By Andrew Warshaw in Marrakesh
March 27 – There’s no doubting Hicham El Amrani’s passion and self-belief. Or that the CEO of Morocco’s 2026 World Cup bid is extremely well connected.
By Mark Baber
March 27 – Concerns the fall-out from the Skripal poisoning affair could spill over into the World Cup increased on Monday as Iceland announced its leaders would follow the UK’s lead in boycotting the FIFA World Cup in Russia.
By Paul Nicholson
March 27 – Olympiakos and Nottingham Forest owner Evanglos Marinakis has had all charges against him dismissed by the Greek Supreme Court, the highest court in the country.
March 27 – Barcelona and Tottenham Hotspur are the only European clubs that have a player in each of the seven categories of a ranking of top performing players over the past three months.
March 27 – With West Brom set to announce a predicted year end financial return of about £40 million in profit, the club’s chief executive Mark Jenkins has said that the finances are actually in a poor state and that the club is going to need an overdraft facility, its first for 1o years.
By David Owen
March 27 – Hats off to Scottish second-tier club Inverness Caledonian Thistle for what must be the classiest intervention of the season in the often dubious field of football club mascots.
March 27 – UEFA has boosted its armoury in the war on matchfixing with an information-sharing agreement with sports betting integrity body ESSA.
March 27 – The US will host the 2018 CONCACAF Women’s Championship, to be played October 4-17. Venue for the 8-team championship have still to be decided.
March 27 – Third tier Croatian footballer Bruno Boban collapsed and died after being hit in the chest by the ball during a match.
March 27 – Gibraltar won their first game as a FIFA nation on Sunday, beating Latvia 1-0 in an international friendly.
By Andrew Warshaw in Marrakesh
March 26 – On the day FIFA released the bid books of the two contenders to stage the 2026 World Cup, African supporters of Morocco are crying foul over what they perceive as too much power being handed to the all-important panel that will determine whether the underdogs meet the necessary criteria to take on the heavyweight favourites from North America.
By Paul Nicholson
March 26 – The lifting of the suspension of the Greek Superleague is under discussion with the clubs meeting again today. But suspension will remain in place until clubs agree to government conditions stipulated by Greece’s deputy sports minister Giorgos Vasileiadis.
By Samindra Kunti in Moscow
Moscow – The Luzhniki Stadium, Russia’s flagship venue for this summer’s World Cup, has staged a successful second test-run, a much-anticipated friendly between Russia and Brazil. The stadium will host the opening game and the final of the World Cup.
March 26 – UEFA has released detail of the solidarity and bonus fees for its new Nations League competition which will see €76.25 million shared amongst the European confederations 55 countries.
March 26 – The resurgence of hooliganism by England fans has cast a dark shadow over the current international break as well as the build-up to the World Cup in Russia.