00:00Well, it's a very important day today for women's football.
00:04The FIFA Council, after having thoroughly analyzed the question,
00:09decided today to increase the number of participating teams,
00:13of participating countries, in the FIFA Women's World Cup to 48.
00:19As of the edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup 2031,
00:24there will be not any more 32 teams participating, but 48 countries from all over the world.
00:34And this is a very, very important message on what FIFA is doing for the development of the women's game,
00:43not just in a few countries, but literally all over the world.
00:48Important decision, 2031 FIFA Women's World Cup with 48 teams.
00:56Everyone, every girl, every woman, in every corner of the world can hope,
01:04inspire to participate in the FIFA Women's World Cup.
01:08Another important decision of the FIFA Council today, again related to women's football,
01:17is the creation, together, of an Afghan refugee women's team.
01:26We know about the situation in Afghanistan.
01:33We are engaging, of course, on a diplomatic way with Afghanistan as well.
01:40And in the meantime, we want to give the opportunity to all these Afghan women and girls living around the world
01:48to play football.
01:51And for this reason, we decided to set up a team, a refugees team,
01:57to play some games in a FIFA environment, some friendly games, to train together
02:04and to play football.
02:06An important message, again, for women, not just in Afghanistan, but all over the world,
02:13that, you know, football is for everyone.
02:16Today, the FIFA Council has agreed to amend, unanimously agreed, to amend the FIFA disciplinary rules
02:25by strengthening these rules, by giving more tools and opportunities to FIFA,
02:31to the member associations to fight racism.
02:34Stronger sanctions, of course, not just fines and matches behind closed doors,
02:39but also forfeited matches in case a match has to be abandoned for a racist incident.
02:49We have to be very serious about that topic.
03:24.
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