By Andrew Warshaw
September 4 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter has hailed initial talks aimed at easing travel restrictions for Palestinian footballers and breaking that country’s deep divisions with Israel as “historic” and hopes to find a permanent solution by the end of the year.
By Mark Baber
September 2 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter has warned urgently against the Swiss 1:12 initiative which he says would create a real problem for football in the country and the hinder the possibility of attracting talent from abroad, in an interview with the newspaper Schweiz am Sonntag.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 2 – The landmark first meeting of the newly created FIFA Task Force set up to try and break the bitter divisions between Israel and Palestine over travel restrictions imposed in the West Bank and Gaza will be held tomorrow (September 3) at FIFA headquarters in Zurich.
August 30 – The first round of public ticketing for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil saw more that more than 400,000 fans request over 2.3 million tickets in the first 24 hours. Brazilians led the way in terms of demand by country.
August 29 – The Pacific Islands opened their first outdoor, surfaced Futsal court in Samoa last weekend in Samoa, funded through FIFA’s development office as a GOAL IV project.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 27 – Hosts United Arab Emirates have been placed in the same group as Brazil as excitement mounts for the under-17 World Cup in October, an important showcase for the region with so much attention focussed on the 2022 World Cup in nearby Qatar.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 26 – President Sepp Blatter has given the strongest indication yet that the Qatar 2022 World Cup will be moved from summer – but tellingly can’t confirm exactly when it would be staged instead.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 23 – FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke (pictured) is keeping up the pressure on Russia over the country’s contentious new anti-gay legislation, saying his organisation will not accept any form of discrimination at the 2018 World Cup.
By Paul Nicholson
August 21 – FIFA put more than one million Brazil 2014 match tickets on internet sale at 7am Brasilia time yesterday, with the governing body saying that more than a million tickets had been requested by more than 163,000 applicants in the first seven hours.
By Mark Baber
August 19 – FIFA yesterday completed an inspection of facilities for the 2015 Women’s World Cup and has given Canada a clean bill of health, although questions over the artificial pitches to be used will not be answered until next year. Meanwhile, Secretary General Jerome Valcke begins yet another inspection visit to Brazil today, to check preparations for the 2014 World Cup.
By David Owen
August 19 – FIFA has yet to formulate a ‘Plan B’ for handling World Cup doping tests in the event of the local Rio de Janeiro doping control laboratory being unavailable, and is unlikely to do so before next year.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
August 16 – British FIFA vice-president Jim Boyce says he is “shocked and honoured” to be awarded one of the most important roles within the game – head of FIFA’s referees committee – and says he will do all he can to make sure the best officials are used in major competitions in order to avoid any hint of corruption or dirty tricks. Boyce recently ran the FIFA under-20 World Cup organising committee in Turkey and is understood to have impressed FIFA with his organisational skills.
By Mark Baber
August 16 – The host cities and stadiums for the FIFA U-20 World Cup New Zealand 2015 have been announced with matches being hosted on both the North and South islands in seven venues.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 15 – Britain’s FIFA vice-president Jim Boyce has replaced Spain’s Angel Maria Villar as head of FIFA’s referees committee in a political-style reshuffle that will be viewed in some quarters as weakening Villar’s influence within the corridors of power.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 15 – FIFA has now officially asked 2018 World Cup hosts Russia to explain more fully its highly contentious new law banning “homosexual propaganda” that has caused such a fierce backlash from both athletes and the gay community.