July 31 – Brazil’s World Cup talisman Neymar has come clean about his histrionics in Russia, admitting in an advertisement that he ‘exaggerated’ his reactions when fouled during the tournament, but his mea culpa has already backfired, the player coming in for heavy criticism in Brazil.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 30 – No sooner has the festering dispute over the leadership of Nigerian football been resolved with Amaju Pinnick restored as its president than the federation has been rocked by bribery allegations involving a prominent member of the Super Eagles’ coaching team, Salisu Yusuf.
By Paul Nicholson
July 27 – SIGA (the Sport Integrity Global Alliance) opened its fourth Sport Integrity Forum at the United Nations Office in Geneva with a powerful call for sport to harness its power to make a difference to the social fabric of the world by Michael Møller, Director General of the United Nations Office in Geneva.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 27 – Jerome Valcke, for years Fifa’s charismatic go-to troubleshooter before being snared by ethics prosecutors and falling spectacularly from grace, has lost his appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport after seeking to overturn his 10-year ban from football.
July 27 – Spanish tax authorities have struck a deal with Cristiano Ronaldo whereby he will plead guilty to tax fraud and pay a fine of close to €19 million.
July 27 – German Football Association (DFB) chief Reinhard Grindel has broken his silence over the Mezut Ozil affair by admitting he should have taken a stronger stance in support of the midfielder who last weekend announced his retirement from international football on racism grounds.
By David Owen
July 25 – Over 37,000 anti-doping samples from footballers were analysed by World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)-accredited laboratories in 2017, more than for any other sport on the Summer Olympic programme.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 25 – Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has waded into the row over Mesut Ozil’s shock retirement from international football on racism grounds by saying the treatment towards the Arsenal midfielder was unacceptable.
July 24 – United Nations Geneva director-general Michael Møller has emphaasised the importance of the role sport has to play in breaking down boundaries between nations and cultures. He also talked of the importance of integrity in enabling sport to achieve it potential in this regard.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 24 – The German Football Association (DFB) has hit back strongly over Mesut Ozil’s claims over racism and disrespect but conceded they could have done more to protect him.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 23 – In a remarkable move that has spilled over into the political arena, Arsenal’s German international midfielder Mesut Ozil has quit international football at the age of just 29 claiming he can no longer take the “racism and disrespect” he says he has faced over his Turkish roots.
July 23 – New Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri has been accused of trying to “dismantle” former club Napoli by the Italian club’s president Aurelio de Laurentiis.
July 23 – With broadcast piracy issues increasingly concerning sports rights owners anxious to maintain their TV deals and value in an increasingly disrupted marketplace, the Premier League has won a further blocking order in the UK High Court forcing pirate streams to shut down.
July 20 – Clubs from Russia and Qatar, World Cup hosts past and future, are among six fined by FIFA and warned they risk one-year transfer bans for failing to settle debts to players.
July 20 – An Israeli lawmaker close to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has sent an open letter to FIFA urging it to strip Qatar of 2022 World Cup hosting rights because of its alleged support for Hezbollah and Hamas, regarded by Israel and others as terrorist organisations.