By Samindra Kunti
January 29 – FIFA and the Brazilian Football Association (CBF) have confirmed the release of the money for $100 million 2014 World Cup legacy fund. The world governing body had up to now repeatedly refused to release the money over compliance concerns.
January 29 – South Sudan’s Football Association (SSFA) has revealed that the country’s national teams will stage all their international matches this year in Uganda’s capital Kampala.
January 29 – Sapphire Ventures has raised $115 million for a new sport venture capital fund and has Manchester City owners, City Football Group (CFG) as one of its cornerstone backers.
January 29 – Marseille have been ordered to play home fixtures behind closed doors until officials have finished investigations into a firecracker that was thrown on to the pitch during their last league game against Lille.
By Abdelaziz Abuhamar
January 28 – The two arch rivals will meet today in what the stats suggest should be a fairly even encounter. UAE have defeated Qatar twice in the AFC Asian Cup and Qatar defeated UAE once in their three continental encounters.
January 28 – Qatar’s captain Hassan Al Haydos has said his team have what it takes to reach the final of the 2019 Asian Cup as they face hosts the United Arab Emirates in yet another match that mirrors the geopolitical showdown in this fascinating tournament.
January 28 – Carlos Queiroz has stepped down as coach of Iran after his team crashed out of the Asian Cup 3-0 against Japan. In recent weeks the Portuguese has been linked to the Colombia national team vacancy.
Iran 0 Japan 3
By Paul Nicholson
January 28 – Japan stunned Iran and their fans into silence with an outstanding second half performance to win 3-0 in the semi-finals of the Asian Cup at the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain, UAE, tonight.
By Paul Nicholson
January 28 – A European rival to Gianni Infantino is preparing an election campaign to topple the FIFA president at the next congress this June in Paris.
By Paul Nicholson
The alacrity of FIFA’s move to call on stakeholders to find a solution to the detention of part-time footballer Hakeem Al Araibi in Thailand shows a remarkable new found conscience and morality in an organisation that eschews a philosophy of never mixing politics and football.
January 28 – The man behind a string of incriminating leaks that shook the footballing world over the past few weeks “is absolutely aware” of the earthquake he has triggered according to his lawyer.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 28 – Southern African countries have thrown their full weight behind FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s bid for re-election in June, a somewhat pointless exercise given that, as things stand now at least, he is the sole candidate for the job although, as revealed exclusively today in Insideworldfootball, a European rival to Infantino is being lined up.
January 28 – Inter Milan is now under full Chinese ownership with private-equity fund LionRock Capital having the 31.05% stake retained in the club by in Indonesian Erick Thohir when he sold to Chinese electronics retailer Suning Commerce Group in 2016.
January 28 – Having been controversially awarded this summer’s African Nations Cup despite a history of fan violence, Egypt has gained yet more concessions from the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
January 28 – The Abu Dhabi Sports Council has snapped up all the remaining tickets for the AFC Asian Cup semi-final to be played in the 42,000 capacity Mohamed bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.