January 16 – The British sponsorship consultant widely acknowledged as one of the pioneers of modern sports marketing has described as “absurd” FIFA’s decision to expand the World Cup to 48 teams.
January 13 – Is Morocco secretly planning to put a spanner in the works of a 2026 CONCACAF World Cup bid?
By Andrew Warshaw
All the benefits with no negatives. So proclaimed Gianni Infantino immediately after this week’s seismic decision to expand the World Cup to 48 teams. This is not about politics, he said. This is not about money. This is purely about serving football and redressing the game’s imbalances. Does anyone in their right mind really believe that?
January 12 – Different regime, new ‘Watchgate’ probe. FIFA has filed a report with police in Switzerland after six Hublot watches embarrassingly went missing before Monday’s Best Awards gala in Zurich.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 11 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino has defended the expansion of the World Cup to 48 teams, insisting the change from 32 was based on “sporting merit” and not a money-making exercise despite his need to find promised additional revenue for FIFA’s 211 members.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 11 – CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani has given another strong hint that the first 48-team World Cup could be jointly staged by the USA, Mexico and his native Canada.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 11 – FIFA appears to be no closer to a solution to the increasingly fractious dispute in the Middle East and specifically the issue of Israeli lower-league clubs based in the occupied West Bank.
January 10 – Despite losing the battle over FIFA’s decision to expand the World Cup finals, the European Club Association (ECA) says it is still vehemently opposed to the idea.
By Andrew Warshaw in Zurich
January 10 – It’s official. Despite strong opposition from Europe’s clubs, the World Cup will be expanded to 48 teams as of 2026 after FIFA’s new ruling Council decided unanimously today to open up the finals to 16 more countries in a major victory for FIFA president Gianni Infantino.
By Andrew Warshaw in Zurich
January 9 – As widely anticipated, Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo was duly crowned FIFA’s World Best player at a no-expense-spared gala in Zurich on Monday but the glittering awards ceremony – rival to the Ballon d’Or from which FIFA recently disassociated itself – was marred by a fierce attack on Barcelona for snubbing the world governing body’s inaugural showpiece event.
By Andrew Warshaw in Zurich
January 9 – As FIFA moves closer towards a landmark decision to expand the World Cup finals from 2026, saying the idea has the support of a vast majority of its national federations, the head of one South American association has revealed FIFA president Gianni Infantino is backing an equally ground-breaking and somewhat controversial move to merge the CONCACAF and CONMEBOL qualifiers.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 9 – A Swiss court has rejected a claim by three trade unions from Bangladesh and the Netherlands that FIFA failed to exert its influence to ensure fair treatment for migrant workers after handing Qatar the 2022 World Cup.
January 9 – A default notice seeking nearly $34,000 in arrears has been issued against the Cayman Islands home owned by former FIFA Vice President and CONCACAF boss Jeffrey Webb, according to the Cayman Compass newspaper.
January 6 – German FA (DFB) president Reinhard Grindel has re-iterated his country’s opposition to FIFA expanding the number of teams at the World Cup finals, a decision that is expected to be taken in principle at next week’s FIFA Council session in Zurich before ratification by the full FIFA Congress later this year.
By Paul Nicholson
January 5 – FIFA’s revolving door has become jammed with staff not sure whether they are entering or exiting. The confusion and discontent has reached levels where the sports governing body has had to parachute in two specialist employment lawyers to mediate a way through escalating staff troubles.