By Andrew Warshaw
November 29 – The match-fixing scandal in Austria is escalating with the news that 20 current or former players are now being treated as suspects amid reports that at least 17 first and second division matches could have been manipulated over the last seven years.
By Paul Nicholson
November 29 – UEFA have opened disciplinary proceedings against Celtic after fans unveiled banners depicting IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands and Scottish warrior William Wallace at their Champions League game against Milan. But the Green Brigade fan group who were responsible for the banners have now escalated the issue raising questions about their rights to the freedom of political expression.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 29 – Two men have now been charged as part of the investigation into alleged match-fixing in English football as fresh details emerged amid claims that even World Cup games may have been rigged. Chann Sankaran, a 33-year-old Singapore national, and Krishna Sanjey Ganeshan, a 43-year-old with dual UK and Singapore nationality, have been remanded in custody and will appear in a Birmingham magistrates court.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 29 – Zahir Belounis, the French-Algerian footballer who has returned home after finally securing his exit permit to leave Qatar courtesy of a wave of international support, says he has nothing against the country itself but everything against the club that hired him.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
November 28 – Zahir Belounis, the French-Algerian footballer finally granted his exit visa from Qatar, would not have been allowed to leave without huge international pressure on the Qatari authorities, according to his brother. But, claims Mahdi Belounis, hundreds of thousands of Euros owed to Zahir – who had claimed 18 months of unpaid wages – remained unpaid right up until his departure from the Gulf state today.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 28 – Brazil’s World Cup preparations, dogged by the probability that many of its 12 stadia will not be completed before FIFA’s end-of-year deadline, have been further rocked by the deaths of two workers at the Sao Paulo venue due to host the symbolic opening game next year.
By Paul Nicholson
November 28 – FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee has turned down appeals from both Ukraine and Peru who were sanctioned for racial abuse and crowd disturbances. They will now have to serve the original penalties imposed and both will start their next World Cup qualifying games for the 2018 tournament behind closed doors.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 28 – One of the world’s leading match-fixing investigators says it was “only a matter of time” before English football was targeted and says the latest case should serve as a wake-up call in the battle to bring down the criminal gangs and their ringleaders.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 28 – The endemic scourge of matchfixing, which has tarnished the reputation of leagues across the globe, has struck at the heart of English football, until now considered by many to be immune from what FIFA and crime-busters have long believed is the most serious danger to the sport.
November 28 – CONCACAF has opened voting for its inaugural confederation awards that will be presented in December 2013. The new awards will honour the top performers from across the confederation in another initiative designed to open up the regional governing body to its membership and football fans across the region.
By David Owen
November 28 – The UK has witnessed an explosion of TV gambling adverts since a new law entered into force six years ago, new research has shown. In statistics that will come as little surprise to regular viewers of sport on British commercial television, the research found that the total number of gambling TV advertising spots rose from 152,000 in 2006, prior to the new law, to 537,000 in 2008 and 1.39 million in 2012.
November 27 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Executive Committee has approved the format for the AFC Champions League for the next three seasons, with the continuation of the Final being played on a home and away basis.
By Paul Nicholson and Andrew Warshaw
November 27 – Trapped French-Algerian footballer Zahir Belounis’ was finally granted his exit visa today and will leave Qatar on Thursday, bringing to an end a tortuous saga that made worldwide headlines and heaped embarrassment on the Qatari authorities.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 27 – In an address to the Asian Football Confederation at its awards ceremony dinner in Malaysia, FIFA President Sepp Blatter rounded on the international media, “and especially European media”, for constantly undermining 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar.
November 27- Norway’s government has stepped up its involvement in helping football ease the plight of Syrian refugees who have fled to Jordan. Foreign Minister Børge Brende this week inaugurated the Norway Football Field for Girls at the Za’atari Syrian refugee camp in Northern Jordan and checked on progress of the second Norway Football Field in Za’atari that is set to be complete next month.