By Andrew Warshaw
June 3 – No more World Cup boycott threats. No more breaking away from FIFA. Or so it seems. UEFA have cancelled a proposed emergency meeting of their top brass scheduled for Saturday in the wake of Sepp Blatter’s resignation.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
June 3 – A new competitor has reportedly entered the ongoing race to secure the broadcasting rights for Poland’s Ekstraklasa, with Polish direct-to-home platform nc+ and Eurosport competing against a new broadcaster, Eleven.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 3 – As the FIFA corruption scandal continues to snowball, Qatar’s World Cup organisers, whose recent statements when facing criticism over staging the tournament have been relatively diplomatic, have clearly lost their patience with outspoken English FA boss Greg Dyke.
By Paul Nicholson
June 3 – The sports data business has a new powerplaying corporate entrant in the form of world leading data and technology provider Gracenote, which has acquired Europe’s Infostrada Sports and Canada-based SportsDirect for $54 million.
What tipped him over the edge? Did he walk or was he pushed? Is the net tightening around him in the United States as is being reported? Or was it simply that the sheer weight of pressure and the almost daily dose of bombshell allegations into systemic corruption simply became too much to bear – even for the great survivor?
By Paul Nicholson and Andrew Warshaw
June 2 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter has sensationally announced he is to resign. Just four days after triumphantly being elected president for a fifth term at the FIFA Congress last week.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 2 – Former CONMEBOL powerbroker Nicolas Leoz has been placed under house arrest in his native Paraguay as the FIFA corruption scandal snares yet another alleged culprit.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 2 – Heather Rabbatts, a member of FIFA’s anti-discrimination Task Force that was hailed when it was established as a key bridging block in FIFA’s reform programme, has stepped down following the arrest of the body’s chairman, Jeffrey Webb, as part of the US-orchestrated investigation into FIFA corruption.
By Alexander Krassimirov
June 2 – Bulgarian CSKA Sofia and Lokomotiv Sofia finally lost their professional status after the Appeals Committee of the Bulgarian Football Union confirmed the decision of its Licensing committee to refuse playing licenses to both clubs.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 2 – Australia’s decision to reject a recommendation from the Asian Football Confederation to support Sepp Blatter in last week’s FIFA presidential election has intensified fears that the country may be sent back to Oceania.
By Mark Baber
June 2 – Having narrowly avoided relegation from the Premier League, Sunderland AFC have announced that AsianBGE’s Cagayan Economic Zone, Philippines-based Dafabet, is the club’s new principal partner and shirt sponsor for the 2015-16 season in a three year deal.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 2 – The corruption scandal that enveloped last week’s FIFA presidential election and has plunged world football’s governing body into its worst ever crisis deepened overnight with reported allegations in the United States that FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke (pictured) was the man behind a $10 million bank transfer that is central to the investigation being carried out by US authorities.
By Paul Nicholson
June 2 – Back stage the confederation was in turmoil with employees only just having been allowed back into their Miami offices, news of bans of their top officials, and rumours that in the Cayman Islands employees had been relieved of their phones and laptops; front stage CONCACAF conducted the draw for the group stages of the 2015/16 Champions League. If it wasn’t quite business as usual, it was a welcome relief from the dark politics of corruption that have returned to consume the regional body.
Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
By Mark Baber
June 1 – Just hours before the 2015 FA Cup Final was won by Emirates sponsored Arsenal, the FA announced the Dubai-based airline as the new sponsor of the FA Cup in a deal which will see the competition named ‘The Emirates FA Cup’ from next season up until 2018.