June 6 – FIFA has filed a criminal complaint in Switzerland against the ticket website Viagogo on the eve of the World Cup as part of a crackdown on unauthorised sales.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 6 – It has taken a tournament for unaffiliated nations, stateless peoples, breakaway diasporas, indigenous communities and ethnic minorities to launch what is being hailed as one of football’s most refreshing innovations to cut down on dissent and improve respect for officials.
By Samindra Kunti
June 6 – Argentina has cancelled a World Cup warm-up match with Israel following political pressure from Palestine. The cancellation of the highly controversial friendly has thrown Argentina’s World Cup preparations further into disarray.
June 6 – Iran were the first team to arrive in Russia ahead of the 2018 World Cup, which kicks off next week. The Iranians have been paired in group B with Spain, Portugal and Morocco, but their preparations have been blighted by logistical problems.
June 6 – Veteran Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon has been suspended for three games by UEFA in the wake of his red card and behaviour during Juventus’ Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid.
June 6 – UEFA will give a record €2.04 billion to clubs playing in the Champions League and Europa League next season, a more than €800 million increase on last season.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 5 – Morocco’s 2026 World Cup bid leaders have been refused permission to make a final presentation to FIFA’s South American voters ahead of the all-important ballot on June 13.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 5 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino suddenly appears to be backtracking on bringing forward plans for a 48-team World Cup to the 2022 tournament in Qatar.
June 5 – Osiris Guzman, the Dominican Republic federation president who famously once used a speech to compare Sepp Blatter to Jesus Christ, Nelson Mandela and Winston Churchill all rolled into one, has found himself going the same way as FIFA’s former president after being banned by FIFA’s ethics committee from all involvement in the game for 90 days pending a full inquiry.
June 5 – Manchester City’s Premier League-winning manager Pep Guardiola has been handed a two-game suspension by UEFA for his conduct during the defeat to Liverpool in the Champions League quarter-finals.
June 5 – For millions of football fans all over the world the World Cup is not the World Cup without the official sticker album, particularly in the UK where a World Cup without the player swaps merry-go-round would be like Christmas without a fat man in a red suit coming down the chimney.
June 6 – West Ham have signed Taiwanese international airline Eva Air as the club’s first official airline partner.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 6 – A bitter war of words row has broken out over Argentina’s upcoming pre-World Cup friendly against Israel with the head of the Palestine Football Association urging Arab fans to burn replica shirts of Lionel Messi if he plays and Israel’s backers countering the rhetoric by angrily protesting to FIFA.
June 4 – Ethiopian football has a new leader, albeit after a protracted election process, in Esayas Jira who takes over Juneidi Basha after polling 87 of 145 votes at the national federation’s General Assembly.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 2 – Publicly, they have put on a brave face and sent out a positive message. Privately, as well as being relieved, they must be mightily frustrated to put it mildly.