Saudi leaders look poised to open up stadia to women
By Mark Baber
May 20 – Mixed messages have been emerging over the last week regarding the controversial issue of allowing Saudi women to attend football games.
Asia
Stange takes on Singapore as Phuc steps up in Vietnam
By Mark Baber
May 17 – Singapore and Vietnam have both appointed new supremos for their national teams in advance of the upcoming Asian Cup qualifiers.
ASEAN countries plan bid for 2034 World Cup
By Mark Baber
May 16 – A group of ASEAN sports ministers have tabled a plan to launch a joint bid to host the World Cup in 2034, according to the deputy president of Malaysia’s football association and AFF member Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah (pictured).
India, Pakistan and Bangladesh ‘Neighbours Series’ cancelled
By Mark Baber
May 5 – The ‘Neighbours Series’ tournament, scheduled to be hosted by Fulham FC at Craven Cottage between the national sides of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh in June, has been cancelled.
Doping scandals fail to halt North Korean Han’s rise to AFC exco seat
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
May 13 – The controversial appointment of a North Korean woman to serve at the top table of Asian football is being viewed in some quarters with considerable scepticism and a backward step in terms of bringing openness and transparency back to the troubled Continent.
Forward Sports picks up Pakistani football sponsorship
By Mark Baber
May 9 – The Pakistan Football Federation have signed a long term strategic partnership with Forward Sports International who will become the ‘Uniform, Kit and Gear’ sponsors of Pakistan Football.
India under-17 World Cup bid boosted by government support
By Mark Baber
May 8 – The likelihood of India hosting the 2017 Under-17 World Cup received a boost as the All India Football Federation’s (AIFF) bid received the support of the Indian Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) as well as of FIFA’s vice-president Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein (pictured).
AFC lifts Iranian football ban allowing access to development funds
By Mark Baber
May 7 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) general assembly accepted Iran’s Football Federation’s (IFF) request to lift a ban on development projects for Iranian football teams.
Female reps Dodd, Un-Gyong and Shalabi take seats on AFC exco
By Andrew Warshaw
May 3 – Almost forgotten amid the hullabaloo of Sheikh Salman’s Presidential victory was the appointment of three women to the executive committee of the Asian Football Confederation.
Salman calls for AFC unity and promises two years of ‘great things’
By Andrew Warshaw
May 3 – Twenty-four hours after being sworn in as the new leader of Asian football, Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa followed up his election victory with a call to the warring factions to put an end to all the sniping and backbiting and come together for the common good. But festering resentment still remains.
Curtain falls on election as players lick wounds but look forward to a new AFC
By John Duerden in Kuala Lumpur
May 2 – It is hard to know which was the most extraordinary sight at the Asian Football Confederation’s Extraordinary Congress at the Mandarin Hotel in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday morning: Sheikh Salman Ebrahim Al-Khalifa winning the election to become the next president of the AFC in the first round of voting, his bitter rival Yousuf Al Serkal coming in last or Sepp Blatter lecturing delegates about the necessity of returning to core football values.
With knives deeply buried in backs, let the voting begin for power in Asia
By John Duerden in Kuala Lumpur
May 1 – The talking will shortly be over, the daggers are drawn and the tension is as thick as the cigarette smoke filling the lobby of the Mandarin Oriental hotel in the Malaysian capital.
Al Serkal bites back with letter to FIFA and AFC members
By Andrew Warshaw
May 1 – Any chance of Thursday’s Asian football Presidential election vote being cleanly contested has totally evaporated following an unsavoury 11th-hour spat between the two front-runners, both of whom have thrown verbal grenades in each other’s direction, prompting the intervention of FIFA.
Crunch time for Asia as Al-Thawadi makes his case to join FIFA’s top table
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
May 1 – During the increasingly fractious battle in Kuala Lumpur to become President of Asian football, it has been conveniently overlooked amid the political in-fighting that the position is effectively transitionary and only for 18 months.
Exclusive: Platini calls for Asia to end in-fighting
By John Duerden in Kuala Lumpur
May 1 – UEFA President Michel Platini has called for Asia to put an end to its in-fighting and move forward starting with Thursday’s vote to elect a new president of the Asian Football Confederation.