Jordan Can Hold Heads High Despite Debut Defeat to Austria, Coach Says

 Jordan's head coach Jamal Sellami speaks during a news conference, Monday, June 15, 2026, in Santa Clara, Calif., ahead of the World Cup Group J match between Austria and Jordan. (AP)
Jordan's head coach Jamal Sellami speaks during a news conference, Monday, June 15, 2026, in Santa Clara, Calif., ahead of the World Cup Group J match between Austria and Jordan. (AP)
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Jordan Can Hold Heads High Despite Debut Defeat to Austria, Coach Says

 Jordan's head coach Jamal Sellami speaks during a news conference, Monday, June 15, 2026, in Santa Clara, Calif., ahead of the World Cup Group J match between Austria and Jordan. (AP)
Jordan's head coach Jamal Sellami speaks during a news conference, Monday, June 15, 2026, in Santa Clara, Calif., ahead of the World Cup Group J match between Austria and Jordan. (AP)

Jordan ‌can hold their heads up high after delivering an "honorable performance" on their World Cup debut, coach Jamal Sellami said following his side's 3-1 defeat by Austria in Group J on Tuesday.

Austria took the lead with their only real moment of quality in the first half when Romano Schmid curled into the top corner, but Jordan hit back after the break when Ali Olwan pulled them level.

Yazan Al-Arab's own goal ‌restored Austria's advantage and though ‌Jordan ⁠poured forward in search ⁠of a second, substitute Marko Arnautovic's penalty deep into added time finally ended their resistance.

The result leaves Jordan third in their group on goal difference above Algeria, who lost 3-0 to Argentina on Tuesday.

Sellami said the final score flattered Austria and ⁠did not do justice to his side's ‌endeavour.

"I think that the ‌result doesn't reflect the effort made by the Jordanian ‌team, but personally I'm very happy and proud ‌of their performance," Sellami told reporters.

Jordan are renowned for their ability on the counter, but were particularly impressive with the way they attacked Austria, even when the score ‌was 1-1.

"No one was expecting us to be that bold, that proactive and ⁠to ⁠be that capable of benefiting from the available opportunities," Sellami said.

Ultimately, the difference between the two sides was the quality at Austria's disposal, including from the bench in the form of record scorer Arnautovic.

"We've not been able to win against Austria because it has players at Real Madrid (David Alaba) and Bayern Munich (Konrad Laimer)," Sellami added.

He also bemoaned the loss of forward Yazan Al-Naimat to a knee injury in December.

"If Naimat was with us today, the result would've been different," Sellami said.



UEFA Pressure on Infantino Grows as Greek FA, Bierhoff Back Change

Football - FIFA President Gianni Infantino arrives at the stadium before a FIFA Under-20 Women's World Cup match on September 5, 2026. (Reuters)
Football - FIFA President Gianni Infantino arrives at the stadium before a FIFA Under-20 Women's World Cup match on September 5, 2026. (Reuters)
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UEFA Pressure on Infantino Grows as Greek FA, Bierhoff Back Change

Football - FIFA President Gianni Infantino arrives at the stadium before a FIFA Under-20 Women's World Cup match on September 5, 2026. (Reuters)
Football - FIFA President Gianni Infantino arrives at the stadium before a FIFA Under-20 Women's World Cup match on September 5, 2026. (Reuters)

Greek Football Association ‌president Makis Gagatsis and former Germany national team director Oliver Bierhoff on Tuesday backed UEFA's push for change in FIFA's leadership, underscoring a united European front in opposition to FIFA president Gianni Infantino.

"The Greek FA (EPO) has taken a clear position against a candidacy of Gianni Infantino," EPO President Makis Gagatsis told reporters.

"We saw things happen at the World Cup that are not acceptable to football public opinion," Gagatsis said.

"Then... came a program to sell World Cup rights and we are clearly against it, so we withdrew our support of the FIFA president."

He was speaking after a meeting ‌of the UEFA ‌Executive Committee in the northern Greek city of ‌Thessaloniki, ⁠with a "legends'" five-a-side ⁠game held in the city center to promote UEFA's grassroots program.

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin was also present at the event but did not talk to media.

Infantino has been under mounting pressure ever since he unveiled a proposal to sell a commercial stake of the World Cup to private investors. The plan prompted fierce opposition, with UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation and ⁠North America's CONCACAF among those calling for change at ‌the top of FIFA.

