FIFA Rejects Woman’s Deal With Men’s Team
World soccer’s governing body rejected the signing of a female player by a professional men’s team in Mexico.
“There must be a clear separation between men’s and women’s football,” FIFA said Sunday from its Swiss headquarters.
Maribel Dominguez signed a two-year deal Wednesday with the second-division club Celaya, which deferred to FIFA on whether a woman could play in the league. FIFA’s executive committee denied the move during a weekend meeting.
“This is laid down in league football and in international matches by the existence of gender-specific competitions and the laws of the game, and FIFA’s regulations do not provide for any exceptions,” the committee said in a statement.
Dominguez scored 45 goals in 46 games for the Mexican women’s national team and played one season in the Women’s United Soccer Assn. in the United States.
The 5-foot-4 Dominguez would have been outweighed by 65 pounds by some players in the First Division-A, Mexico’s second division. She said she was beginning a training regimen to add weight before next month’s season opener.
After the signing, the decision was met by approval as well as concern. Former Mexico men’s national team coach Manuel Lapuente recalled what his father had told him: “You don’t touch a woman even with a rose petal.... Imagine how I’m supposed to face a woman and have to slide into her. Well, what am I going to do?”
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Jermaine Hue converted on a 25-meter free kick in the 65th minute at San Juan, Puerto Rico, giving Jamaica a 2-1 victory over St. Lucia to send it to the third round of Caribbean Cup and CONCACAF Gold Cup qualifying.
Trinidad and Tobago beat the British Virgin Islands, 2-0, to also advance along with St. Vincent and the Grenadines, which won, 1-0, at Grenada.
Winter Sports
Canada’s Thomas Grandi won a giant slalom at Alta Badia, Italy, for his first World Cup victory in 12 seasons on the circuit.
Austria’s Benjamin Raich was second and Switzerland’s Didier Cuche and Austria’s Hermann Maier shared third.
Bode Miller missed a gate and did not finish his second run. Winner of six of 13 races this season, Miller still holds a 798-479 points lead on Maier.
Grandi became the first Canadian man to win a World Cup race since Cary Mullen in 1994 at Aspen, Colo.
Janne Ahonen of Finland overcame rain and wind to win a ski jump for the second day in a row at Engelberg, Switzerland. Ahonen beat Jakub Janda of the Czech Republic by 0.4 points. Martin Hoellwarth of Austria was third.
Raphael Poiree and wife Liv Grete Poiree won mass start races at Ostersund, Sweden, for their first World Cup biathlon victories of the season.
Raphael Poiree, the defending overall champion from France, won the 15-kilometer race in 38 minutes 46.85 seconds. Liv Grete Poiree finished the 12.5K event in 38:49.00.
Shani Davis and Maria Lamb won individual titles in the U.S. Long Track Speedskating Championships at West Allis, Wis.
Davis won the 1,500 meters in 1:47.73. Chad Hedrick won the 10,000 in 13:43.28. But Davis, who finished second, edged him in points for the title.
Lamb won the 5,000 in 7:38.44. She won the 500 Saturday to beat Kristine Holzer by 3.230 points for her first national title.
Baseball
Outfielder David Dellucci agreed to terms on a two-year, $1.8-million contract with the Texas Rangers. Dellucci batted .242 with 17 home runs and 61 runs batted in with Texas last season.
Second baseman Placido Polanco accepted the Philadelphia Phillies’ offer of salary arbitration, and left-hander Ron Villone agreed to arbitrate with the Seattle Mariners.
Catcher Jason Varitek, shortstop Orlando Cabrera and pitcher Derek Lowe rejected arbitration offers from Boston, and pitcher Orlando Hernandez and designated hitter Ruben Sierra rejected offers from the New York Yankees.
Center fielder Carlos Beltran turned down the arbitration offer made by Houston.
