By Duncan Mackay
British Sports Internet Writer of the Year
January 19 – Former Olympic javelin champion Tessa Sanderson will not be permitted to play any part in deciding the future of the Olympic Stadium, it was announced today.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 19 – Mike Lee (pictured), the man leading Tottenham Hotspur’s public relations campaign to take over the Olympic Stadium after London 2012, insists legacy will form a crucial part of the club’s detailed proposals and rejects growing claims they are merely being driven by money.
January 19 – Vauxhall Motors has made football history by becoming the first organisation ever to sign title partnership agreements with all four football associations of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.
By Mike Rowbottom
January 19 – Ukrainian referee Oleg Oriekhov (pictured) has been banned for life after being found guilty in the Court of Arbitration for Sport of having links with a criminal match-fixing gang before and after last season’s UEFA Europa League match between FC Basel and CSKA Sofia.
By Duncan Mackay
British Sports Internet Writer of the Year
January 18 – More key figures involved in London’s successful bid to host the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, including former Mayor Ken Livingstone, have come forward to criticise Tottenham Hotspur’s controversial plans to demolish the Stadium and rebuild it without an athletics track.
By Duncan Mackay
British Sports Internet Writer of the Year
January 16 – Opposition to Tottenham Hotspur’s controversial proposal to take over the Olympic Stadium after London 2012 continues to grow, with the world’s fastest man Usain Bolt and Britain’s former Sports Minister Richard Caborn both adding their voices to the growing anger at the plans of the Premier League club to demolish the arena and rebuild it without an athletics track.
By Duncan Mackay
British Sports Internet Writer of the Year
January 17 – Tottenham Hotspur’s hopes of moving into the Olympic Stadium after London 2012 are set to suffer a major blow later this week when a rival plan to renovate the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, a key part of their proposal, is unveiled.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 17 – The idea of staging the 2022 World Cup during the winter if Qatar became hosts was discussed weeks before last month’s vote, according to a senior member of the FIFA Executive Committee.
January 17 – Foreign Ministers from Southeast Asia have discussed for the first time the possibility of a joint bid from the region to host the FIFA World Cup in 2030.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 17 – The North, Central American and Caribbean Football Confederation (CONCACAF) is gunning for a fourth automatic place at the next World Cup in Brazil.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 16 – Acting President David Chung (pictured) has been elected to succeed the banned Reynald Temarii as head of the Oceania Football Confederation, strengthening the position of FIFA President Sepp Blatter in the process.
January 16 – Russian cities hosting 2018 World Cup matches should be linked by an €4 billion (£3 billion/$5 billion) integrated high-speed rail network, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has said.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 15 – Qatar’s landslide 2022 World Cup bid victory has burst into yet more controversy with two newspapers – one on either side of the Atlantic – questioning how they did it.
By Mike Rowbottom
January 14 – Ed Warner (pictured), chairman of UK Athletics, has explicitly denied the suggestion made this week by those handling Tottenham’s bid to redevelop the 2012 Olympic Stadium that his organisation has refused to engage with them on their plans for an athletics legacy elsewhere.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 14 – The head of Asian football has come out fighting by insisting the 2022 World Cup in Qatar will not be switched from summer to winter or be shared with other Gulf nations.