By Paul Nicholson
December 1 – Steven Lowy, chairman of Football Federation Australia (FFA), has said that it would be “incredibly sad” if FIFA was to step in with a normalisation committee to run Australian football.
December 1 – The World Cup in 2018 will bring up to 500,000 international visitors who will on average spend 31% more on their credit cards than ordinary visitors to the country.
December 1 – Qatar is forging ahead with its World Cup 2022 developments, winning 4-star GSAS sustainability certification for the already completed Khalifa International Stadium and unveiling a spectacular new modular and recyclable design for the soon to be built Ras Abu Aboud Stadium.
November 30 – A former accountant working with Argentina-based marketing firm Torneos y Competencias has told the FifaGate trial in New York how he handled the payment of millions of dollars in bribes to powerful south American officials in exchange for the rights to broadcast tournaments and matches.
November 30 – Not so long ago, Australia was bidding for the 2022 World Cup, albeit with little chance of success. Now their football federation has been plunged into meltdown.
November 30 – The MLS has named four finalist cities for the league’s two expansion slots in 2018. Cincinnati, Detroit, Nashville and Sacramento will make formal presentation to the league’s expansion committee December 6, before being discussed at a Board of Governors meeting on December 14.
November 30 – Gambia has bowed to FIFA pressure after the country’s sports council chairman, Bori Darboe, reinstated the national FA’s executive committee.
November 30 – Brazil’s Gremio will complete the line-up for the Club World Cup to be played in the UAE in December, after winning the Copa Libertadores for a third time, beating Argentina’s Lanus 2-1. The Brazilian club had won the first leg 1-0.
November 30 – Outspoken La Liga president Javier Tebas has hardened his resolve to take Paris St Germain to the European Union over alleged financial fair play breaches unless UEFA acts first.
November 30 – Real Madrid’s Croatian midfield star Luka Modric has become the latest high-profile player in Spain accused of tax fraud on revenue from his image rights.
November 30 – UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin has become the latest high profile football personality to pledge 1% of his salary to the Common Goal movement.
November 30 – The English Football League (EFL) has signed airline Thai Airways as a new partner in a deal taking them to the end of the 2017/18 season and including the five finals (Carabao Cup plus the play-offs) that the league hosts at Wembley.
November 29 – Omar Khribin and Samantha Kerr have been named this year’s Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Players of the Year in the men’s and women’s categories. Click here to watch the Awards highlights.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 29 – Football’s lawmakers look set to have be rushed into a decision over whether to allow video technology to be used at next year’s World Cup – one of the most important rule change considerations of recent years.
November 29 – Meeting before their awards night in Bangkok, Thailand, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) executive committee made a number of key decisions for both competitions and management of its business.