FIFA President Gianni Infantino is facing the biggest crisis of his nearly 10-year tenure. A proposal to sell World Cup rights to investors has caused international outrage, while Infantino has faced new allegations almost daily.

Eckert, who previously led the FIFA Ethics Committee’s adjudicatory chamber, said the organisation had fundamental structural weaknesses. In an interview with BR24Sport, the former Munich judge criticised the weakening of internal oversight mechanisms and accused Infantino of increasingly pursuing “his own interests” without involving decision-making bodies.

He cited unanswered questions surrounding a peace prize initiated by FIFA and awarded for the first time in 2025 to US President Donald Trump. According to Eckert, it remains unclear who launched the initiative, commissioned it or arranged its financing. Such matters should be reviewed by an independent ethics committee, he said.

“If they are afraid of Infantino, nothing will change,” Eckert said. “There must once again be a climate in which people deal with each other openly and transparently.”

Eckert led the FIFA Ethics Committee’s adjudicatory chamber from 2012 to 2017 and played a key role in investigations into the corruption scandal involving then-FIFA President Sepp Blatter. The proceedings led to suspensions for Blatter and senior officials in 2015.

Eckert lost his position shortly after Infantino took office. He regards Infantino’s inauguration as a turning point. The original plan was for the FIFA president to represent the organisation while the secretary general ran its operations. Infantino, however, had increasingly concentrated decision-making powers in his own hands, Eckert said.

Eckert said independent commissions had gradually been weakened and that some responsibility for ethics proceedings had been transferred to continental football confederations. This created a risk that cases would no longer be handled independently.

He said FIFA could still be renewed through a thorough examination of current events and by strengthening independent institutions. In addition to an independent ethics committee, he called for effective compliance and finance departments to review the use of funds and financial flows independently. Any potentially criminal violations should be investigated by the relevant authorities, he said.

Eckert was sceptical of a proposed model under which FIFA’s leadership would rotate between continental confederations every two years. Although the idea might initially appear democratic, he said it could create significant conflicts between the confederations.

Instead, Eckert advocated a clear division of responsibilities. A strong, independent secretary general should run FIFA’s operations, while the president’s role should focus more closely on representing football without extensive operational powers. The president should act as an ambassador for football, he said.

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A second-class GA general travel pass will cost 4,095 Swiss francs, 100 francs more than today. The industry had initially planned a 200-franc increase. A first-class GA will cost 6,770 francs, up from 6,520 francs. The planned increase for that pass was reduced from 330 francs to 250 francs.

Alliance Swisspass said the higher fares were still necessary to cover inflation and rising personnel, energy, material and maintenance costs.

Other fare increases announced in March will remain unchanged. The adult Half-Fare travelcard will become five francs more expensive, while the bonus for Half-Fare Plus credit packages will remain unchanged.

Prices for children, young people and families will not increase or will rise only slightly. Swiss Federal Railways will also expand its range of saver tickets, with discounts worth 90 million francs planned for 2027.

Regional public transport networks set their own fare adjustments. The increase will be the second nationwide fare rise since 2023. Fares rose by an average of 3.7 percent at the end of that year, following seven years of stable nationwide prices.

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The crash happened at about 8.55 a.m. on the L115 outside Moosbierbaum. The tractor and its slurry tank were dragged along the tracks after the collision.

Volunteer fire brigades from Heiligeneich, Atzenbrugg and Trasdorf responded. ÖBB switched off the overhead line, and a crane was used to remove the tractor and tank from the railway tracks.

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The broadcaster will show one top match from each matchday on its website, the BR24 app and the ARD Mediathek.

Upcoming Regionalliga livestreams

On August 14, FC Memmingen will host TSV 1860 Munich at 7 p.m. A week later, SpVgg Bayreuth will play FV Illertissen at the same time.

BR24Sport is also making selected matches available to watch again in the ARD Mediathek. These include TSV Aubstadt against 1. FC Schweinfurt 05, SV Wacker Burghausen against FC Bayern Munich II and 1. FC Schweinfurt 05 against TSV 1860 Munich.

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At 8 a.m. in the company’s production hall in Schachen, employees divide into nine teams to discuss possible improvements. One team is redesigning a board showing which employee is responsible for each task in the hall, with the aim of saving time.

During the previous nine working days, employees record processes they consider difficult or unnecessary. The tenth day is then reserved for addressing those issues. Production takes place only in exceptional cases, such as urgent customer orders.

Lisa Sieber, deputy head of production, said employees knew the processes and equipment better than anyone else and should therefore develop solutions themselves. She said the approach also gave staff a sense of involvement and helped the company respond more quickly to change.

Siga began using the system around 20 years ago to remain competitive. Its competitors manufacture in the euro and dollar zones, while the company operates with Swiss costs. Siga therefore works continuously to reduce the time and expense involved in producing its films and adhesive tapes.

Sieber said the tenth-day production stoppage paid off. The company records the time saved by each improvement in an app and calculates the annual savings based on employee wages.

Siga applies the Toyota Production System across all departments, adapting it so that nine working days are followed by one day dedicated to development. The company produces airtight, windproof and watertight films and adhesive tapes for roofs and facades. Founded in 1966, it now employs around 630 people in 24 countries and is led by the third generation of the founding family.

Employees presented their results at the end of the day. Although some measures have later been reversed, production worker Christian said the advantages of the system clearly outweighed its drawbacks.

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The temperature reached 41.2 degrees at 3:40 p.m. Bad Deutsch-Altenburg had already passed the 40-degree mark early in the afternoon and surpassed its own 2013 record of 40.5 degrees, which had remained Austria’s highest recorded temperature until Tuesday.

