March 25 – FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke is back in Brazil for another series of trouble-shooting World Cup meetings, this time focussing on Sao Paulo, which stages the opening game.
By David Owen
March 25 – Unexpected costs last year forced FIFA to earmark an extra $70 million for the problem-plagued 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
That the FIFA decision to award the World Cup to Qatar in 2022 is once again in the spotlight is no surprise but the manner in which it hogged the headlines last week has raised intriguing questions. These are how did the story emerge and is this an Anglo-Saxon conspiracy?
This is not to in any way suggest that the Daily Telegraph did not have a good story about the financial dealings between Jack Warner and Mohammed Bin Hammam just days after both,
March 24 – The future of Leeds United, once the envy of English football but who have hit hard times in recent years, has been plunged into uncertainty after authorities disqualified Italian businessman Massimo Cellino from buying a majority stake in the iconic club.
March 24 – FIFA’s 2013 annual financial report has been released showing the governing body managed a surplus of $72 million on revenue of $1.386 million. 2013 was a record year for FIFA with income of $1.386 billion in the third year of a four-year commercial cycle linked to the 2014 World Cup.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 24 – The head of Asian football has been rebuffed in his attempts within FIFA to gain additional powers of office against the wishes of his members.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 24 – Russia’s Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko is reportedly planning for Crimea’s two top-flight clubs to quit the Ukrainian league and switch to Russia as the crisis in the region impacts on football.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 24 – The two women co-opted on to the FIFA executive committee last year seem certain to stay on for another year – but what happens after that remains open to question.
By Alexander Krassimirov
March 24 – Supporters and officials of Turkey’s Fenerbahce yesterday marched to Anitkabir – the tomb of the Turkish Republic’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk – in another “justice rally”.
By Mark Baber
March 24 – Ukrainian football is a fair reflection of wider Ukrainian society – in deep crisis, dominated by oligarchs, plagued by neo-nazis, being drained of foreign talent, with significant elements seeing their future in Russia and others facing imminent bankruptcy.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 21 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter today sidestepped repeated attempts to force him to take a stand over whether Qatar’s hosting of the 2022 World Cup was in jeopardy following the publication of fresh corruption allegations.
March 21- Defending champions Bayern Munich were handed the perfect opportunity today to avenge their heartbreaking 1999 Champions League final defeat by Manchester United when the two were paired together in the quarterfinals in of this season’s competition.
March 21 – Jeffrey Webb, the chairman of the FIFA Anti-Racism and Discrimination Task Force, has sent a strongly worded message on the importance of embracing diversity and fighting discrimination. He also said that the Brazil 2014 World Cup is the perfect platform to make a powerful anti-discrimination statement and that the quarter finals will be dedicated to the fight against discrimination.
By Richard van Poortvliet
March 21 – The infamous Zenit St Petersburg fan group, Landscrona have made an official statement, saying the flag that was burnt during Zenit’s Champions League clash at Borussia Dortmund, was not the German national flag, but a banner from one of Borussia’s supporters groups.
You know for sure that the people’s game has become gentrified when luxury Swiss watch brands start sponsoring football clubs.
Now, five and a half years after Hublot set the ball rolling by sponsoring Manchester United, another landmark deal has been unveiled.
Maurice Lacroix has announced a three-year agreement with Barcelona that will see it become the Catalán club’s Official Watch Partner in a deal said to be worth somewhere in the seven figures of euros (ie upwards of €1 million).