FIFA Congress to choose Women's World Cup host, seek racism penalties

BANGKOK : Soccer's world body FIFA will decide the 2027 Women's World Cup host at an annual Congress on Friday, which will see a push for strict penalties to stamp out racism and Palestine's pursuit of sanctions against Israel's federation over the Gaza war.

The meeting in Bangkok brings together delegates of 211 member associations and is headlined by the vote on the host of the Women's World Cup, with Brazil up against the joint bid of Belgium, Netherlands and Germany (BNG).

The race was whittled down to two last month after the United States and Mexico withdrew their joint bid to pursue the 2031 tournament instead.

FIFA will also outline its proposal for all members to implement mandatory sanctions to tackle racist abuse, including forfeiting of matches, and introduce racism as an offence in disciplinary codes for players.

It advocates pausing, suspending or abandoning games plus the introduction of a global standard gesture of players raising hands and crossing wrists to inform referees of abuse.

"We ... will push for the recognition of racism as a criminal offence in every country in the world, and where already an offence, will push for prosecution with the severity it deserves," FIFA said.

SANCTIONS CALL

The Congress is due to hear a Palestinian Football Association proposal for sanctions on Israeli national and club teams over what it called breaches of international law by Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories, and for the inclusion in its league of teams located in those areas.

It also accuses Israel of breaching FIFA statutes by allowing racism and discrimination in areas under the Palestinian FA's jurisdiction, and of being complicit in their support of offensives in Gaza, which it says killed 92