By Duncan Mackay
British Internet Sports Writer of the Year
May 26 – Frank Lowy (pictured left), the chairman of Football Federation Australia (FFA) and the leader of the country’s bid to host the 2018 or 2022 World Cup, has come out top as Australia’s richest man for the first time, a new survey published today revealed.
By Duncan Mackay
British Sports Internet Writer of the Year
May 22 – England 2018 have managed to minimise the damage caused by Lord Triesman’s allegations about World Cup rivals Spain and Russia being involved in bribery, new bid leader Geoff Thompson (pictured) claimed tonight.
May 21 – Spain claim that they not taking Lord Triesman’s allegations of a Russian-Spanish match-fixing plot at the World Cup seriously, said the country’s Secretary of State for Sport Jaime Lissavetzky (pictured far left).
By Duncan Mackay
British Sports Internet Writer of the Year
May 21 – Sepp Blatter has backed the action England 2018 took over Lord Triesman’s allegations that rivals Spain and Russia were colluding together illegally to bribe referees at next month’s World Cup in South Africa, Sebastian Coe has claimed.
May 21 – United States President Barack Obama will not attend the World Cup, which opens in South Africa on June 11, and will instead by represented by his vice-president Joe Biden.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 20 – Holland and Belgium may be rank outsiders when it comes to the 2018 World Cup but Johan Cryuff and Ruud Gullit (pictured) are convinced their green campaign will be a powerful enough argument to cause the biggest ever upset in bidding history.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 20 – FIFA vice-president Jack Warner is the latest Executive Committee member to comment on Lord Triesman’s controversial resignation as leader of England’s 2018 World Cup bid and the damage it might cause.
By Andrew Warshaw in London
May 19 – Sebastian Coe (pictured) today reiterated his belief that the Lord Triesman affair has not inflicted terminal damage on England’s 2018 World Cup bid.
May 18 – Michel Platini (pictured), the UEFA President, has offered his support to Lord Triesman after he was forced to resign as chairman of England’s bid to host the 2018 World Cup and of the Football Association following potentially damaging allegations about rivals Russia and Spain.
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By Tom Degun in London
May 18 – Gary Lineker (pictured) has quit his weekly column in the Mail on Sunday after the newspaper published a story of Lord Triesman’s secretly recorded conversation which may have seriously damaged England’s 2018 World Cup bid.
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By Andrew Warshaw
May 17 - FIFA have asked the Football Association to look into the bribery allegations that forced Lord Triesman to resign as head of both the FA and England’s 2018 bid team – and confirmed its Ethics Committee would examine the case.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 17 – Harold Mayne-Nicholls (pictured), President of the Chilean Football Association, will head up the three-man FIFA inspection team visiting prospective hosts for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups this summer.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 17 – Spain’s 2018 World Cup bid team have expressed utter shock at Lord Triesman’s bribery allegations as English officials continue on a major damage limitation exercise to prevent their £15 million ($22 million) campaign from total collapse.
By Duncan Mackay
British Sports Internet Writer of the Year
May 16 – Sebastian Coe (pictured) and Sir Keith Mills, the architects of London’s successful bid to host the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, are set to adopt a higher profile role in England’s campaign to stage the 2018 World Cup after Lord Triesman was forced to step down as chairman, Coe has exclusively told insideworldfootball.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 16 – Lord Triesman’s comments that led to him having to resign as chairman of England’s bid to host the 2018 World Cup and the Football Association proves that they are scared of Russia’s bid, Alexey Sorokin (pictured), the head of their bid has claimed today.