By Samindra Kunti in Kolkata
October 30 – The president of the African Football Confederation Ahmad Ahmad has queried CONCACAF’s unity for the region’s 2026 World Cup bid. CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani downplayed the United States’ elimination from the 2018 World Cup as a destabilising factor for his confederation’s bid. Last August Morocco joined the race to land the first 48-team tournament.
By Samindra Kunti in Kolkata
October 30 – At the close of the U-17 World Cup in India, All India Football Federation president Praful Patel pitched the country’s bid to stage the U-20 World Cup to the FIFA Council. FIFA president Gianni Infantino dubbed the tournament “a resounding success” but didn’t offer clues about the next U-20 World Cup host. The Bureau of the Council will take a decision early next year.
October 30 – The Confederations Cup, the traditional World Cup warm-up tournament, could eventually be scrapped in its present format and replaced with a revised and far more credible version of the Club World Cup, a much-maligned annual tournament featuring the champion of each Continent but which has not caught on in the way FIFA might have hoped.
By Samindra Kunti in Kolkata
October 29 – England’s wonder kids completed a miraculous 5-2 comeback against Spain to lift the U-17 World Cup. Philip Foden, the player of the tournament, and Rhian Brewster, the golden boot, starred in a remarkable second-half comeback, the culmination of a successful first World Cup on Indian soil.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 27 – After years of delays and buck-passing, FIFA has officially closed down its much-troubled Middle East mediation initiative, a highly provocative move that could enflame tension in the region and seems bound to infuriate the pro-Palestinian lobby like never before.
October 27 – South African activists have urged their compatriot Tokyo Sexwale (pictured centre) to step down as FIFA’s chief Middle East negotiator because of the body’s distinct lack of progress in settling the footballing impasse between Israel and the Palestinians in the occupied territories, specifically the ongoing dispute over Israeli lower-league clubs playing official games on settlements in the West Bank.
By Samindra Kunti in Kolkata
October 26 – England made history by reaching their first ever U-17 World Cup final as Rhian Brewster broke Brazilian hearts with a hat-trick in a commanding 3-1 semi-final victory. The Young Lions will face European champions Spain, who eliminated Mali with the same scoreline.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 26 – Football’s lawmakers look set to postpone their annual business meeting in Abu Dhabi where the main focus of attention was to have been video technology.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 25 – A pro-Palestinian campaign group has re-ignited Middle East tensions by writing to FIFA ahead of this week’s Council session protesting at Israel’s alleged continuing obstructive conduct in the region.
By Samindra Kunti in Kolkata
October 25 – FIFA’s head of referees Massimo Busacca has praised the steps female referees have taken at the U-17 World Cup in India. He reiterated that VAR is a work in progress.
October 25 – More than three-quarters of North Americans polled in a survey broadly support plans to host the 2026 World Cup.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 24 – Cristiano Ronaldo was duly crowned the world’s best player for the second year running at FIFA’s Best Awards gala on Monday but that didn’t tell the whole story.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 24 – FIFA have hit back at claims that it showed scant regard for the status of women’s football by naming little-known teenage striker Deyna Castellanos on its female player-of-the-year shortlist for Monday’s ceremony in London.
By Samindra Kunti in Kolkata
October 24 – FIFA shifted the U-17 World Cup semi-final between England and Brazil from Guwahati to Kolkata on Monday. Torrential rainfall had reduced the quarter-final between Mali and Ghana to a mud fight at the weekend.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 23 – A few hours before staging its glittering annual Best Awards ceremony, FIFA has come under attack for naming a little-known striker on its female player-of-the-year shortlist.