By Andrew Warshaw
October 31 – FIFA have been forced to apologise for a politically embarrassing gaffe after a video launching the logo for the 2018 World Cup in Russia displayed the disputed Crimean peninsula as being part of Russian territory.
October 30 – Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko will give the welcome address to World Football Forum gathering in Moscow, November 13. Organiser have now released their programme for the event which ends with a VIP reception at the Inter-Continental Hotel.
October 29 – The official launch of the 2018 FIFA World Cup logo took place last night in Russia at a televised ceremony that enlisted the help of an international space station crew and saw the emblem projected on to the historic Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.
October 29 – A senior FIFA figure has questioned Brazil’s reasons for staging this year’s World Cup, suggesting legacy and social change was a less important factor than trying to win a sixth world crown.
October 29 – Russian President Vladimir Putin, under continual pressure from critics to allow everyone at the 2018 World Cup to move and act freely, says measures will be “effective but not intrusive”.
October 24 – Piara Powar (pictured), executive director or Football Against Racism in Europe and a member of FIFA’s anti-discrimination task force, has added his voice to growing calls that Russia needs to stop paying lip-service to racism in the country and to tackle the problem head-on rather than from the current position of denial.
By David Owen
October 24 – A top United States Olympic official has offered encouragement for Qatar’s emergence as a host of sports events, provided climate issues are adequately managed.
October 23 – In a bizarre case of deliberate mistaken identity, an English lower-league professional footballer who fraudulently posed as a Premier League star in order to live a glitzy celebrity lifestyle has wound up in jail.
Medi Abalimba, a court in Manchester heard, went on a £20,000 shopping spree, stayed at exclusive hotels and even hired a helicopter.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 22 – The head of Russia’s 2018 World Cup organizing committee insists that football in his country is not institutionally racist but admits that widely publicised episodes of abuse by fans, combined with instances of hooliganism, were doing nothing to enhance the country’s image.
October 22 – FIFA inspectors say they are happy with Russia’s early preparations for the 2018 World Cup – in contrast to the concerns over delays that enveloped Brazil ahead of last summer’s tournament.
October 15 – A joint delegation of 40 experts will tomorrow begin a seven-day inspection tour of the Russia 2018 World Cup stadiums. Made up of FIFA, Russia 2018 Local Organising Committee (LOC) and Arena-2018 representatives, the party will visit five stadiums and take a virtual tour of the remaining eight.
October 13 – The march towards the 2018 World Cup is relentless, despite the calls (generally hysterical) off-stage from various US senators for the event to be moved. FIFA and the local Russian organisers have announced the venue and date for the Preliminary Draw for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
October 10 – The International Olympic Committee has poured cold water on a proposal by one of Europe’s leading club representatives that the 2022 winter Games be moved from their traditional slot to accommodate switching the Qatar World Cup to that time of year from summer.
By Paul Nicholson in Paris
October 8 – The Aspire Zone Foundation has released outline detail of a development plan that will more than double the size of its current 250-acre Aspire Zone geographical footprint.
October 7 – The Italian Super Cup final between last winners Serie A champions Juventus and Coppa Italia winners Naples will be played later this year in Qatar, it was announced yesterday at the Aspire Global Summit in Paris.