February 2 – Sepp Blatter has not always talked favourably about his successor but has surprisingly come out in partial support of Gianni Infantino’s decision to expand the World Cup to 48 teams.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 1 – Football’s lawmakers are to consider introducing sin-bins in place of yellow cards in what would constitute the most radical step for years to the way the game is played.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 31 – The head of the European Club Association, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, is back on the attack over FIFA’s decision to expand the World Cup to 48 teams, describing the move as “nonsense” and warning that the balance of power was shifting back towards his members.
It’s still early days of course but legitimate questions are starting to be asked about the effect Donald Trump’s US presidency might have on the landscape of world football and specifically two huge issues: the 2026 World Cup and the FifaGate scandal.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 26 – Is Angel Maria Villar’s influence as one of FIFA’s most senior figures gradually being stripped away, some might say not before time?
By Andrew Warshaw
January 24 – The head of the European Clubs Association has provided the biggest hint yet that his members will not take World Cup expansion lightly and could end co-operation with FIFA if their needs are not met.
January 24 – FIFA’s much-touted but loss-making museum, which opened only a year ago, is on the verge of losing another raft of employees in a move to save costs.
January 23 – As part of its reform process to streamline its top-heavy bureaucracy, save costs and respond to the worst crisis in its history, FIFA has slashed the number of standing committees from 26 to nine.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 23 – Russia’s under-fire senior football powerbroker Vitaly Mutko, allegedly caught up in the country’s damning doping scandal, reportedly ignored a private request from FIFA president Gianni Infantino to withdraw from the spotlight.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 23 – Any hopes Gianni Infantino may have that FIFA has buried its toxic past have again been laid bare with yet another former prominent official banned for life by FIFA’s own ethics committee.
January 2 – Germany’s Bundesliga will become the first major league to use video assistant referees next season for game-changing decisions.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 19 – Not to be outdone by the innovations of his boss Gianni Infantino, FIFA’s new technical director Marco van Basten has come up with arguably the most ground-breaking blueprint ever for the future of football including scrapping offside and introducing sin-bins in place of yellow cards.
January 18 – Liverpool expect to discover on Friday whether Joel Matip is eligible to play for them as confusion continues over the defender’s availability.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 27 – FIFA faces accusations of buck-passing and shirking its responsibility after effectively telling Liverpool to make up their own minds and suffer the consequences over whether to select Cameroon defender Joel Matip after he declined to represent his country in the African Nations Cup.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 16 – An Israeli-based media watchdog has sent a detailed and highly damning file on Palestine football leader Jibril Rajoub to FIFA in the latest tit-for-tat exchange over the sensitive issue over Israel’s treatment of Palestinian players and officials in the occupied territories.