New standard launched for FIFA Quality Programme

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‘FIFA Basic’ has been launched as the lowest standard of the FIFA Quality Programme which sets industry standards for football products.

The FIFA Quality Programme sets standards for products such as playing surfaces, equipment and football technology.

‘FIFA Basic’ sits behind ‘FIFA Pro’ and FIFA Quality Pro’. FIFA believes that the new standard will boost football development.

The ‘FIFA Basic’ standard focuses on cost efficiency, durability and safeguarding player safety.

The ‘FIFA Quality’ standard products meet the standard for community and amateur level sport while ‘FIFA Quality Pro’ products meet the benchmarks for professional football.

FIFA’s Quality Programme Conference and Research Symposium was held for the third time recently and was centred on the presentation of the new standard. More than 400 representatives from the football industry, major leagues, and confederations and associations attended the seminar.

“The event offered an important exchange with industry representatives, the football world and the research community on global standards and new developments. Even more important was the opportunity to hear about the industry’s challenges in these challenging times and to discuss possible solutions,” FIFA Director of Football Technology & Innovation, Johannes Holzmüller said about the conference.

“The introduction of the new FIFA Basic quality category and the FIFA Innovation Programme will have a positive impact by making products more affordable and adaptable for all levels of the game.”

Other initiatives were also introduced at the seminar – a new Quality Programme for Football Goals was also presented. Guidelines for natural turf and floodlighting are being developed in this area.

The FIFA Innovation Programme was also announced, which is aimed at new football products coming onto the market.

“The FIFA Innovation Programme, which creates a transparent and uniform process through which new products must pass in order to be approved within a fixed period of time and with clearly defined objectives,” FIFA said in a media release on its website.

On the FIFA Football Technology website, the FIFA Quality Programme has information about the football products it sets standards for from footballs, pitches, VAR, goal line technlgies to futsal surfaces and products.

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Victory unites with Roasting Warehouse in culture-led partnership

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Image credit: Melbourne Victory

The Melbourne-based anf family-owned business will join the Victory family, uniting two institutions which represent the city’s culture and identity.

A partnership with local roots

As the newest partner of Melbourne Victory, Roasting Warehouse joins forces with a vital part of the city’s sporting landscape.

The club’s Managing Director, Caroline Carnegie, outlined why the partnership bears so much value to both parties.

“We are excited to collaborate with Roasting Warehouse, a community-oriented destination for high-quality coffee, proud of its foundations in Melbourne,” said Carnegie via official media release.

“Football and coffee sit at the epicentre of Melbourne’s culture. The two go hand-in-hand, consistently at the centre of the conversation that stirs Melburnians, which is no different to the conversation sport and Melbourne Victory stir in the State.”

Indeed, this is a partnership which combines the identity, passions and culture of an entire city, therefore giving it the foundations required for long-term, mutual success.

Representing the best of Melbourne

Both Victory and Roasting Warehouse are hugely successful in their respective industries. They are institutions with community-oriented philosphies, who pride themselves on craft and quality.

“We’re incredibly proud to partner with Melbourne Victory, a club that represents the heart, passion, and ambition of Melbourne,” revealed Roasting Warehouse Head of Brand, Alexander Paraskevopoulos.

“As a Melbourne-founded, family-run business, supporting a team that means so much to the local community feels very natural for us.”

Furthermore, through their high-quality blends, Roasting Warehouse will look to prepare Victory’s players and staff for high performances on the pitch as the seasons nears completion.

But this is about far more than just fueling athletes.

This is a partnership which embodies and unites two of Melbourne’s greatest strengths and cultural markers – a connection forged from the city’s very own DNA.

 

For more information about Roasting Warehouse, click here.

Marie-Louise Eta makes history as new Union Berlin head coach

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Image credit: FC Union Berlin

In an historic appointment, Eta will take over as head coach of Union Berlin until the end of the season.

History in the making

Previously the first female assistant coach in Bundesliga history with Union Berlin, Eta will now take the reigns of the men’s first team on an interim basis.

Currently, the club sit in 11th place in the Bundesliga table, but with only two wins so far in 2026, relegation appears an all-too-real prospect, and one which the club is desperate to avoid.

“Given the points gap in the lower half of the table, our place in the Bundesliga is not yet secure,” said Eta via official media release.

‘I am delighted that the club has entrusted me with this challenging task. One of Union’s strengths has always been, and remains, the ability to pull together in such situations.”

Eta will begin as Union’s new head coach with immediate effect, and will be in the dugout for the club’s matchup against Wolfsburg this weekend.

 

A step into an equal future

Eta’s appointment signals a major step towards a more level playing field in the football landscape.

Furthermore, Eta joins other coaches including Sabrinna Wittmann, Hannah Dingley and Corinne Diacre who, in recent years, have blazed a trail for female coaches to step into the men’s game.

Wittmann currently manages FC Ingolstadt in Germany’s third division, and was the first female head coach in Germany’s top three divisions.

In 2023, Dingley became caretaker manager of Forest Green Rovers, and thus the first woman to lead a men’s professional team in England.

Diacre, now head coach of France’s women’s national team, managed Ligue 2’s Clerment Foot between 2014 and 2017.

 

Final thoughts

The impact therefore, is that Eta’s appointment will show future generations of aspiring female coaches that men’s football is an equally viable and possible pathway as the women’s game.

The time is now to level the playing field.

And while it may be a short-term role, its effect on attitudes towards equality and fair opportunities in the game will hopefully resonate long after the season ends.

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