By Samindra Kunti
November 3 – The Belgian FA KBVB is considering launching a claim for damages at FIFA after Sepp Blatter’s revelations about a possible fixed agreement to award the 2018 FIFA World Cup to Russia.
By Samindra Kunti
November 3 – The Dutch FA KNVB made a profit of €6.8 million during the 2014/15 season. Holland’s absence at Euro2016 will not threaten the financial health of the organisation but will impact future investment.
By Mark Baber
November 2 – A row has erupted in Hong Kong over the upcoming world cup qualifier against China. In the first leg Hong Kong fans booed the national anthem, for the second leg the match has been switched to the Mong Kok Stadium (capacity 6,679) in place of the Hong Kong stadium (capacity 40,000).
By Andrew Warshaw
November 2 – Luis Figo, who bid for the FIFA presidency last time round until withdrawing before the ballot, has given his backing to UEFA stand-in candidate Gianni Infantino for the February 26 vote.
November 2 – As German football authorities continue to come under pressure over the vote-buying slush fund allegations which they have strongly denied, a senior German politician has entered the debate by suggesting DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach should consider resigning.
By Paul Nicholson
November 2 – Russia’s 2018 preparations are ramping up with reports that the redevelopment of the Luzhniki stadium which will host the opening match and the final is ahead of schedule while elsewhere infrastructure projects are gathering pace with the Nizhny Novgorod regional government announcing it has allocated Ruble 1.9 billion for a subway link to its stadium.
By Samindra Kunti
November 2 – The Brazilian capital Brasilia is in danger of missing out as a host city for the Olympic football tournament as the city’s dire economic situation may prevent it from signing the required contracts.
November 2 – Manchester City’s Belgian captain Vincent Kompany has described as “a joke” UEFA’s decision to launch an investigation into the booing of the Champions League anthem by the club’s supporters.
By Paul Nicholson
November 2 – Delegates heading for the Securing Sport 2015 conference in New York that starts Tuesday will hear from one of the candidates for the FIFA presidency. Former South African government minister and anti-apartheid campaigner Tokyo Sexwale will give a keynote speech on the opening day, his first since declaring his candidacy.
By David Owen
November 1 – US Città di Palermo, the Sicily-based Serie A club, has acquired an official ‘Global Forex and Binary Options’ partner. The club – known for its pink and black, ‘the sad and the sweet’, colours, adopted in 1905 – has paired up with InstaForex, an online currency, metals and index-trading specialist headquartered in one of the planned 2018 FIFA World Cup host-cities, Kaliningrad.
It is doubtless not the smartest move to begin a column you hope one or two people might actually read in the style of an IQ test or a maths exam. Just this once, however, I am going to chance it.
Sepp Blatter’s revelation that there was a deal in the FIFA executive, and in particular with Michel Platini, to vote for Russia for the 2018 World Cup and Qatar for 2022 has raised a hue and cry that the vote was a fix with Greg Dyke demanding the return of the £21 million England spent on the bid. The assumption is that the vote was bent and therefore the election invalid.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 31 – The much-publicised slush fund allegations surrounding Germany’s hosting of the 2006 World Cup have exploded into fresh controversy amid claims that Franz Beckenbauer, who led the country’s bid, may have personally endorsed a financial inducement to Malta just weeks before its FIFA member was about to vote.
So now we know who’s in and who’s out. A list that at one stage comprised only two candidates suddenly burgeoned to eight – or rather seven after the David Nakhid debacle – in the final hours before the deadline last Monday with the anticipated rush of last-minute applications.
October 30 – In the latest of a series of cherry-picked interviews, Sepp Blatter has lashed out at American-based sponsors for undermining him and his organisation with their adverse comments about FIFA’s corruption scandal.