ZURICH: Spain still topped the FIFA men&rsquo;s world rankings published Friday that show Germany back on track to be a top-seeded team in the World Cup finals tournament draw on December 5 involving US President Donald Trump.&nbsp;Germany rose two places to No. 10 after back-to-back wins in a World Cup qualifying group against Luxembourg and Northern Ireland. Germany had lost its opening qualifier last month against Slovakia.&nbsp;Croatia, runner-up at the 2018 World Cup and a semifinalist in the 2022 edition, fell to No. 11 after drawing one of its games at the Czech Republic last week.&nbsp;The 12 top-seeded nations in the 48-team draw will be the three co-hosts, the United States, Canada and Mexico plus the nine highest-ranked direct qualifiers in the updated FIFA rankings for November.&nbsp;Current No. 9 Italy is likely heading to European playoffs in March as runner-up in a qualifying group led by Norway, meaning the No. 10-ranked team should be assured of avoiding other top-seeded nations in the draw for the June 11-July 19 tournament.&nbsp;Spain leads from World Cup title holder Argentina, followed by No. 3 France, England, Portugal, the Netherlands, Brazil and Belgium in eighth.&nbsp;The World Cup draw seedings will follow the FIFA rankings through pots 2 and 3, with pot 4 including the six lowest-ranked direct qualifiers plus six placeholders awaiting the winners of playoffs in March.&nbsp;Four European teams will advance through playoffs, and two more places are on offer in a global bracket of six non-European teams that will include Bolivia and New Caledonia.

Football

Spain stayed atop FIFA men’s rankings as Germany rose to tenth, securing a likely top seed for the 2026 World Cup draw, while Croatia slipped and Italy faces playoffs.

Spain retains top FIFA spot, Germany climbs into top seeds

MADRID: Facebook owner Meta on Wednesday defended its advertising model in a 550-million-euro trial in Spain over alleged breaches of EU data protection rules brought by more than 80 Spanish media organizations.&nbsp;EU rules oblige companies to obtain users&#39; consent to create personalized advertising from their data.&nbsp;Spain&#39;s main media association AMI says the US tech giant, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, created &quot;unfair competition&quot; by &quot;systematically&quot; breaking the law between May 2018 and July 2023.&nbsp;The association launched a lawsuit alleging unfair competition in digital advertising sales and is seeking 551 million euros ($647 million) in compensation.&nbsp;&quot;This isn&#39;t a case that affects only AMI&#39;s outlets, it has implications for media worldwide,&quot; AMI director general Irene Lanzaco told reporters before entering the Madrid commercial court where the trial will run until Thursday.&nbsp;&quot;What&#39;s at stake is the very survival of news media, which is being threatened by the predatory behaviour of a platform like Meta, acting with no regard for our legal framework.&quot;&nbsp;Meta has denied any damage or violation of EU rules, saying in a statement sent to AFP the AMI lawsuit &quot;is not based on any evidence regarding the alleged harm.&quot;&nbsp;AMI is &quot;deliberately ignoring the evolution of the advertising industry over the past few years,&quot; Meta added.&nbsp;&quot;Meta complies with all applicable laws and has provided clear options, transparent information, and a wide range of tools for users to control their experience on our services.&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&#39;Huge investment&#39;&nbsp;&nbsp;Meta executives told Wednesday&#39;s hearing that user data mattered less than algorithms to generate the personalized advertising.&nbsp;&quot;We have invested a huge amount&quot; so that advertising reaches the consumer, unlike traditional media, said Beltran Seoane of Facebook Spain, responsible for relations with advertising agencies.&nbsp;Tools developed by Meta &quot;are just as important or more so than the data per se&quot;, added Facebook representative David Saez.&nbsp;Expert reports and closing arguments are expected on Thursday.&nbsp;Media groups represented by AMI include Prisa, owner of Spain&#39;s top-selling daily newspaper El Pais; Godo, publisher of the Barcelona-based daily La Vanguardia; Vocento, which publishes the conservative daily ABC; and Unidad Editorial, whose titles include El Mundo and sports daily Marca.&nbsp;Spanish radio and television stations have launched a separate lawsuit against Meta for the same reasons, seeking 160 million euros in damages.&nbsp;A similar lawsuit has also emerged in France, where around 200 media groups, including major television networks and leading newspapers, filed legal action against Meta in April.

Artificial Intelligence

Meta faces a €550m trial in Spain after 80+ media outlets accused it of unfair competition and breaching EU data rules in ad sales. Meta denies wrongdoing, citing compliance, transparency, and evolving advertising industry practices.


Articles tagged with "SPAIN"

Spain retains top FIFA spot, Germany climbs into top seeds

Meta defends ads model in 550-mn-euro data protection trial