January 31 – There is no let-up in the demand for tickets for Brazil 2014 as the five-time world champions battle against infrastructure delays to stage the tournament for the first time in over half a century.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 31 – In one of the starkest examples of the financial crisis enveloping Spanish football below elite level, the Copa del Rey quarterfinal between Racing Santander and Real Sociedad was abandoned when the Santander players went on strike because of unpaid wages.
January 31 – Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur Football Club have launched a digital platform to cater for their expanding Chinese fanbase in the region. Accessible only through the club’s website, the platform can be viewed in English and Mandarin.
By Paul Nicholson
January 31 – The Caribbean Football Union (CFU) have appointed hosts and made the draw for the 2014 CFU Club Championship Cup. 13 teams will compete for the championship, with the top three teams qualifying for the 2014/2015 CONCACAF Champions League.
By David Owen
January 30 – Everton have gone some way to soothing the pain of this week’s Merseyside derby drubbing at the hands of local rivals Liverpool by publishing a strong set of financial figures for the year to end-May 2013.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 30 – Manchester City may have surged to the top of the English Premier League but are the Abu Dhabi-backed big-spenders in danger of breaching UEFA’s financial fair play (FFP) rules in order to achieve their ambitions?
January 30 – Four Slovakian league players have been given worldwide bans by FIFA for their involvement in match-fixing this season.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
January 30 – In a bid to increase the club’s following in various parts of Poland, Legia Warsaw has launched a countrywide advertising campaign employing billboards, press and the internet. But the campaign may have backfired after fans of other clubs took insult at the ads appearing in the their cities.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 30 – The Italian football federation has kicked third division club Nocerina out of the division as punishment for their players faking injury.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 30 – South African football has been given a major boost to its damaged reputation on and off the pitch by signing a wide-ranging, five-year sponsorship deal with Nike.
By Alexander Krassimirov
January 30 – Seven Fenerbahce fans were detained following their teams’ Spor Toto Super League game against Konyaspor on 27 January. More than a dozen fans were taken to the police office in the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium after the game. After interviews, police detained seven of the fans, taking them to a nearby police station.
January 30 – The Qatar-based International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS), whose remit is becoming increasingly relevant in terms of both match-fixing and stadium safety, has announced a partnership with Germany’s football league to enhance operations at event venues round the world,
January 29 – While attention and nervousness surround preparations and fast-approaching deadlines for the 2014 Brazil World Cup, the Russians are more quietly and methodically making their preparations for 2018.
January 29 – Third party ownership of footballers’ economic rights is a hot issue that raises questions of integrity, money being siphoned out the game, and unbalancing of the football market. The big European nations generally hate it, the South Americans, in particular, embrace it. Lawyer Pāvels Tjusevs examines the business and draws some uncomfortable conclusions for football.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
January 29 – Just over a week after announcing he was running for FIFA president, Jerome Champagne has given the strongest hint yet that he will withdraw rather than stand against Sepp Blatter – and that he would readily accept a new position under his former boss if he fails to land the top job.