By Duncan Mackay at Soccerex in Rio de Janeiro
November 28 – Brazil will put on a “great World Cup”, the country’s new Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo promised as the annual Soccerex convention opened here today.
By David Gold
November 29 – Tickets for the London 2012 Olympic Games football tournament are going back on sale tomorrow, with 1.5 million tickets available to the public for as little as £20 from 11am.
By David Gold
November 28 – Frank Lowy, the chairman of the Australian Football Federation (FFA), has indicated that he believes that Qatar could yet lose the right to host the World Cup in 2022.
By David Gold
November 28 – Players competing in the Italian football league are buying more than €100,000 (£86,000/ $134,000) worth of Government bonds as they hope to help alleviate the financial gloom afflicting the debt ridden country.
By David Gold
November 28 – Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore has promised that there will be no ‘Game 39’ – the controversial plan to play an extra league game overseas – during his tenure.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 28 – Former Brazilian international Ronaldo has denied reports that he has been asked to replace controversial FIFA powerbroker Ricardo Teixeira as head of the country’s 2014 World Cup Organising Committee.
By David Gold
November 28 – UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino (pictured) has reiterated the organisation’s commitment to eradicating match fixing from football, calling it their “top priority”.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 27 – The football world was plunged into mourning today after Wales manager Gary Speed was found dead at the age of 42 from an apparent suicide.
By David Gold
November 26 – Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has welcomed the potential involvement of several of his young English players in the Olympic Games next year, but warned that he did not want any of them playing at both London 2012 and the European Championships.
By David Gold
November 26 – Brazil’s controversial football chief Ricardo Teixeira (pictured) has launched a veiled attack on Sepp Blatter by declaring that “racism is not resolved with a handshake”, echoing the words the embattled FIFA President used in an interview last week, as the country launched an anti-racism drive.
By David Gold
November 25 – Eight teams from across Africa are in Morocco for the next fortnight hoping to progress to the London 2012 Olympic Games football tournament.
By David Gold
November 25 – Dutch giants Ajax will choose between two of the most influential men in the club’s history, Louis van Gaal (pictured) and Johan Cruyff, at a shareholders meeting on December 12, in order to end the internal civil war between the two men’s respective supporters.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 25 – Too many footballers are risking their long-term careers by having painkilling injections before matches, FIFA’s medical chief warned today.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 25 – FIFA’s medical chief, Jirí Dvorák (pictured), has called on anti-doping authorities not to take too hard a line against clenbuterol and to be more understanding about how and why the substance gets into the body.
By David Gold
November 24 – Chelsea have appointed Mike Hussey, chief executive of property investment and development company Almacantar, to investigate the possibility of the club constructing a new stadium at Battersea Power Station.