The measurement station then also exceeded Tuesday’s high of 41 degrees in Vienna-Stammersdorf. The Vienna station became the first in Austria to record temperatures of at least 40 degrees on three consecutive days.

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According to police, the 29-year-old was walking home near Arabellapark on Sunday evening when the teenager allegedly threatened him with a knife and demanded his valuables. The man handed over his wallet, which contained no cash.

The teenager then allegedly forced him to accompany him to a cash machine. They travelled by public bus towards Rosenkavalierplatz, where the 29-year-old managed to escape. The suspect also left the scene, and the bus driver alerted police. An immediate search was unsuccessful.

On Monday evening, the 29-year-old went to Bogenhausen police station to obtain confirmation of his report. He saw the suspected attacker in the waiting area. The 15-year-old had gone there to report a theft of his own. Officers arrested him at the station.

During a subsequent search of his parents’ home, investigators seized several items of evidence, including the clothing allegedly worn during the robbery. After being processed by police, the teenager, who has German-Iraqi nationality, was handed over to his guardians. The investigation is continuing.

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The suspected source is a cooling system on the roof of a Manor office building. The system’s two wet cooling towers have been switched off.

Marco Natoli, who lives opposite the building, said he was contacted by friends on WhatsApp asking whether he was well. “It gives you an uneasy feeling when you come home,” he said.

Natoli said the authorities should have contacted local residents directly. A leaflet delivered to homes or a hotline for concerned neighbours would have helped, he said. He knows someone who had to be treated in intensive care because of the outbreak.

Other residents also said they felt poorly informed. Some older people in the neighbourhood were particularly unsettled, one passer-by said. A bookshop in Rebgasse and a Reformed church congregation had not yet heard about the outbreak the day after the authorities’ announcement.

Eva Würfel, deputy cantonal physician at Basel-Stadt’s health department, said the authorities took the concerns seriously. They had deliberately sought to reach not only residents but also people who might have visited the neighbourhood, she said, using a news conference and social media.

Several patients have since left hospital, Würfel said. Only a few remain in hospital, with one person still in intensive care. No further Legionella infections had been reported by Tuesday noon.

The cantonal laboratory is examining the homes of all 26 infected people. Cantonal chemist Yves Parrat said officials would continue looking for other possible sources in the city until they had definitive proof that none existed. Genetic tests are also being carried out to compare bacteria from the cooling system with those found in patients.

People becoming infected in public spaces through vapour from a cooling system is uncommon, according to SRF science editor Christian von Burg, although similar cases have occurred in Germany. Switzerland has thousands of comparable systems, so the possibility of Legionella spreading through the air elsewhere cannot be ruled out.

Manor did not comment on residents’ criticism of the information provided. The company said the cooling towers had been shut down and that specialists were examining the system. Three Manor employees have also been infected, but the company said their illnesses had not been confirmed as connected to the outbreak.

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Workers need several drinking breaks a day, including around midday in Fürstenfeld, where temperatures were already extremely high. If the thermometer rises above 32.5 degrees Celsius, workers may stop work because of the heat, said Christian Supper, the union’s Styrian chairman. Many workers are making use of that option.

But the union says heat breaks at that temperature are only permitted, not mandatory. If work deadlines are then missed, clients often show little understanding, Supper said. Building owners should also be involved because they have a social responsibility towards workers. “People must come before deadlines,” he said, adding that working at 38, 40 or 41 degrees was simply impossible.

Employers, however, have little support for mandatory heat breaks from 32.5 degrees. Each construction site must be assessed separately and handled flexibly, said Josef Paul Gasser of the Styrian construction trade guild. Work could, for example, continue normally in the lower apartments of an almost completed building, he said.

“A deadline remains a deadline,” Gasser said, adding that contractors alone would bear the risk of penalties resulting from heat-related days off. In Fürstenfeld, the building owner, construction company and workers have reached an agreement. Work was suspended on Wednesday and will also be suspended in the coming days if temperatures exceed 32.5 degrees.

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Relat, who served on 1860’s supervisory board from last autumn as Ismaik’s representative, said he wanted to clarify reports about him in recent weeks. He repeated allegations previously made by Ismaik, saying the club’s registered association acted against 1860’s interests.

Relat said he had found the association to be a “group of friends and families” whose members were unable to work seriously or set concrete goals. The club has denied the allegations.

He also acknowledged mistakes on the investor’s side, saying they should have appointed a German who understood the football system when Ismaik bought into the club. The investor’s side had sponsored 1860 for 15 years without control over its investment, he said, because it had not understood the 50+1 rule, which gives club members a voting majority over external investors.

Relat partly rejected a report by the Süddeutsche Zeitung that he had exceeded his powers at 1860, but conceded that some of the report was accurate. “I was part of the team that advised Manfred Paula and tried to point things out to him,” he said.

After 1860’s forced relegation, the parent club terminated its cooperation agreement with Ismaik. The Jordanian investor is currently challenging that decision in court, but Relat said he saw no future for Ismaik at 1860. “They don’t want us here,” he said, citing 15 years of miscommunication.

The dispute also affects the club’s lion crest. The crest is currently absent from the professional team’s shirt because the merchandising rights are held by a merchandising company associated with Ismaik’s brother Yahya. The team is instead using a historic crest from the football department.

1860 has said the lion will return “once the legal requirements have been met”. Relat also said he hoped the club could wear the crest again, calling for all sides to negotiate and resolve the dispute professionally.

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