By Paul Nicholson
November 19 – FIFA has again come under attack for its political maneuvering in Africa, this time from a leading club president in Cameroon who has criticised the world governing body and its president Gianni Infantino for manipulating federation politics, and ignoring rulings made at CAS.
November 18 – The Kenyan government says the disbanding of the country’s FA remains intact despite positive initial talks with FIFA over the crisis.
November 16 – The Kenyan government has been directed by FIFA to immediately reinstate embattled Football Kenya Federation President Nick Mwendwa who has been arrested following last week’s disbanding of the federation by the government.
November 10 – FIFA will hold its annual awards ceremony virtually for the second year in succession. A decision that follows and current public health measures preventing the spread of covid.
November 8 – Qatari telecommunications operator Ooredoo has taken a tournament regional sponsorship with FIFA becoming the Official Middle East & Africa Telecommunications Operator for the World Cup Qatar 2022 and the Arab Cup Qatar 2021, to be held in December.
November 8 – FIFA’s chief of global football development Arsene Wenger, has come under renewed questions regarding his personal integrity over his involvement with sports technology startup PlayerMaker.
November 4 – FIFA has committed to new climate change targets at the COP26 climate conference, committing to reduce their carbon emissions and reach NetZero by 2040. Those pledges collide with FIFA’s plans for a biennial World Cup and the carbon footprint of the organisation’s own supremo Gianni Infantino.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 3 – After an investigation lasting almost six years, the former heads of FIFA and UEFA, Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini, have been charged with fraud over the infamous “disloyal payment” that brought the careers of both powerbrokers crashing down.
November 2 – Hungary and Mexico have been sanctioned by FIFA over persistent fan disorder at their World Cup qualification matches following the October international window.
October 29 – The FIFA Museum has announced ‘211’, its first collaborative global exhibition on football heritage and culture which will invite all 211 FIFA Member Associations to share their own objects, stories and histories.
October 28 – The temporary move to give teams the option of making five substitutions per game instead of the standard three has been given the green light by football’s lawmakers to become permanent.
October 28 – FIFA has broken with logo design tradition with the launch of a bold Women’s World Cup 2023 brand identity and tournament slogan.
October 28 – FIFA secretary general Fatma Samoura has joined the Board of Directors of The Global FoodBanking Network (GFN), an international non-profit organisation that works towards a hunger-free future, the global governing body announced on Wednesday.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 22 – Europe’s top leagues have cautioned that FIFA’s controversial biennial World Cup plan may not, after all, have been abandoned and have stressed their firm opposition to the idea as well as to any overhaul of the international match schedule.
October 22 – Bayern Munich president Herbert Hainer has become the latest high-profile football figure to oppose FIFA’s biennial World Cup proposal, saying that “you must never sacrifice football on the altar of financial interests.”