January 11 – FIFA President Gianni Infantino has been denounced by Amnesty International for appearing in a promotional video for the Saudi Arabian government in which he said the country has made important changes.
January 8 – FIFA has broken new ground by announcing it will trial concussion substitutes at next year’s Club World Cup in Qatar.
January 8 – Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter is recovering after being rushed to hospital, but his life is not in danger according to Swiss media.
January 8 – FIFA has stuck with traditional broadcast channels and in particular state-owned terrestrial channels with the award of the 2026 World Cup broadcast rights in each of the Nordic territories: DR and TV2 in Denmark, YLE and MTV in Finland, TV2 and NRK in Norway, and SVT and TV4 in Sweden.
January 6 – Seemingly not a day goes by without Gianni Infantino courting a Gulf country. On Wednesday, the FIFA president visited Saudi Arabia, the day after the 41st GCC summit ended the three-year blockade of Qatar.
January 6 – FIFA has joined forces with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in a new campaign encouraging the football industry to raise awareness about global match-fixing.
January 4 – In a snub to English football authorities, FIFA have stepped in to block the 10-game worldwide ban imposed by the English FA on international defender Kieron Tripper for breaking betting rules.
December 30 – The Ivory Coast FA (FIF) has lodged an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against FIFA’s appointment of a normalisation committee in the country.
December 30 – FIFA President Gianni Infantino says football has been a vital tool in helping the world deal with the terrible effects of the Covid-19 pandemic but has repeated his stance that a rethink is needed over how competitions are organised in the future.
December 30 – FIFA has cancelled its 2021 U-17 and U-20 men’s World Cups due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
December 23 – Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter has dismissed allegations of criminal mismanagement relating to a museum project launched by Blatter towards the end of his tenure.
December 23 – With two World Club Cups to be hosted in Qatar in 2021, venues for the 7-team format have been chosen for the first edition in February 1-11.
By Paul Nicholson
December 22 – The day after his election to the FIFA presidency in May 2016, Gianni Infantino attended his first official public function in Zurich at the opening of the CHF 140 million ($158 million) FIFA Museum project.
December 21 – Paris St Germain manager Thomas Tuchel (pictured) has questioned the absence of Marquinhos from last week’s FIFA XI Team of the Year, claiming that the Brazilian should have been included.
