By Andrew Warshaw
December 3 – The president of the International Olympic Committee has re-iterated his call to FIFA not to allow the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to clash with the winter Games of the same year.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 3 – The Australian team participating in next year’s women’s World Cup in Canada have threatened to join the legal fight against the use of artificial turf if there is no satisfactory resolution, according to the lawyer representing the protesters.
December 3 – FIFA is not responsible for the conditions of migrant workers employed to build stadiums for the 2022 Qatar World Cup, Sepp Blatter has re-iterated. But FIFA are monitoring the situation in Qatar closely with constant feedback over the welfare of foreign workers following an international outcry over their ill-treatment.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
December 2 – Michel d’Hooghe, one of FIFA’s longest-serving administrators who is being investigated as part of the World Cup anti-corruption probe, says he is suffering “the hardest period of my life” and being treated “like a murderer” even though he has done nothing wrong and has absolutely nothing to hide.
December 2 – UEFA President Michel Platini has vehemently denied a report that he was given a Picasso painting as an inducement to vote for Russia as 2018 World Cup hosts.
December 2 – Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are, as expected, on the three-man shortlist again for this year’s Ballon d’Or prize as the world’s best player, but the nomination of German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer is more of a surprise though fully deserved.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 1 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter, has repeated there is no chance of moving the 2022 World Cup from Qatar amidst another swathe of allegations about alleged corruption over the bidding process for both 2022 and the 2018 tournament in Russia.
November 28 – In a statement to German paper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, FIFA Ethics chief Hans-Joachim Eckert refutes the criticism made by German FA President Wolfgang Niersbach of the ethics process.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 27 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter’s idea of bringing in video replays and permitting coaches to be allowed tennis-style challenges against refereeing decisions appears unlikely to be implemented in the near future.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 26 – A defiant FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke insists that the decision by two top-tier sponsors to end their association with FIFA had nothing to do with making a stand against the corruption allegations that have engulfed world football’s governing body.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 25 – Sony Corporation will not be renewing its top-tier $280 million FIFA sponsorship which ends December 31, according to Japanese reports. After the loss of Emirates Airlines as a sponsor last month FIFA had said that it was in “ongoing talks with Sony” over renewal of their eight year deal. Now it seems those talks have ended.
By David Owen
November 23 – Towards the end of one of the most difficult months of his long tenure comes a reminder of one of the reasons why Sepp Blatter has for so long proved so difficult to dislodge from his post as FIFA President.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 21 – The hosting of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups by Russia and Qatar, which appeared to be a closed case a week ago, has been plunged back into the spotlight after the two FIFA ethics chiefs at the centre of the anti-corruption investigation agreed the evidence should be further examined in-house – and then opened up to FIFA’s entire executive committee.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 20 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter has personally rejected English FA chairman Greg Dyke’s demand for Michael Garcia’s World Cup investigation report into allegations of misconduct surrounding the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids to be published in full.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 20 – One of the two whistleblowers whose evidence to the FIFA 2018 and 2022 World Cup bid investigation was deemed unreliable has revealed she was contacted by the FBI after initially making her corruption claims against Qatar and says she permanently fears for her life.