September 30 – FIFA’s Russian powerbroker Vitaly Mutko has been forced to backtrack after an apparent gaffe about being afraid of becoming the latest high-profile football figure to be arrested.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 30 – Palestinian football authorities have stepped up their campaign to overturn an order by FIFA to play a crucial World Cup qualifier against Saudi Arabia on neutral ground.
September 30 – Barcelona’s Argentine international Javier Mascherano has been charged with two counts of tax evasion in the latest fraud case to hit Spanish-based players.
By Mark Baber
September 30 – Manchester City FC have announced a multi-year drinking and mineral water partnership with Thailand-based Singha Corporation Co. Ltd, a subsidiary of Boon Rawd Brewery, for Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar.
“Si monumentum requiris circumspice [If you seek his monument, look around]” Christopher Wren, epitaph on Wren’s tomb
Ever since the Great Fire of London devastated its capital, Great Britain and its inhabitants have had an obsession with architecture. It is a nation that has spawned many Great Builders, such that naming only Wren, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Sir Joseph Bazalgette or Sir George Gilbert Scott is to commit a gross injustice to the others who came before and after them.
By Samindra Kunti
September 30 – The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) have introduced an American-style draft in Brazilian women’s football to ensure a more competitive balance in the domestic league.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 30 – English FA officials meeting today are expected to discuss whether to stick by their decision to support embattled UEFA boss Michel Platini in next February’s FIFA presidential election.
By Paul Nicholson
September 30 – Michel Platini has reacted swiftly to heightened speculation over the SFr2 million payment he received from FIFA in 2011, saying that it was settlement for work that he had completed in 2002, and that he still intends to stand for the FIFA presidency.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 29 – Four years after he resigned all his FIFA roles rather than face being thrown out, the past came back to haunt Jack Warner today when the notorious former FIFA vice-president and CONCACAF chief was banned for life from all football-related activity, at national and international level, by FIFA’s independent ethics committee.
By Paul Nicholson
September 29 – The bomb that dropped on FIFA president Sepp Blatter and UEFA president Michel Platini on Friday following the Swiss Federal Prosecutor’s investigation of a suspicious payment to Platini of SFr2 million, may have just exploded.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 29 – Palestinian football authorities are crying foul after being ordered by FIFA to play a crucial World Cup qualifier against Saudi Arabia on neutral ground.
By David Owen
September 29 – Futsal, a form of five-a-side football, is to replace the standard 11-a-side format at the next Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires in 2018. The decision to make the switch was taken by FIFA at its eventful two-day Executive Committee meeting in Zurich last week.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
September 29 – The financial woes of Romanian top tier club Astra Giurgiu are set to continue as an application for an early release filed by its jailed owner, Romanian businessman Ioan Niculae (pictured), was recently rejected by a local court. Niculae is currently serving a sentence of 914 days, and, under Romanian law, to be granted an early release, he must serve at least 304 days.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 29 – In a clear attempt not to be undone in terms of snatching the moral high ground, FIFA presidential candidate Chung Mong-joon has launched a scathing attack on the credibility of the organisation declaring it is now in “total meltdown” after the recent allegations concerning Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini.
Auguste Rodin’s ‘The Thinker’, also displayed in this week’s cartoon (or, at least a variation of it), best qualifies the goings-on in FIFA, where the top floor stays lit up, even late at night these days.