By Samindra Kunti in Rio de Janeiro
October 25 – Brazil and Canada kick off the U-17 World Cup on Saturday. The hosts will be among the favourites to win the tournament that was relocated at short notice from Peru.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 24 – China will host the first edition of the expanded Club World Cup in 2021 with FIFA president Gianni Infantino hailing the landmark event as “historic” and describing it as “the first real and true [Club] World Cup”.
October 24 – The introduction of so-called concussion substitutes has moved a step closer after the game’s rule-makers set up an expert group to begin looking into whether changes to the laws need to be made.
October 23 – English Football Association chairman Greg Clarke wants concussion substitutes to be introduced “as quickly as possible” in the wake of a highly publicised report which found a higher incidence of neurodegenerative disease among former footballers than in the population as a whole.
October 22 – In September the Qataris launched the official emblem for the 2022 World Cup. Last week they launched a new official emblem for this year’s Club World Cup to be played in December.
October 21 – FIFA is expected to confirm China this week as host for its 24-team Club World Cup in 2021, overcoming opposition from Europe. The revamped tournament will provide the Zurich-based body with a new revenue stream.
October 18 – Conmebol has proposed the format for South American qualification route for the revamped club World Cup in 2021, but has met opposition to the proposal from heavyweight regional giant.
October 16 – Concussion substitutes will be discussed next week by football’s law-making body to mirror the success of similar changes in Rugby Union in an attempt to improve player safety.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 8 – Still protesting his innocence at the ban that crushed his hopes of landing the FIFA presidency he so coveted, former UEFA chief Michel Platini is free to work in football again and is vowing to make a comeback which could potentially mean trouble for those he believes conspired to end his career.
October 8 – FIFA has extended the term of the Normalisation Committee that oversees Ghanaian football.
October 8 – Former El Salvador FA boss Reynaldo Vasquez is the latest high-profile official to be banned for life by FIFA.
October 7 – The suspicion that FIFA rigged the vote for its Best Awards to ensure superstar Lionel Messi won for a sixth time refuses to go away, with Sudanese coach Zdravko Lugaroszic re-iterating that he didn’t vote for the Argentine despite FIFA listing him as having done so.
October 7 – FIFA and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have signed a four-year memorandum of understanding to promote a healthy lifestyle and ensure tobacco-free environments at football stadiums.
October 7 – Former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has confirmed that he is considering a technical role at world federation Fifa though he has not ruled out returning to a management job after resigning at Arsenal in 2018.
October 4 – FIFA’s drip-drip series of sanctions of former senior officials has snared another scalp with ex-Equatorial Guinea FA president Domingo Mituy Edjang banned for four years for having “misappropriated FIFA funds”.