Pac-12, SWAC forming basketball partnership

SAN FRANCISCO — The Pac-12 and the Southwestern Athletic Conference are forming a basketball educational and scheduling partnership.

The partnership announced Monday will include home-and-home series between the member institutions in each conference.

The partnership in men’s and women’s basketball will begin in November 2022 with two-year home-andhome series through 2026.

As part of the partnership, student-athletes will participate in social justice and antiracism educational components as part of the games. The programming will be a collaboration between leadership from the two participating basketball programs.

The first home-and-home series will include Southern and Arizona, Florida A&M and Oregon, Alabama State and USC, Arizona State and Texas Southern, Colorado and Grambling, and Washington State against Prairie View A&M.

SOCCER

ZURICH — FIFA will finally start speaking to soccer clubs, leagues and players’ unions this month in the latest steps announced in its push to organize a men’s World Cup every two years.

All 211 member federations have also been invited to online talks on Sept. 30 as part of consulting on the future of national team soccer, including a biennial men’s World Cup.

FIFA first sought approval this month from retired players, including World Cup winners who went to Qatar for a two-day conference, and commissioned surveys of fans in selected countries.

That process was criticized as flawed by FIFPRO, the global union for active players, which is now set to get a meeting with FIFA.

A “new phase of consultation” will start with organizations representing players, clubs, leagues and the six continental governing bodies, FIFA said in a statement.

European soccer body UEFA has warned it could boycott if the World Cup moves from its historic fouryear cycle, and South American counterpart CONMEBOL is also opposed. Their members dominate World Cups on the field but combine for fewer than one-third of the 211 federations who vote.

FIFA argues biennial World Cups will give more players and teams the chance to compete in meaningful games, improve talent globally and raise more money to fuel development programs.

Opposition has focused on diluting the World Cup’s appeal, distorting the balance between domestic and international soccer and overloading players in a crowded schedule. The prestige of UEFA’s European Championship and CONMEBOL’s Copa America also risk being hit by playing more World Cups.

The men’s calendar expires in 2024 and there is broad agreement the current system is outdated. It requires players to travel for matches in separate windows at least four times during each domestic season.

FIFA has proposed streamlining the calendar with smaller tournament qualifying groups, potentially playing all matches in a single block in October.

The women’s calendar expires in 2023, when their next World Cup will be hosted by Australia and New Zealand.

MADRID — A Spanish judge gave UEFA five days

to confirm it will abide by the court’s ruling and not punish Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus for their involvement in the Super League.

The three clubs are facing a ban from the Champions League for refusing to renounce the Super League project that was launched in April then collapsed within 48 hours.

UEFA put a hold on its disciplinary case against the rebel clubs after the Spanish court ruled in April that they could not be punished by Switzerland-based UEFA and FIFA. Their case was also notified by the judge in Madrid to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. A deadline for submissions to the court is next month.