May 10 – At last, a FIFA World Cup story that is not about corruption. Sweden’s football fans are being given the opportunity to help national team manager Janne Andersson with his tactics for Russia 2018.
May 10 – In a move that seems likely to be regarded in some circles as a protectionist measure to avoid negative publicity, FIFA has scrapped its daily media briefings at next month’s World Cup, with a need-to-know policy installed instead.
May 10 – Following an almost incessant spate of controversial incidents using VARs in countries where it has been experimented with, FIFA’s Director of Refereeing has shrugged off concerns about the system being a success at the World Cup.
May 9 – FIFA’s president Gianni Infantino is facing mounting opposition to his plan for a revamping of the global football calendar with an expanded Club World Cup and the addition of a Global Nations League. The latest body to speak out against is the World Leagues Forum (WLF).
May 9 – Sepp Blatter, who continues to speak out about the way FIFA has been operating since he was forced to step down before being banned from the game, has urged his old organisation to allow Morocco to take part in the 2026 World Cup ballot.
May 9 – Manchester City Women have become the first team in the Women’s Super League to sign a sleeve sponsor with Asian firm QNET taking the branding position and becoming the official direct selling partner of the women’s team.
May 9 – More than six months after a judge in Paraguay authorised the extradition to the United States of former Conmebol boss Nicolás Leoz, alleged to have been one of the masterminds in the FIFAGate corruption scandal but who has so far managed to escape the clutches of US prosecutors, now appears to be closer than ever to finally being brought to justice.
May 9 – Hector Trujillo, the first defendant to be sentenced in the FIFA corruption scandal, has been banned for life by FIFA’s ethics committee for taking bribes linked to marketing deals for World Cup qualifying games.
May 9 – Barcelona sponsor Rakuten have taken a leaf from the Where’s Wally books (Where’s Waldo in the US) and launched a digital #WheresBarça series on their Rakuten Arena Facebook channel.
May 9 – Just five weeks before the start of the World Cup, FIFA has given Russia a symbolic wrap over the knuckles by fining the Russian soccer federation CHF30,000 ($30,000) after fans racially abused French players during a recent game in St. Petersburg.
By David Owen
May 8 – Sunderland, condemned to play next season in the third tier of English football after consecutive relegations, managed to trim their losses in their last year as a Premier League club.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 8 – Any suggestion that next month’s 2026 World Cup ballot will be refreshingly void of politics has been wiped away in one fell swoop by South Africa’s sudden change of heart about supporting fellow Africans Morocco.
By Paul Nicholson
May 8 –The United 2026 bid chairmen have reinforced their commercial credentials for hosting FIFA’s first 48-team World Cup, predicting a record revenue of $14 billion for FIFA, a profit of $11 billion.
May 8 – Saudi Arabia has given yet another giant hint that it is backing the joint bid of United States, Canada and Mexico to stage the 2026 World Cup as the tournament increasingly becomes a political combat zone in the Gulf region.
May 8 – The 2019 Copa America in Brazil will feature Japan and Qatar but no teams from North America.