February 9 – Qatar’s senior team may have disappointed at the recently completed Asian Cup in Australia after their Gulf Cup win, but their U17 players are making a global imprint at the fourth Al Kass International Cup tournament for clubs, currently being played in Doha, Qatar.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 9 – Ivory Coast’s first Africa Cup of Nations title since 1992 on Sunday failed to mask a series of controversial events that blighted the tournament on and off the pitch.
By Mark Baber
February 6 – The desperate financial situation of the Russian Football Union (RFU), which has been unable to pay national team manager Fabio Capello’s salary, looks set to be resolved in the next two days as billionaire businessman Alisher Usmanov (pictured) has pledged to grant a loan to the federation to cover the arrears.
By Samindra Kunti
February 6 – Francois De Keersmacker presides over an upwardly mobile Belgian football federation with a national team that will be a Euro2016 challenger. He talked exclusively to Insideworldfootball about his home front challenges, why he backed Michael van Praag, why FIFA are not “a bunch of swindlers” but need to change, and the “stomach-churning” 2018 World up bid.
February 6 – Spain and Portugal have reportedly filed a complaint to the European Commission challenging FIFA’s ban on third party ownership.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 6 – Fans of host nation Equatorial Guinea brought shame and disgrace on the Africa Cup of Nations as they forced Thursday’s semifinal to be suspended for more than 30 minutes amid scenes described as a “war zone”.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 5 – Asian football supremo Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al-Khalifa’s control over his huge region has been underlined with the surprise decision to hold this year’s 47-nation Asian Football Confederation congress in his native Bahrain.
February 5 – The referee who awarded the controversial last-gasp penalty decision that helped hosts Equatorial Guinea reach the African Nations Cup semi-finals at the expense of Tunisia has been banned for six months.
February 5 – Neymar’s controversial 2013 transfer to Barcelona is back in the spotlight with the news that Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu is to be questioned over alleged tax fraud in the signing of the Brazilian international striker.
By David Owen
February 4 – A further 80 English grass-roots football facilities are to get much-needed investment from a recently-established fund that draws on money from the Premier League, the UK Government and the Football Association (FA).
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
February 4 – The Belarusian government has said it has earmarked funds to provide Dinamo Minsk with a new stadium by the end of 2019. The new arena will have a capacity of 25,000.
February 4 – Despite repeated protestations of his innocence and a plea to be allowed to get on with his job, Japan’s Mexican coach Javier Aguirre has been sacked over much-publicised match-fixing allegations covering the period he worked in Spain.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 4 – A year after announcing his plans to form a new MLS club in Miami, David Beckham is still searching for a permanent venue amid growing concerns that his dream franchise might be some way off.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 4 – The war of words between Europe’s clubs and the players’ union FIFPro over reforming the transfer system has been stepped up with another hard-hitting exchange of views.
February 4 – Major League Soccer (MLS) has extended its deal with Sportradar Security Services to monitor the global betting market in relation to MLS matches for the 2015 and 2016 seasons.