France is at the center of controversy after coaches of various national teams accused the French of match-fixing following a heavy defeat against Iran in a group stage match at the World Cup in Uzbekistan. 

France went down 4-1 to Iran in their match last week. 

A post on X by Ricardo Iñiguez, the head coach of Libya, who were eliminated from the competition at the group stage, said the match had been a “disgrace” for the sport.

“Libya is going to file an official complaint in relation to this match for ‘match fixing’, it is a disgrace for our sport,” Iñiguez wrote, before going on to share criticism from other figures within the sport.

The Guardian reported that FIFA is looking into claims of “match manipulation” and breaches of “the spirit of the game”, rather than match fixing.

Social media posts by fans during the match also highlighted the lackluster performance by France. 

In another X post, the Thailand coach, Miguel Rodrigo, said his team were waiting to take on the French “with open arms”, but also it was a “a world disgrace” and that they had “dishonoured my sport”.

Video footage shared by Rodrigo appears to show French goalkeeper Thibaut Garros moving away from the ball in the buildup to Iran’s opening goal. The French went on to record only six shots on goal over the course of the entire match, scoring a consolation after Iran had eased to a 4-0 lead.

In a statement, Fifa said it was “aware of complaints filed by participating teams at the Futsal World Cup regarding the Group F match between France and Iran” but that “no further comment will be made while this process is ongoing”.

South Africa bounced back from two heavy defeats to beat Afghanistan by seven wickets in the last encounter of their One Day International Series in Sharjah on Sunday, Reuters reported.

Aiden Markram’s unbeaten 69 and 26 not out from Tristan Stubbs saw them reach 170 for three wickets off 33 overs in reply to Afghanistan’s modest total of 169.

Afghanistan had skittled South Africa out cheaply to win the first match on Wednesday and then handed the visitors a 177-run thumping on Friday but were unable to replicate their form, even after again winning the toss and electing to bat in the third ODI.

Their innings was dominated again by the powerful hitting of opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who scored 105 in Friday’s comprehensive victory which saw Afghanistan go 2-0 up in the three-match series.

This time he fell 11 short of another century, smashing 89 off 94 balls before being snapped up on the boundary by a flying catch by Reeza Hendricks off the bowling of Andile Phehlukwayo, read the report.

But for the rest, the Afghanis were undone by poor decision making and a little misfortune as they suffered three runouts.

Rahmat Shah was run out when a ball that was hit back down the wicket by Gurbaz was deflected by the hand of bowler Lungi Ngidi onto the shoulder of the stranded Shah and onto his wicket.

Captain Hashmatullah Shahidi and Ikram Alikhil were slow in making their ground and run out by quick thinking in the field with Afghanistan slumping to 132 for seven before Allah Ghazanfar contributed an unbeaten 31 off 15 to take them past 150, Reuters reported.

South Africa were always on course to reach the target even after losing their opening three batsmen for 80 runs.

Markram was the aggressor with Stubbs in a supporting role as their unbeaten 90-run partnership saw South Africa home.

Afghanistan’s national futsal team has advanced to the Round of 16 stage of the FIFA Futsal World Cup 2024 in Uzbekistan after ending the group stage as one of the top four third-placed teams.

FIFA confirmed the team’s advancement on Sunday after the last of the group stage matches wrapped up.

The team recorded one win and two losses in the group stage.

Afghanistan’s first match in the knockout stage will be on Wednesday, 25 September, against Paraguay. The match will be played at the Humo Arena in Tashkent.

The 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup is the tenth edition of the FIFA Futsal World Cup, and a total of 24 teams qualified for the tournament.

Sunday was the last day of group stage matches.

Of the 24 qualifiers, four made their debut: Afghanistan, France, New Zealand and Tajikistan.

Afghanistan's and Tajikistan's qualification, along with Iran and hosts Uzbekistan, means that for the first time, four nations from Central Asia qualified for the World Cup.

The knockout stage kicks off on Tuesday, September 24, when Brazil faces Costa Rica at 5.30pm at the Bukhara Universal Sports Complex, in Bukhara.

This match will be followed at 8pm on the same day when Netherlands come up against Ukraine at the Humo Arena in Tashkent.

Fans across Afghanistan can still tune in to watch this stage of the tournament on Ariana Television, which is the official broadcaster of the FIFA Futsal World Cup 2024.