By Andrew Warshaw
July 7 – The son of one of FIFA’s most powerful administrators has denied claims he illegally sold a World Cup ticket to touts in order to make money. Humberto Grondona, whose father Julio is FIFA’s senior vice-president as well as being head of the Argentine football association, has been asked to explain how a ticket he bought ended up in the wrong hands.
July 4 – In an operation dubbed Jules Rimet, police in Brazil have arrested 11 people and broken up an international gang that was apparently involved in the illegal sale of World Cup tickets.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 3 – Following the unprecedented impact of substitutes at the World Cup, football’s lawmakers will be asked to consider a proposal that teams be allowed to use a fourth sub during extra time.
By David Owen
July 3 – FIFA has set up a three-man electoral committee to supervise the process of what may yet be a bitter and divisive presidential election.
July 2 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter says UEFA will be tempted to perform a u-turn and introduce goal-line technology for the 2016 European Championship finals even though UEFA boss Michel Platini has long stated his objection to the innovation and prefers his system of two additional referee’s assistants.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 28 – FIFA has lifted Franz Beckenbauer’s ban from all football-related activity for failing to assist the investigation of alleged corruption into the 2018 and 2022 World Cup votes, according to his manager.
June 27 – New Zealand is the latest country to pull out of the running to host the 2019 Women’s World Cup, a blow to the Oceania region, the smallest of FIFA’s six confederations.
June 24 – Die Unken haben gerufen, und was ist geschehen? “The best world cup ever”, meinte ein ITV Sportskommentator. “Die besten Fussballspiele seit Jahrzehnten”, meinte ein anderer Kollege aus deutschen Landen. “Korruption aller Orten”, heisst es allerdings in einschlägigen Kreisen.
By David Owen
June 21 – FIFA has set out detailed arrangements for payment of the $750,000 bonus promised earlier this month by its President Joseph Blatter to all 209 member associations.
By Andrew Warshaw in Belo Horizonte
June 19 – After promising that the World Cup would be the most culturally inclusive to date and send a positive message around the world, FIFA have been hit with a number of racism reports involving fans from up to four of the finalists.
By Andrew Warshaw in Belo Horizonte
June 19 – The head of Brazilian football has refused to criticise his disgraced predecessor whose tarnished reputation was once again highlighted at a media briefing today. Jose Maria Marin (pictured) told reporters he could not answer for the conduct of the man he replaced, Ricardo Teixeira.
By Andrew Warshaw in Brazil
June 14 – While world champions Spain suffered one of their worst ever humiliations on the pitch in recent memory after being thrashed 5-1 by Holland today, off the pitch embarrassment of a different kind was heaped on Franz Beckenbauer, the best-known figure in the history of German football, when he was banned for 90 days for breaking FIFA’s Code of Ethics.
By Andrew Warshaw in St Paulo
June 12 – Michael Garcia, the American lawyer who has become the central figure in the entire debate into corruption allegations swirling around FIFA, says he has left no stone unturned in his two-year probe to weed out any wrongdoing in the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bid process.
By Andrew Warshaw in Sao Paulo
June 12 – Twenty-four hours after being bluntly taken to task by UEFA for changing his mind over staying on as FIFA president and told he was largely responsible for the organisation’s tarnished image, Sepp Blatter, not for the first time, was the one to show his teeth.
By Andrew Warshaw in Sao Paulo
June 12 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter’s attempts to forge a lasting agreement between Palestine and Israel, one of his most pressing priorities, had to be put on the backburner today when there was insufficient goodwill to sign a Memorandum of Understanding that would have sent out a strong message that progress had been made.