Bayern’s Hoeness flays FIFA scheduling

Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness on Wednesday criticised football’s world governing body FIFA for allowing so many international matches to be played this early in the season. “It is a joke that we are only in mid-September and have only played two league matches but have already had to play three internationals. It’s ridiculous,” the outspoken Hoeness told German Sky Sport News. The Bavarian club’s chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has previously gone public with his displeasure at the number of international dates on the FIFA calendar, an issue which has created rifts in the past between the Bundesliga and the German Football Federation (DFB). Germany lost 3-1 at home to Argentina in a friendly in mid-August, and then opened up their 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign with two wins against the Faroe Islands (3-0) and Austria (2-1) in the last week. The Bundesliga was one of the last major leagues in Europe to restart this season, with the opening game played on Aug. 24.