By David Owen
August 19 – FIFA has yet to formulate a ‘Plan B’ for handling World Cup doping tests in the event of the local Rio de Janeiro doping control laboratory being unavailable, and is unlikely to do so before next year.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
August 16 – British FIFA vice-president Jim Boyce says he is “shocked and honoured” to be awarded one of the most important roles within the game – head of FIFA’s referees committee – and says he will do all he can to make sure the best officials are used in major competitions in order to avoid any hint of corruption or dirty tricks. Boyce recently ran the FIFA under-20 World Cup organising committee in Turkey and is understood to have impressed FIFA with his organisational skills.
By Mark Baber
August 16 – The host cities and stadiums for the FIFA U-20 World Cup New Zealand 2015 have been announced with matches being hosted on both the North and South islands in seven venues.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 15 – Britain’s FIFA vice-president Jim Boyce has replaced Spain’s Angel Maria Villar as head of FIFA’s referees committee in a political-style reshuffle that will be viewed in some quarters as weakening Villar’s influence within the corridors of power.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 15 – FIFA has now officially asked 2018 World Cup hosts Russia to explain more fully its highly contentious new law banning “homosexual propaganda” that has caused such a fierce backlash from both athletes and the gay community.
By Richard van Poortvliet
August 7 – The future of the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, which will host the 2018 World Cup final, has become a lot clearer, after it was announced that FIFA will allow the arena to have a capacity of 81,000 spectators for the showpiece event.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
August 6 – Stripping Qatar of hosting rights for the 2022 World Cup just because of the heat issue and the fuss generated over a possible switch to winter is not an option, according to the FIFA-appointed expert who first cautioned about the dangers of taking the tournament to the Gulf state in the first place.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 4 – FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke has admitted there were “challenges and deficiencies” for his organisation at this summer’s Confederations Cup, marred by nationwide street protests, but insists that any mistakes made at the World Cup warm-up tournament helped concentrate the mind on how to prepare for the real thing next year.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 4 – FIFA’s top medical man has re-iterated there is no systematic doping in football following three reported cases of players testing positive this year in FIFA competitions.
By Paul Nicholson
August 2 – FIFA has provisionally suspended investigations into former FIFA executive committee member Chuck Blazer until the end of 2013 at the latest. The decision, taken by chief of investigation Robert Torres, was made after Torres received written confirmation that Blazer will not be engaging in any football-related activities until at least 31 December 2013.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
August 2 – The FIFA-appointed expert who first cautioned about the dangers of taking the 2022 World Cup to Qatar says he made it abundantly clear that playing in the tiny Gulf state would be too hazardous – but was ignored by the majority of voting members.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 1 – Tahiti, the smallest nation ever to compete in a senior football tournament and composed almost entirely of amateurs, has been hit by a drugs scandal after FIFA announced one of its players tested positive at the recent Confederations Cup in Brazil.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
July 25 – Growing calls for switching the Qatar World Cup to winter – now led by FIFA president Sepp Blatter – have taken a dramatic new twist with Germany’s top FIFA official declaring it was a “blatant mistake” to award to the 2022 tournament to the Gulf state in the first place.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 23 – Palestine has made another bold move to make its political presence felt in Middle East football by putting its name forward to host the FIFA Congress in 2017.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 22 – Ticket prices for next year’s World Cup in Brazil have been kept as low as possible, say FIFA, in a move the authorities hope will appease local Brazilian fans angered about the costs of staging the event. Of the three million tickets on sale, 400,000 will be available at a discount to Brazilians, with the cheapest costing around $30.