By Andrew Warshaw
July 3 – Defiant as ever, Sepp Blatter says he will travel to Russia for next year’s World Cup despite serving a six-year ban from all football-related activities imposed by FIFA’s ethics committee.
July 3 – The Confederations Cup has been a test of Russia’s organisational skills and a credible warm-up for 2018. Alexey Sorokin, chief executive of the Organising Committee for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, in an exclusive interview with Samindra Kunti talks about the learnings from the tournament, Russia’s expectations for 2018, and his bid for a seat on FIFA’s Council.
By Mark Baber
June 19 – Qatar has moved swiftly to reassure the world’s football community that construction is progressing on stadia for the 2022 World Cup, despite the political, economic and social isolation attempts by its neighbours led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
By Paul Nicholson
June 12 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino has expressed confidence that the diplomatic crisis surrounding Qatar in the middle east will not threaten the 2022 World Cup, but that FIFA is monitoring the situation closely.
By Samindra Kunti
June 9 – Dick Advocaat begins his third reign as Netherlands coach with the mission of taking Oranje to the World Cup in Russia. Holland lie in fourth position in their World Cup qualification group and play Luxembourg on Friday.
May 30 – As the first 2022 World Cup stadium opened its gates for Qatar’s Emir Cup final last week, a pilot sensory room project also kicked off, designed to improve the match-day experience for supporters with cognitive disabilities.
May 26 – A report by Britain’s Guardian newspaper claims FIFA knew about North Korean workers being employed in dire conditions in the construction of a 2018 World Cup site in St Petersburg.
May 23 – Qatar 2022 organising chief Hassan Al Thawadi has been explaining the impact and scale of his country’s World Cup project at the World Economic Forum in Jordan.
By Paul Nicholson
May 18 – Qatar will re-open the Khalifa International Stadium this weekend, the first tournament-ready venue for the first winter World Cup that kicks off 21 November 2022. Khalifa International will host group matches and knock out rounds up to the quarter finals in 2022, but before then it will host the 2017 Emir Cup final, 2017 Gulf Cup and 2019 IAAF World Championships.
By Samindra Kunti
May 17 – Zenit St. Petersburg have been forced to play tonight’s (Wednesday) league match with FC Krasnodar at another ground after the pitch at the Krestovsky stadium was deemed to be too poor for the fixture.
By Paul Nicholson
May 10 – Issues of racism and discrimination have been thrust into the spotlight again with the Sulley Muntari case sadly showing that football has a lot more work to do on the issue. FIFA’s response has been depressingly ambivalent; of the “it’s not nice but what do you expect us to do” variety. So what about Russia, the World Cup and the widely documented issues facing that country as it prepares to welcome the world in 2018.
By Samindra Kunti
April 24 – Saint Petersburg’s 69-000 all-seater Krestovsky Stadium has opened two months before the Confederations Cup, but concerns remain over the venue’s readiness.
April 20 – A US Democrat Senator has urged FIFA to consider stripping Russia as hosts of next year’s World Cup over its alleged complicity in the recent chemical weapons attack in Syria.
April 17 – Amid concerns over disruption at next year’s World Cup, Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a federal law that will toughen penalties for “gross violations” at sporting events by both Russian and visiting fans.
April 7 – Qatar has agreed to heavily slash its budget for hosting the 2022 World Cup and is pressing ahead with eight stadiums, according to organising chief Hassan Al Thawadi.