By Andrew Warshaw
August 23 – In one of the most alarming match-fixing scandals of recent months, El Salvador has temporarily suspended 22 players, drawing an immediate response from its governing confederation, CONCACAF, which said it was “deeply saddened” by the allegations.
August 2 – Wells Fargo has become the exclusive retail banking and commercial lending sponsor of MLS following a deal struck with MLS commercial rights agency Soccer United Marketing (SUM).
By Andrew Warshaw
August 1 – Former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner, who quit football over the infamous 2011 cash-for-votes scandal during Sepp Blatter’s re-election campaign, has staged a political comeback after winning back his parliamentary seat in his native Trinidad and Tobago.
July 12 – Football’s global match-fixing scourge, regarded as the biggest threat to the integrity of the sport, has now struck at the heart of CONCACAF with the confederation confirming that two Belize players were offered bribes to throw their opening match of the Gold Cup, the region’s blue riband event, against the United States.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 10 – CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb is targeting the 2026 World Cup after the United States missed out on hosting the event in 2022 when beaten to the punch by Qatar. Webb is hopeful he can harness enough support for the World Cup to be staged in his region for the first time since the USA hosted in 1994.
By Paul Nicholson in Rio de Janeiro
June 19 – Justino Compeán, Mexican vice-president of Concacaf, says the biggest challenge facing his confederation still lies in the Caribbean – two years after the cash-for-votes scandal that rocked CONCACAF to the core. But, he says, the organisation is in safer hands than ever under its increasingly influential president Jeffrey Webb.
June 5 – FOX Sports is to sub-license its broadcast rights to qualifying matches for Euro 2016, and the European qualifiers for 2018 FIFA World Cup to rivals ESPN. The networks will split the inventory 50/50.
By Paul Nicholson
May 22 – Former CONCACAF president Jack Warner has hit back at the confederation’s Integrity Committee report that blackened his name even further following the cash for votes scandal that lead to his resignation from the sport in 2011.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
April 19 – Jack Warner (right) and Chuck Blazer (left), the one-time double act who fell out spectacularly and ended up as bitter foes, were denounced as “fraudulent in their management” of CONCACAF by an official report today.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 14 – Colombian-born Enrique Sanz has been appointed the new general secretary of CONCACAF, effective July 25, as the Confederation of North and Central America and the Caribbean continues its attempt to restore its credibility.