Belgian soccer leader Van Damme to get European seat for women on FIFA ruling council

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Belgian soccer leader Van Damme to get European seat for women on FIFA ruling council

2025-01-07 01:09 Last Updated At：01:10

GENEVA (AP) — Belgian soccer federation president Pascale van Damme is set join FIFA's ruling council after being the only candidate to run for a seat reserved for a female official from Europe.

Van Damme will run unopposed and is set to be elected at a UEFA meeting on April 3 in Belgrade, Serbia, UEFA said Monday.

Van Damme, a former technology industry executive, was elected to lead Belgian soccer less than two years ago. She is in line to get a four-year term in the FIFA post that pays $250,000 annually.

She will replace Evelina Christillin, a former 2006 Turin Olympics official with close ties to the Juventus-owning Agnelli family, who leaves after more than eight years in the role.

In 2016, Christillin was the first woman elected by UEFA to join the 37-member FIFA council.

Each of soccer’s six continental confederations has a place reserved for a woman on the FIFA decision-making body, and none has ever elected a woman in a contested vote against men.

UEFA also is set to re-elect four men to the FIFA council on April 3 without any rival candidates: Răzvan Burleanu of Romania, Georgios Koumas of Cyprus, Bernd Neuendorf of Germany and Dejan Savićević of Montenegro, the former AC Milan star.

All of the European candidates for FIFA positions, each one the president of their national soccer body, met a Jan. 3 deadline to enter the elections and must pass an eligibility check managed by the world soccer body.

UEFA has set a Feb. 3 deadline — two months before the congress in Belgrade — for candidates to enter elections for 10 vacant seats on its own executive committee, including that of David Gill, its treasurer and the former CEO at Manchester United. Gill has reached the 12-year term limit for UEFA elected positions.

One of the 10 vacancies is for a second seat protected for women, joining current UEFA vice president Laura McAllister of Wales who was elected two years ago. Candidates for the second quota place likely will include Norwegian federation president Lise Klaveness.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Jay North, TV's mischievous Dennis the Menace, dies at 73

2025-04-08 05:35 Last Updated At：05:40

LAKE BUTLER, Fla. (AP) — Jay North, who starred as the towheaded mischief maker on TV's “Dennis the Menace” for four seasons starting in 1959, has died. He was 73.

North died Sunday at his home in Lake Butler, Florida, and had colon cancer, said Laurie Jacobson, a longtime friend, and Bonnie Vent, who was his booking agent.

“He had a heart as big as a mountain, loved his friends deeply. He called us frequently and ended every conversation with ‘I love you with all my heart,’” Jacobson wrote in a tribute on Facebook.

North was 6 when he was cast as the smiling troublemaker in the CBS sitcom adaptation of Hank Ketcham's popular comic strip that took place in an idyllic American suburb.

Often wearing a striped shirt and overalls, Dennis’ mischievous antics frequently frustrated his retired next-door neighbor George Wilson, played by Joseph Kearns. After Kearns died, Gale Gordon played Wilson’s brother. Dennis' patient parents were played by Herbert Anderson and Gloria Henry.

The show ran on Sunday nights until it was canceled in 1963. After that it was a fixture for decades in syndication.

Later, North appeared on TV in shows including “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.,” “The Lucy Show,” “My Three Sons,” “Lassie” and “The Simpsons,” and in movies like “Maya” (1966), “The Teacher” (1974) and “Dickie Robert: Former Child Star” (2003).

North is survived by his third wife, Cindy, and three stepdaughters.