FIFA quickly abandoned ‌the plan and apologized to member associations for mistakes made, but its leadership reaffirmed ‌support for Infantino after a crisis meeting in August in Morocco.

UEFA ‌has been among the staunchest critics of Infantino and have said a change in leadership is now necessary given the loss of trust in Infantino, who is planning to run for re-election in March.

"We have to take care of ‌football," Bierhoff, who was Germany's national team director for 18 years until 2022, said.

"It is already commercial but ⁠it is ⁠a property for all of football.

"The world views may be different but in the last weeks and months a lot happened so that we have no trust anymore that it will be going in the right direction."

Infantino has weathered the opposition against him since he apologized to FIFA members in August over errors surrounding the abandoned proposal but has since declined to discuss the fallout publicly.

Sources have told Reuters his critics are now having to rethink their strategy.

They have until mid-November to name a rival presidential candidate but so far there is no clear frontrunner.

On Saturday, Danish football chief Jesper Moller, a member of UEFA’s Executive Committee, said he would continue working with European colleagues to find a candidate who could command a majority.


Spain Manager Luis de la Fuente Agrees Contract Extension Until 2030 World Cup

08 June 2025, Bavaria, Munich: Spain coach Luis de la Fuente stands on the touchline during the UEFA Nations League final match between Portugal and Spain at the Allianz Arena. (dpa)
08 June 2025, Bavaria, Munich: Spain coach Luis de la Fuente stands on the touchline during the UEFA Nations League final match between Portugal and Spain at the Allianz Arena. (dpa)
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Spain Manager Luis de la Fuente Agrees Contract Extension Until 2030 World Cup

08 June 2025, Bavaria, Munich: Spain coach Luis de la Fuente stands on the touchline during the UEFA Nations League final match between Portugal and Spain at the Allianz Arena. (dpa)
08 June 2025, Bavaria, Munich: Spain coach Luis de la Fuente stands on the touchline during the UEFA Nations League final match between Portugal and Spain at the Allianz Arena. (dpa)

Spain's World Cup-winning coach Luis de la Fuente has agreed a contract extension until 2030 after guiding the men's national team to back-to-back major titles, media ‌reported on ‌Tuesday,

De la Fuente, ‌who ⁠led Spain to ⁠glory at Euro 2024 before winning the World Cup in July, had a contract in ⁠place until 2028.

The ‌new ‌deal ensures that de la ‌Fuente will remain ‌in charge when Spain attempt to defend their global title on home ‌soil. Spain will co-host the 2030 World ⁠Cup ⁠with Morocco and Portugal.

Since taking over, de la Fuente's Spain have been defeated just twice in 41 competitive matches.

Reuters have contacted the Royal Spanish Football Federation for comment.


World Athletics Championships to Be Staged in Africa for the First Time with Nairobi as Host

 World Athletics President Sebastian Coe speaks during a news conference marking the formal opening of the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, Hungary, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026. (AP)
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe speaks during a news conference marking the formal opening of the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, Hungary, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026. (AP)
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World Athletics Championships to Be Staged in Africa for the First Time with Nairobi as Host

 World Athletics President Sebastian Coe speaks during a news conference marking the formal opening of the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, Hungary, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026. (AP)
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe speaks during a news conference marking the formal opening of the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, Hungary, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026. (AP)

The World Athletics Championships are heading to Africa for the first time as Kenya's capital Nairobi was confirmed Tuesday as host of the 2029 edition.

Kenya has long been a superpower in distance running but has yet to host an event of this scale. The championships return to Germany in 2031 with Munich hosting.

“Taking our championships to Africa for the first time will be historic,” World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said as he announced the decision following the Ultimate Championship in Hungary. “Athletics is woven into the fabric of Kenya.”

The decision brings recognition of Kenya's status as a track nation, but is likely to bring extra scrutiny of the East African nation's history of top runners being busted for doping.

Marathon world record holder Ruth Chepng'etich is serving a three-year doping ban after joining the many elite-level Kenyan runners suspended over the past decade.

After the new Ultimate Championship brought big cash prizes instead of medals for an invitation-only field of track's biggest names, it's back to the traditional worlds format next year in Beijing.

The world championships run for 10 days, against three for the new Ultimate Championship, with a full slate of events. That means including competitions like the men's triple jump, shot put, walks and marathon which weren't on the schedule in Budapest last week.