By Andrew Warshaw
March 21 – The debate over staging the 2022 World Cup in Qatar has been stoked again by hard-hitting remarks in the United States from MLS Commissioner Don Garber who championed the ability of his own country to take the job on.
March 20 – FIFA is being urged by Amnesty International not to downplay the mistreatment of construction workers’ on Qatar’s 2022 World Cup sites when football’s world governing body hears an update on the issue at its executive committee meeting today and tomorrow.
By Andrew Warshaw and Paul Nicholson
March 19 – Disgraced former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner has dismissed the latest corruption allegations against him as “foolishness” and says there is a “witch hunt” against 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 17 – Qatar’s World Cup organisers, buffeted by constant attacks about the country’s human rights record, have gone on the offensive by branding the latest report into the mistreatment of workers as a smear campaign “riddled with factual errors”.
By David Owen
March 17 – The head of Asian football has given his support to a modification to the World Cup qualifying system that would see the fifth-placed team in Asian qualifying play off against the top team in Oceania for a place in FIFA’s flagship tournament.
FIFA is happy that Qatar 2022 is building landmark stadia and infrastructure, but general secretary Jérôme Valcke says that while the debate on the issues has moved on, the construction companies and the Qatari authorities must ensure there are no more deaths
The World Cup is more than just a football tournament, but FIFA general secretary Jérôme Valcke says that while FIFA can support change in a country there is limit to what it can do, FIFA is not the UN, FIFA is about football, “we don’t tell a country its foreign policy”
Public demonstration can be expected at the World Cup, it will not be a surprise if it happens, says FIFA general secretary Jérôme Valcke. Plans are in place to keep Brazil safe for visiting fans and to create a lasting World Cup legacy for the country.
FIFA’s general secretary Jérôme Valcke says the Sao Paulo stadium isn’t ready for the opening game so FIFA isn’t ready. But that is not the point. Brazil will be a great success because there is no other choice, he says. There is no Plan B.
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.