By Andrew Warshaw in Zurich
December 3 – FIFA appears on the verge of agreeing to expand the World Cup from 32 to 40 teams, but has deferred a final decision pending discussions about commercial and organisational ramifications.
By Mark Baber
December 3 – With UK television regulator Ofcom’s review of the issue likely to drag on for months, Virgin Media’s chief executive Tom Mockridge has stepped up the campaign for 3pm Saturday kick-offs to be televised with a blog post on the Virgin Media site and briefing for sports journalists.
By Samindra Kunti
December 3 – FIFA’s ethics committee has begun an investigation into the Brazilian FA (CBF) president Marco Polo Del Nero. If guilty Del Nero can expected to be added to an increasingly long list of south American football chiefs either suspended or banned from all football-related activities.
By Paul Nicholson
December 3 – Alfredo Hawit and Juan Angel Napout, arrested this morning in dawn raids at the Baur au Lac hotel in Zurich, Switzerland, have both opposed their extradition to the US after hearings given to the Zurich cantonal police this morning.
By Andrew Warshaw in Zurich
December 3 – The timing could not have been more apt. On the day the FIFA corruption scandal escalated dramatically with a second dawn raid in six months and the arrests of two more high-profile footballing figures, so decades of protocol were wiped away with a total overhaul of the way the organisation does business.
December 3 – A report into the social impact of the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation on the local community has found that its activities contribute a social cost saving of more than £20 million.
By David Owen
December 3 – Stoke City, the Midlands-based Premier League club controlled by bet365, the online gambling company, has reported a second consecutive annual profit. The club, which has become an established top-tier outfit under first Tony Pulis and now Mark Hughes – and which joins Liverpool, Everton and Manchester City in the semi-finals of this season’s Capital One Cup – posted a pre-tax profit of £5.7 million for the year to May 31,
By Paul Nicholson
December 3 – Lightening does strike twice at FIFA. Police for the second time this year swooped on the Baur au Lac Hotel in Zurich in dawn raids this morning arresting two more FIFA executive committee members.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 3 – Liberian football chief Musa Bility, barred from running for FIFA president, has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in an attempt to get the judgement overturned.
By David Owen
December 3 – The crisis engulfing FIFA looks to be taking its toll on the football governing body’s finances, with reports emanating from Zurich on Wednesday night to the effect that the 2015 deficit will be worse than budgeted.
By Paul Nicholson
December 2 – The commercial rights for the Copa America Centenario 2016 which sparked the US Department of Justice’s deep dive into the murky world of football marketing on its continent, have been re-awarded.
December 2 – The world’s leading football leagues gathered in Paris yesterday and have agreed to form a permanent new world association to lobby for their interests with the game’s governing bodies.
By Matt Scott
December 2 – The Greek public prosecutors who declined to pursue charges against Olympiacos in the so-called Koriopolis match-fixing scandal have been accused of accepting bribes as they considered the case.
By Mark Baber
December 2 – When it comes to a boring football match, most fans have little option but to grin and bear it. Not so with Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, President of Mauritania, who in the 63rd minute of the Supercup match between FC Tevragh-Zeina and ACS Ksar, decided enough was enough and brought the action to an end – ordering the referee to proceed straight to penalties.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 2 – Five front-line sponsors have re-iterated their demands for FIFA’s reform process to have an independent voice – just as proposals for long-lasting change are put to the scandal-plagued organisation’s top brass.