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.
September 29 – The Volkswagen emissions scandal will not affect the status of Wolfsburg, the Bundesliga club owned by the embattled car manufacturer, according to sporting director Klaus Allofs.
September 29 – Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, battling against his team’s shaky start to defending their Premier League title, has complained about a “witch-hunt” by the footballing authorities against Diego Costa.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 28 – Just as Sepp Blatter refused to resign in the wake of the criminal proceedings opened against him, so his would-be successor Michel Platini sought to keep alive his election hopes and reputation by protesting his innocence to UEFA’s entire membership over receiving a suspected SFr2 million unlawful payment from his one-time mentor.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 29 – A bullish Sepp Blatter has decided to dig in his heels and stand his ground despite the criminal investigation into his activities.
He tried every way he could, for months on end, to distance himself from the ignominy and disgrace that that has snared so many of his former colleagues.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 28 – FIFA presidential candidate Prince Ali bin al-Hussein has been quick to seize on Michel Platini’s alleged implication in the ongoing corruption crisis by once again reiterating the need for a fresh start at world football’s governing body.
By Mark Baber
September 28 – Arsenal have announced a new partnership with the Ethiopian Dashen Brewery in a deal described by Dashen’s CEO as a win for Arsenal, for the brewery and for Ethiopia.
By Samindra Kunti
September 28 – France’s Professional Football League (LFP) has extended its partnership with production company HBS (Host Broadcast Services) for a further four years.
By Paul Nicholson
September 28 – The struggle that Barcelona’s star players have with paying their taxes has continued with Neymar being the latest to fall foul of the authorities with a Brazilian judge freezing 188.8m reais ($47.6 million) of his assets in a tax evasion case.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 28 – Michel Platini’s dreams of taking over at FIFA face being dealt a hammer blow as a result of the already-infamous 2 million Swiss franc payment he received for unexplained work undertaken on behalf of Sepp Blatter.