FILE PHOTO: A long exposure shows FIFA’s logo near its headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland February 27, 2022. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tabBRUSSELS, Oct 11 (Reuters) – European Leagues and FIFPRO Europe will formally file a joint complaint about FIFA’s international match calendar to EU antitrust regulators on Monday, the sports organisation and players’ union said.The move by the two, announced in July, comes two weeks after Europe’s top court ruled that the world soccer governing body’s player transfer rules breach EU laws following a challenge by French former player Lassana Diarra.Advertisement · Scroll to continueThe complaint also underlines a growing tendency by disgruntled athletes and sports organisations to turn to the EU antitrust enforcer to help secure a level playing field and chip away at the power of governing bodies.European Leagues and FIFPRO’s grievance centres on the international match calendar, which they say has become unsustainable for national leagues and a health risk for players, with FIFA allegedly abusing its market power.Advertisement · Scroll to continueFIFA in turn has said the current calendar was unanimously approved by its council after a comprehensive consultation, which included FIFPRO and league bodies.The European Commission, which acts as the competition enforcer for the 27-country bloc, can order companies to stop anti-competitive practices and also fine them.Get weekly news and analysis on the U.S. elections and how it matters to the world with the newsletter On the Campaign Trail. Sign up here.Reporting by Foo Yun Chee
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Foo Yun CheeThomson ReutersAn agenda-setting and market-moving journalist, Foo Yun Chee is a 21-year veteran at Reuters. Her stories on high profile mergers have pushed up the European telecoms index, lifted companies’ shares and helped investors decide on their next move. Her knowledge and experience of European antitrust laws and developments helped her break stories on Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Meta and Apple, numerous market-moving mergers and antitrust investigations. She has previously reported on Greek politics and companies, when Greece’s entry into the eurozone meant it punched above its weight on the international stage, as well as on Dutch corporate giants and the quirks of Dutch society and culture that never fail to charm readers.Email
Item 1 of 4 Cricket – First Test – England v Pakistan – Multan Cricket Stadium, Multan, Pakistan – October 11, 2024 England’s Ollie Pope and Jack Leach celebrate after winning the test REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro[1/4]Cricket – First Test – England v Pakistan – Multan Cricket Stadium, Multan, Pakistan – October 11, 2024 England’s Ollie Pope and Jack Leach celebrate after winning the test REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tabSummaryEngland bag three wickets on final day to prevailOnly team to win by innings after conceding 500 firstBrook named man of the match for triple centuryMULTAN, Pakistan, Oct 11 (Reuters) – England, riding on the sublime batting of Harry Brook and Joe Root, became the first team to win a test by an innings after conceding more than 500 runs in the first stanza, sealing the victory early on the fifth day of the series opener on Friday.After a record-breaking day in which the duo helped England post a colossal 823-7 before the bowlers ran through Pakistan’s top order, the tourists completed an extraordinary innings and 47-run victory well before lunch.Advertisement · Scroll to continueWith Pakistan’s Abrar Ahmed not batting due to illness, England reduced the hosts to 220-9 after some early resistance as Jack Leach bagged the three wickets needed and sparked huge celebrations among a small but vocal group of travelling fans.While the bowlers completed the job, it was a stupendous batting effort that set up the win after man-of-the-match Brook scored 317 and Root made 262 in a partnership that ground the hosts to dust.Advertisement · Scroll to continue”We knew the way to win this game was to put a mammoth score on the board,” England’s stand-in skipper Ollie Pope said.”I think that’s credit to (Brook and Root) for the skills they’ve got with the bat, the determination they had to put the team in a winning position. So it was awesome.”Pakistan resumed on a precarious 152-6 and Salman Agha was the first to depart in the morning after a defiant 63, with the introduction of Leach helping England snap his 109-run stand with Aamer Jamal.England’s pace bowlers peppered the two overnight batsmen with bouncers earlier and Jamal recovered after being hit on the side of the head by a fiery ball from Brydon Carse to bring up his own half-century.He was then granted a lifeline when Pope dropped a tough chance at square-leg – England’s fifth dropped catch of the innings – and was not out on 55 when he ran out of partners.Leach pulled off a stunning catch off his own bowling to remove Shaheen Afridi, before having Naseem Shah stumped to finish with figures of 4-30.England declared after their highest total in 86 years and extracted the most from a lifeless pitch at the Multan Cricket Stadium to rattle Pakistan on Thursday.’ANOTHER CHANCE’The hosts flexed their muscles in the early part of the test with 556 in the first innings, but found themselves under the gun, trailing England by 115 runs at the end of the fourth day and they eventually folded under pressure.Pakistan’s tally was the joint third-highest first-innings total in a losing cause and marked the first time in more than 700 tests in Asia that a team had lost after making 500-plus runs in the first innings.Skipper Shan Masood said his team were pained after their sixth straight loss and sought a strong response when the sides meet in the second of three matches next Tuesday.”We’re hurt as a nation, but the beauty of the game is it always gives you another chance. Life gives you another chance so the quick turnaround might be quite beneficial for us and we’re all looking forward to it,” Masood said.”We’re getting into good positions. You ask your batting side to put up a good score in the first innings, and the onus on us now is to set the game up well so we can finish it off.”The trick for us is that we should learn, obviously, from England as well.”Get weekly news and analysis on the U.S. elections and how it matters to the world with the newsletter On the Campaign Trail. Sign up here.Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru;