By Samindra Kunti
September 9 – Indian football is a parallel world of a struggling national team and a vibrant Indian Super League, but the All Indian Football Federation considers the 2017 U17 World Cup as a stepping stone for the development of the domestic game.
By Mark Baber
September 7 – Headlines around the world have been incorrectly proclaiming ‘Palestinians ready to host 1st ever World Cup qualifier’, ahead of Tuesday’s 2018 qualifier against UAE which will be held at the Faysal Al-Husseini Stadium in Al Ram.
By Paul Nicholson
September 7 – The divisions over the ban on third-party ownership of players’ commercial rights were opened up again in a no-holds barred debated at the FITS Forum in Geneva last week.
By Paul Nicholson
September 7 – Emanuel Macedo de Medeiros (pictured), CEO of ICSS Europe and Latin America, closed the FITS Forum last week with a powerful and passionate call for an international, independent and neutral clearing house for sport related financial transactions. His call was backed by ICSS president Mohammed Hanzab who said that the world needs an independent, neutral global integrity body.
September 6 – Real Madrid, the world’s richest club, has become the latest side to join the drive to aid Europe-bound refugees after announcing it will donate €1 million to help those arriving in Spain.
By Tom Parsons
September 4 – Ronaldo or Messi, one of the big questions of our time, is being voted on in London by commuters using their cigarette butts.
September 4 – Hundreds of paramilitary and riot police were deployed in and around the stadium in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen on Thursday as China and Hong Kong squared off for a politically sensitive World Cup qualifier.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 4 – The Asian Football Confederation has been quick to respond to accusations by FIFA presidential candidate Chung Mong-joon that it is guilty of “electoral fraud” in the race to succeed Sepp Blatter.
By Paul Nicholson at the FITS Forum in Geneva
September 4 – There is an urgent need for regulation to make football clubs identify who their owners are, including beneficial owners – the real owners hiding behind shell companies or nominees, said Nicola Bonucci, director legal of the OECD.
By Paul Nicholson in Geneva
September 4 – Has sport, and football in particular, lost its self-proclaimed special status right of self-governance, free from government influence and prevailing national laws? Three political grandees speaking at the FITS Forum in Geneva were of the consensus that autonomy for sport was a principal that needs to respected. But within their accepted perameters.
By Tom Parsons
September 3 – Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich are to set up a camp for refugees coming into Germany and will donate €1 million towards refugee projects in the country.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
September 3 – The municipal authorities of Paks, a city in Hungary’s south-west, have added HUF 600 million (€1.9 million) to the HUF 800 million (€2.6 million) earmarked by the Hungarian government to finance the upgrade and expansion the Paksi FC stadium.
By Mark Baber
September 3 – Football in Israel, already suffering from problems relating to the state’s relationship with Palestinine and racism at top clubs is facing a major crisis as the Israeli Football Association says it will cancel all league matches if a recent ban on playing on the Sabbath is not lifted.
By Paul Nicholson in Geneva
September 3 – Mohammed Hanzab, president of the ICSS, and Emanuel Macedo de Medeiros, CEO of ICSS Europe & Latin America, issued a powerful call to action at the opening of the FITS Forum in Geneva, saying that now is not the time to be standing on the sidelines and that a global alliance is required to fight corruption and create a blueprint for sports’ commercial and political governance.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 3 – Another prospective candidate has entered the race to become the first African president of Fifa as Nigeria’s Segun Odegbami – a former national team captain – said he wanted to join the party.