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 – Manchester City have been charged by the Football Association for failing to ensure that anti-doping officials knew where their players were for random drugs testing.
January 12 – As European league seasons hot up in the second half of campaigns, the impact of losing players to the African Nations Cup, which begins on Saturday, is once again likely to take its toll.
January 12 – After a wait of more than a year, Chelsea have been granted planning permission to rebuild their Stamford Bridge stadium replacing the current 41,600 capacity venue with a 60,000-all seater.
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.
January 12 – Manchester United has signed taxi app Uber as a global sponsor partner. No figure was announced for the sponsorship that will see Uber designated as the Official Ride of Manchester United.
By Samindra Kunti
January 12 – Rio de Janeiro’s famed Maracana stadium has been looted while a dispute over the stadium’s maintenance makes for an increasingly sad story of Brazilian World Cup legacy.
January 12 – Partizan Belgrade have been banned from European competition by UEFA for the next three seasons in the latest crackdown over unpaid debts.
January 12 – South American confederation CONMEBOL has called in Sportradar to boost its battle against matchfixing and the on-going threats posed across the region.
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 Paul Nicholson
January 11 – The Institute of National Anti-Doping Organisations (iNADO) statement calling for a ban on all Russian participation and hosting of international sporting events – which would include the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and 2018 World Cup – has been described as “strange” and “beyond the scope of their activities” by Russian minister of sport Pavel Kolobkov (pictured).
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.
January 11 – Chelsea are going to win the Premier League, Real Madrid will win Spain’s La Liga, Bayern Munich will top the Bundesliga and Juventus will champion in Italy’s Serie A. In France PSG will get knocked off their perch by Monaco for the Ligue 1 title.
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 11 – Asian Football Confederation President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa has welcomed FIFA’s decision to expand the World Cup to 48 teams saying it can only benefit the development of Asian football.