March 14 – Budweiser has partnered with FOX Sports to activate its World Cup 2014 sponsorship with a series of football documentaries that will air in more than 55 countries as part of the beer company’s World Cup campaign.
March 13- The scramble for World Cup tickets in Brazil shows no sign of diminishing with 203,330 of the available 360,000 snapped up within the first five hours of the second period of the second sales phase opening.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 13- They may not be staging the World Cup for another four years but Russian organizers are coming under pressure from within their own ranks to speed up stadium construction.
March 12 – FIFA has opened on-line sales for another 345,000 World Cup tickets. Tickets will be sold on a first come, first saved basis.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 12 – In a break from tradition, FIFA president Sepp Blatter has reportedly decided to refrain from making a formal speech at the World Cup’s opening ceremony for fears of jeering by protesting fans.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 11 – What was expected to be a celebratory landmark occasion in terms of stadium readiness for the World Cup didn’t go completely to plan as another 2014 venue held its first test event.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 11 – As if Brazil’s World Cup organisers didn’t have enough problems on their plate delivering the infrastructure in time for the June kick-off, the country’s president Dilma Rousseff has now come out and expressed her concern about racism in football after a spate of incidents involving players and officials. In comments posted on Twitter, Rousseff lent her support to former Brazil international midfielder Marcos Arouca da Silva, who was subject to monkey chants while playing for Santos against Mogi Mirim last week.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 7 – There have been more indications – this time from the clubs – that no decision on moving the 2022 Qatar World Cup from the heat of the Gulf summer will be taken until next year.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 3 – The stadium set to host the showpiece opening match of the World Cup may not be ready until less than four weeks before the start of the tournament, the latest of a series of setbacks for FIFA and Brazilian organisers. FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke said that work on the stadium in Sao Paulo may now not be completed until mid-May.
February 27 – FIFA has defended the traditional World Cup fan fests due to take place in the 12 host cities in Brazil after one venue said it was ditching the idea because of expense. “FIFA has worked in close cooperation with the host cities to guarantee that costs will be kept to a minimum,” said Jerome Valcke, FIFA’s secretary general.
By Paul Nicholson
February 26 – Adidas has fallen foul of the Brazilian government and, following a formal complaint, has pulled a range of World Cup products that were using sex appeal to promote Brazil-themed T-shirts.
February 24 – Public demonstrations in Sao Paulo, Brazil, again turned violent this weekend with police moving in swiftly to disperse rioters. The protest started peacefully with about 1,000 people, but the police stepped in when protestors set barricades alight and started smashing shop windows.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 19 – Brazil’s World Cup organisers are breathing a sigh of relief after FIFA gave the host venue of Curitiba a deadline-day reprieve by announcing that local authorities had done just about enough to warrant retaining its status.
February 18 – Representatives of Brazil’s Cuiaba World Cup stadium have been quick to downplay suggestions that the venue is facing a race against time because of fire damage last October.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 17 – Twenty-four hours before the FIFA-imposed deadline for Curitiba’s World Cup stadium to meet completion requirements, tension is growing as to what, if any, contingency plans are in place for ditching the venue which is due to stage four group games.