March 29 – A group of Swiss parliamentarians has written to FIFA urging it to resolve football’s Middle East impasse by banning the six Israeli clubs playing in the occupied territories.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 28 – Gianni Infantino’s number two has rejected rumours that FIFA are about to ditch their two top ethics officials whose rulings and judgements have brought down a raft of corrupt bigwigs.
By Samindra Kunti
March 28 – The former CEO of the Belgian FA, the KBVB, Steven Martens will become FIFA’s technical director. His move to the world governing body is an interesting if somewhat peculiar appointment in a global role that currently looks to be lacking in definition and objective.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 28 – The impasse over football’s Middle East crisis has taken another divisive twist with FIFA reportedly backing the Palestinian cause to the fury of Israeli officials.
March 28 – FIFA say they have received no official confirmation from Diego Maradona since he threatened last week to quit his ambassadorial role.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 24 – Alexey Sorokin, the public face both of Russia’s successful 2018 World Cup bid and the tournament’s organisation, says he is keen to take the place of the barred Vitaly Mutko on FIFA’s ruling Council to ensure his country retains a powerful voice at FIFA’s top table
March 24 – Palestinian football chief Jibril Rajoub (pictured) says he doubts an agreement can be reached next month over Israel’s conduct in the occupied West Bank, a potential blow for FIFA in its ongoing mediation efforts.
March 24 – German football legend Franz Beckenbauer has been questioned by Swiss prosecutors over suspected corruption linked to the 2006 World Cup.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 23 – The new leader of African football held a senior political role at the time he was elected last week, throwing into question whether FIFA should have allowed him to stand against Issa Hayatou.
March 23 – Palestinian and Israeli football officials were involved in “heated” talks on Wednesday as Tokyo Sexwale (pictured centre), FIFA’s main Middle East negotiator, finally presented his long awaited draft report on the dispute over Israeli clubs based in the occupied territories and other festering issues in the region.
March 20 – The head of Palestine Football Association (PFA) Jibril Rajoub has re-iterated that he will not agree to any further compromises if FIFA continues to drag its feet over the festering dispute regarding Israeli conduct in Middle East football.
March 17 – The swathe of redundancies at FIFA’s once trumpeted but increasingly troubled museum in Zurich shows no sign of diminishing. After eight employees were dismissed at the beginning of the year, the management is now getting rid of another 36, according to Swiss reports.
By Samindra Kunti
March 16 – The draw for the U20 2017 FIFA World Cup South Korea has paired arch rivals England and Argentina in the group stages. The participants in the finals today found out their group opponents as the 24 balls were drawn in a ceremony in Suwon.
March 16 – FIFA is reviewing both payment and pension arrangements for members of its new-look ruling Council as part of the organisation’s cost-cutting policy, according to an AP report.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 14 – Several months after upholding a six-year ban on Sepp Blatter, bringing an inglorious end to the colourful and controversial career of the former FIFA president, the Court of Arbitration has rubbed salt in his wounds with an unwanted belated 81st birthday present.