May 21 – British-based German internationals Mesut Ozil and Ilkay Gundogan met German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier at the weekend in a series of clear the air talks after they were pictured with Turkey’s controversial president President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
May 21 – Chelsea’s billionaire Russian owner Roman Abramovich, whose club won a distinctly unexciting FA Cup on Saturday to save their season, faced delays in renewing his UK visa and did not attend the game, according to reports.
May 21 – The data mining and data harvesting techniques used on Facebook to ultimately form opinion in the US election that saw the election of Donald Trump, were also used in the UK to target football fans and influence them to vote for Brexit in the 2016 referendum.
The FIFA trials – somewhat misnamed as they were very much more to do with CONCACAF and CONMEBOL and greedy individuals – are not over. A lot of people are still trembling in their shoes and watching carefully – but what for?
May 17 – The Argentine Football Association has apologised for the publication of a World Cup manual that included advice on how to seduce Russian women.
May 17 – Europe’s leading football stakeholders have joined forces to oppose Gianni Infantino’s plans to radically change the game’s global landscape by saying they have “serious reservations about the process” surrounding his proposal to enlarge the Club World Cup to 24 teams and create a biennial global Nations League.
May 17 – The Sport Integrity Global Alliance (SIGA) will hold the fourth edition of its SIGA Sport Integrity Forum and General Assembly at the United Nations, in Geneva, on July 26-27.
May 16 – A World Cup-bound Saudi referee chosen by FIFA has been banned for life at home for a matchfixing attempt just days before he was due to fly to Russia.
By Paul Nicholson
May 15 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled yesterday (Monday) that the federal law banning sports betting was unconstitutional, paving the way for the legalisation of sports betting across the US.
May 15 – On-loan Deportivo Alaves forward Munir El Haddadi has lost his appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in a bid to switch national allegiance from Spain to Morocco ahead of the World Cup.
May 15 – Peru’s joy has quickly turned to disappointment after captain Paolo Guerrero was ruled out of the World Cup after his doping ban, which had just expired, was increased from six to 14 months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
By Paul Nicholson
May 10 – The battle against betting related match-fixing needs to be stepped up with stronger regulation and real co-operation between the anti-matchfixing stakeholders, was the overriding message from the first SIGA Expert Summit on Sports Betting, Integrity and Media that closed in Porto, Portugal, this week.
May 9 – More than six months after a judge in Paraguay authorised the extradition to the United States of former Conmebol boss Nicolás Leoz, alleged to have been one of the masterminds in the FIFAGate corruption scandal but who has so far managed to escape the clutches of US prosecutors, now appears to be closer than ever to finally being brought to justice.
May 9 – Just five weeks before the start of the World Cup, FIFA has given Russia a symbolic wrap over the knuckles by fining the Russian soccer federation CHF30,000 ($30,000) after fans racially abused French players during a recent game in St. Petersburg.
May 1 – Following a special session organised by the Sports Integrity Global Alliance (SIGA) at the Miami Dade College in Florida, USA, SIGA has launched an action plan against abuse, smuggling and trafficking of children and young people in sport.