Mourinho says Ballon D’Or could do with a kick towards team ethics
April 10 – Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho says the Ballon d’Or prize awarded annually to the world’s best footballer does nothing to improve the game’s team ethic.
FIFA
Figo draws on his experience to claim not all of CAF backs Blatter
By Andrew Warshaw
April 9 – FIFA presidential outsider Luis Figo is disputing the claim that the whole of Africa will back Sepp Blatter in next month’s election.
Palestine/Israel stand off: can Blatter find a way out of nomansland?
April 9 – Sepp Blatter has given a strong indication that he will oppose a Palestinian bid to throw Israel out of FIFA. At this stage it appears Blatter is still hopeful of finding a mediated solution, despite the frustration of the Palestinians and the intransigence of the Israelis.
Prince Ali launches his manifesto insisting he is in it to win it
By Andrew Warshaw
April 7 – FIFA presidential candidate Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein insists the race for the top job in world football will be a far closer affair than most observers believe as he issued a hard-hitting manifesto in which he all but accused Sepp Blatter of running the organisation far too autonomously.
Blatter to meet Rajoub as Palestinians push for Israeli expulsion from FIFA
By Andrew Warshaw
April 7 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter is set to meet Palestinian football leader Jirbril Rajoub today to try and stave off a bid to suspend Israel from football’s world governing body.
Relations thaw between Blatter and European clubs
April 2 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter has been softening his stance over criticising European clubs for having too much power and is “ready to change” as he approaches the presidential election in May, according to the head of the European Club Association.
Palestine’s Jabal wins dispute with Israel’s Hapoel Haifa and player Ali Khatib
By Andrew Warshaw
April 1 – In an unprecedented off-the-field success for Palestinian football over its Israeli neighbour, FIFA has ordered Israeli premier league club Hapoel Haifa and their former player, Ali Khatib, to compensate Palestinian side Jabal al-Mukabbar after Khatib broke his contract with them.
Johansson sees no way past Blatter but says Platini should have stood
By Andrew Warshaw
March 31 – The resentment, you feel, still partially lingers and the wounds of defeat have perhaps not completely healed. But ask Lennart Johansson whether Sepp Blatter, who beat him to the FIFA presidency back in 1998 and has reigned ever since , has any chance of being dethroned on May 29 and the Swede provides a categoric one-word answer.
“No.”
Whistle blown on FIFA whistleblower fraudster Mersiades
By Paul Nicholson
March 30 – Bonita Mersiades, the self-outed whistleblower from the Michael Garcia report into corruption in the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding process, has again hit the headlines, this time with the revelation that she was found guilty of government fraud in Australia.
Exclusive: Europe’s contribution to World Cup TV revenue falls below 50%
By David Owen
March 29 – A 20% jump in income from its Asia and North Africa region enabled FIFA to generate marginally more TV revenue from the 2014 World Cup than the previous edition in South Africa. This was in spite of a near 10% decline in revenue from the key European region.
Van Praag puts straight talking and cost cutting top of his agenda
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
March 27 – He is guarded about how many votes he will pick up and where they will come from. And he won’t guarantee he will stay the course. Yet there is a certain gravitas, authority, self-belief and dry humour about Michael van Praag that gives the impression the Dutch FA president might, just might, just have a fighting chance of upsetting Sepp Blatter at the FIFA presidential election on May 29.
Prince Ali breaks cover and slams GOAL project in search for votes
By Andrew Warshaw
March 26 – Two months after announcing he was standing as a FIFA presidential candidate against Sepp Blatter, Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan has broken his self-imposed withdrawal from the media spotlight by accusing the current regime of not doing nearly enough to develop football on the ground and Blatter in particular of playing politics to meet his own re-election ends.
The mystery of FIFA’s rocketing tax bill
By David Owen
March 24 – Low taxes and political neutrality: those are two of the reasons why, as I understand it, so many sports bodies over the years have set up headquarters amid the lakes and mountains of Switzerland.
Big clubs to bank $5m each in 2018 and 2022 World Cup payments
By David Owen
March 21 – FIFA’s decision to make $209 million available to the employers of squad members of teams qualifying for both the 2018 and 2022 World Cups means top European clubs in particular can look forward to dramatically enhanced payouts.
Bumper World Cup ticket and hospitality income boosts FIFA as legal costs rise
By David Owen
March 23 – World Cup ticketing income combined with a bonus from a well-subscribed hospitality programme to enable FIFA to shoulder a number of additional costs in 2014 without slipping into deficit or dipping into its rainy day reserve.