Blatter under the knife as CAS sets appeal date for August
11 July – Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter’s last-ditch appeal against his ban from football will be heard at the Court of Arbitration for Sport on August 25.
FIFA
FIFA ticket whistleblower threatens FIFA with $40m lawsuit
By Andrew Warshaw in Paris
July 8 – A former FIFA ticketing partner says he is suing the organisation for $40 million “for business losses” in a dispute over World Cup packages.
A question of compliant? FIFA parachutes Vesel into audit hot seat
By Andrew Warshaw
July 7 – A new member of Gianni Infantino’s inner protective clan or a genuinely positive step in FIFA’s reform process? Make up your own mind.
Valcke and Chung have bans reduced by FIFA appeals committee
By Andrew Warshaw
July 6 – FIFA’s appeals committee has cut the suspension of former secretary general Jerome Valcke (pictured) from 12 years to 10 and reduced Asian football powerbroker Chung Mong-joon’s ban from six years to five, though both moves represent only partial success for the two senior officials who served under the Sepp Blatter regime and were determined to clear their names.
More blood on the walls at FIFA as top bosses purge ethics collaborators
By Andrew Warshaw
July 5 – Two more senior personnel at FIFA have been shown the door in the latest purge by Gianni Infantino’s administration aimed at suppressing opposition to his increasingly shaky presidency.
Sexwale emphasises dialogue as search for Palestinian solution stumbles
July 5 – FIFA’s attempt to patch up differences between Israel and Palestine, overshadowed by ongoing corruption and reform issues, has been stepped up with the latest visit by former presidential candidate Tokyo Sexwale who leads the Monitoring Committee to the region.
Pressure on Infantino intensifies as leaked memo catalogues multiple ethics breaches
By Andrew Warshaw
July 4 – Speculation that the net could be closing in on FIFA president Gianni Infantino has been intriguingly stepped up following the publication of an explosive leaked memo, seemingly on official FIFA letter-headed paper, that accuses Infantino of a series of ethics violations.
Infantino flies back into ethics storm as FIFA opens preliminary investigation
By Andrew Warshaw and Paul Nicholson
June 29 – After some respite with media attention focussed on events on the field at Euro 2016 in France and the Copa America Centenario in the US, the pressure is back on FIFA president Gianni Infantino following yet more speculation that he is to be investigated by FIFA’s ethics committee over possible conflict of interest.
Pedrazzini quits compensation committee, who will decide Gianni’s pay now?
By Andrew Warshaw
June 27 – The issue of Gianni Infantino’s salary and when he might put pen to paper is back in the spotlight after another independent member of the compensation committee that set the FIFA president’s pay resigned.
Samoura starts at FIFA promising diversity, equity and good deeds
By Andrew Warshaw
June 22 – FIFA’s new general secretary Fatma Samoura officially started work this week as the first woman and non-European to hold one of the most influential roles in world sport.
Trinidad refuses to roll over to US extradition demands for Warner
By Andrew Warshaw
June 20 – Disgraced former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner continues to defy attempts by the United States judiciary to have him extradited over the FIFA corruption scandal as so many other ex-powerbrokers have been.
Infantino has blown it, says Pieth, calling for state control of FIFA
By Matt Scott
June 18 – It is time for state intervention at FIFA after Gianni Infantino’s supposed modernisation of FIFA “plunged it into the Dark Ages of Blatter”, according to the former chairman of the Independent Governance Committee.
KPMG are latest to quit the FIFA financial circus
By Andrew Warshaw
June 13 – Did they jump or were they pushed? KPMG, the international auditors who have examined FIFA’s books for more than decade, have controversially stepped down just days after being criticised for failing to spot extortionate pay increases awarded amongst themselves by Sepp Blatter and two of the senior staff under his regime.
Infantino expense details unveil a new culture of spending at FIFA
By Paul Nicholson
June 9 – FIFA seems to have become the gift that keeps on giving, not just to journalists in terms of stories, but especially to its new president Gianni Infantino, according to new information published today regarding his expense claims.
News analysis: Should we leave Gianni Infantino alone?
By James Dostoyevsky
The last few weeks have been bad ones for the new FIFA President. No matter what he does, whether boarding easyjet or a private jet, someone always has a quarrel with his choice.