema, soccer’s world governing body announced on Friday. Messi could win his second The Best trophy after leading Argentina to their third World Cup title by…

Although the Chinese men’s national soccer team was disqualified early on from the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar, China is touting its role in building the game’s centerpiece venue, the Lusail Stadium. However, reports of widespread human rights abuses during construction loom over what would otherwise have been a showcase of modern architecture, with…

Canada will leave the World Cup with US$10.5 million from FIFA for its participation at the men’s soccer showcase. The 41st-ranked Canadians, who opened the tournament with a 1-0 loss to No. 2 Belgium, were eliminated from advancing to the knockout round after a 4-1 loss to Croatia in Sunday. Canada will go home after…

MONTREAL — Watch parties are planned across the country today as soccer fans get ready for the World Cup match between Canada and Belgium — Canada’s first game in the tournament since 1986. In Montreal, a rivalry is brewing between the city’s French−speaking Belgian community and fans of Canada’s team, which is entering today’s game…

DOHA, Qatar—FIFA earned record revenues of $7.5 billion in the four years of commercial deals tied to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the governing body of soccer said Sunday. The last three sponsors—two American and one from the Middle East—were announced hours before the opening game: YouTube, Visit Las Vegas, and Fine Hygienic Holding,…

Following is a list of players who have been called up for the Nov. 20–Dec. 18 World Cup in Qatar. Argentina Injured forward Paulo Dybala has not played for his club AS Roma since early October but has been named in the squad, while Lionel Messi will lead the side. Goalkeepers: Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa),…

BELLINZONA, Switzerland—Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini were acquitted on charges of defrauding FIFA by a Swiss criminal court on Friday, a rare positive outcome for the pair who were among soccer’s most powerful figures before being embroiled in corruption investigations. The case was centered around a $2 million payment from FIFA to Platini with Blatter’s…