April 1 – FIFA is to set up an emergency fund to assist the football industry amid growing fears that the coronavirus crisis will bring the sport to its knees.
March 31 – Jose Maria Marin, 87, is on his way home. Amid health concerns in times of the global coronavirus pandemic, the former Brazilian football supremo has won his release from an American prison, where he was serving a four-year sentence for his role in the FIFAgate scandal.
March 27 – FIFA have drawn up radical plans to offset football being wiped off the map by Covid-19 by recommending player contracts be extended automatically until the end of the season (whatever date that becomes) and to push transfer windows back.
March 25 – Kenyan football has been plunged into further crisis after FIFA over-ruled a local judgement that threw out the national federation’s entire executive.
March 24 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino, whose expansionist plans for world football created widespread consternation among various stakeholders, now concedes the game needs to go the other way to help avoid a financial crisis because of Covid-19.
March 20 – FIFA has teamed up with the World Health Organisation (WHO) for a new awareness campaign in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 23 – FIFA’s medical chief has hit out at plans to resume the European leagues in mid-May, warning that’s too early and could present a health risk.
March 18 – One early victim of the coronavirus crisis has been FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s authority.
March 19 – As expected FIFA has confirmed the postponement of Gianni Infantino’s much-trumpeted revamped Club World Cup but hasn’t decided when to play the tournament instead of next year.
March 18 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino has proposed moving the first ever 24-team Club World Club from its 2021 date to avoid clashing with the rescheduled European Championships.
March 17 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino has urged football authorities worldwide to show responsibility in the wake of Covid-19.
March 12 – The effects of Covid-19 have gone all the way up to the administration of world football with FIFA taking the unprecedented step of calling off its 211-nation congress that had been due to take place Addis Ababa on June 5.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 9 – Unofficial dealings between under-fire Swiss attorney general Michael Lauber and Gianni Infantino just as the latter was considering seeking the FIFA presidency have fuelled suspicion about collusion between the pair following revelations at the weekend in French newspaper Le Monde.
March 9 – FIFA has appointed former Liverpool head of medical services Andrew Massey as director of its medical department.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 2 – Football’s lawmakers have agreed to undertake a major review the offside law in order to “foster the spirit of attacking play” but no changes will happen for a year and little has otherwise been done to appease the growing clamour for tweaks to the VAR system.