March 6 – ‘If you build it, they will come’ was the mantra behind the 1989 baseball movie Field of Dream. In Qatar’s case they keep on coming and November and December will see the Arab state full of footballers again.
March 5 – FIFA will reportedly postpone the inaugural edition of the Women’s Club World Cup to at least 2027.
Originally planned for January and February 2026, the 16-team tournament has faced delays due to unconfirmed details such as the host, format, and qualification process. The postponement is expected be confirmed at the FIFA Council meeting on Wednesday.
March 4 – FIFA’s Ethics Committee has issued a lifetime ban on Patrick Assoumou Eyi for sexual abuse. The former coach of the Gabon U-17 men’s national team has also been handed a CHF1 million fine.
March 4 – Iraq want their World Cup qualifier against Palestine next month moved from the Jordanian capital of Amman, having rejected a Palestinian proposal to stage the match just outside Jerusalem.
March 3 – FIFA boss Gianni Infantino is still cosying up to Donald Trump despite the US president’s seismic spat with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy that shocked political commentators and the western world at large.
Infantino, who attended Trump’s inauguration in Washington last month and recently praised him for promoting a message of “peace and unity”, maintained a similar narrative after arriving in Northern Ireland to attend IFAB’s annual gathering on Friday and Saturday.
March 3 – Football’s lawmakers are trying again to reduce time-wasting by goalkeepers, one of the bugbears of fans worldwide.
February 26 – Tunisia’s Wadie Jary remains listed as a member of FIFA’s member associations committee even though he was convicted of corruption and handed a four-year prison sentence.
February 21 – Coca-Cola has resolved its legal dispute with FIFA to become an official sponsor of this summer’s much-criticised expanded Club World Cup.
February 19 – With two years until the 2027 Women’s World Cup, FIFA has conducted inspections in Brazil to identify training sites and hotels for the tournament.
February 18 – FIFA has launched a new digital platform listing all approved changes of association, promising a new era of transparency in international football governance – or at least in this particular corner of it.
February 13 – There will be no alcohol available at the 2034 Saudi World Cup, according to the country’s ambassador to the UK, who confirmed that the rule would be even more strictly imposed than at the tournament in Qatar three years ago.
February 13 – FIFA has suspended a British staffer following a report that federal agents in the USA had arrested him for alleged sex with a minor. The Miami Herald claimed Jack Coles met a 14-year-old boy for sex at a hotel when he was in the city on business last year, according to court records.
February 13 – Bayern Munich fans have accused FIFA of “selling hot air” after the world federation introduced cheaper tickets for Club World Cup fixtures.
German media outlet Sportschau reports that there was a catch to FIFA’s offer of cheaper seats: fans who had previously acquired expensive tickets were faced with high cancellation fees to exchange for lower priced options.
February 12 – FIFA has been plunged into scandal following a report that federal agents in the USA have arrested one of the organisation’s executives for alleged sex with a minor.
