By Paul Nicholson
April 14 – Iran have made another trip to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), this time to protest the Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) decision to award hosting rights for the centralised preliminary rounds of World Cup qualifiers to Bahrain.
April 1 – North Macedonia stunned Germany and Joachim Low 2-1 with an 85th minute winner from Eljif Elmas to record their most famous international victory, leaving Die Mannschaft’s World Cup qualification campaign in disarray.
April 1 – Real Madrid’s German international Toni Kroos has become the latest high-profile player to criticise 2022 World Cup host nation Qatar’s treatment of migrant workers – but stopped short of calling for a boycott of the tournament.
March 30 – Poland captain and world player of the year Robert Lewandowski will miss Wednesday’s World Cup qualifier with England due to knee injury, a potentially damaging blow to his country’s hopes of automatic qualification.
March 26 – Germany has become the latest footballing nation to protest against 2022 World Cup host Qatar’s human rights record, following in Norway’s footsteps by showing support for migrant workers in the Gulf state.
March 26 – England’s World Cup qualifier against Albania in Tirana on Sunday will go ahead after an issue over security was resolved.
March 25 – The Norwegian squad wore T-shirts to express concern about 2022 World Cup host Qatar’s human rights record ahead of their qualifying match against Gibraltar on Wednesday.
March 25 – Turkey stunned the Netherlands with a Burak Yilmaz hattrick to win 4-2 in the opening round of 2022 World Cup qualifiers and leave the Dutch campaign in the doldrums.
March 24 – Having had one request turned down, Albania’s FA is having a second crack at trying to persuade the authorities to allow a limited number of fans to attend their World Cup qualifier against England on Sunday – this time suggesting they are first vaccinated against coronavirus.
March 24 – Norway’s threat of a World Cup boycott in protest at Qatar’s human rights record is set to take centre stage in Gibraltar tonight when the visiting Norwegian team uses the 2022 qualifier to express its support for migrant workers helping the host nation prepare for the tournament.
March 22 – Amnesty International has called on FIFA to put more pressure on 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar to improve conditions for migrant workers.
March 15 – Calls in Norway for a boycott of next year’s World Cup in Qatar continue to be fiercely debated following an initiative launched recently by top-flight clubs Tromso and Odds Ballklubb.
March 10 – A huge political row is brewing after Kosovo threatened to boycott their World Cup qualifier against Spain later this month if they are not allowed to display their flag or play their national anthem before kick-off.
March 8 – South America’s World Cup qualifiers in March have been suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic and travel restrictions, leaving continental governing body Conmebol with a headache to reschedule the fixtures in a heavily congested calendar.
March 5 – Portugal have moved their home World Cup qualifying game against Azerbaijan to Turin in a bid to use their leading English-based stars.