By Andrew Warshaw
June 30 – With the women’s World Cup reaching the semi-final stage today and tomorrow, questions are being asked about why the top two countries in the world ended up being in the same half of the draw.
By Mark Baber
June 30 – As the centre of gravity of the world’s economy shifts toward the Asia-Pacific region, the signing of Tottenham midfielder Paulinho for £9.8 million, in the wake of the country’s leadership putting its weight behind the development of football, looks like a statement of intent from the Chinese club football.
“No man can judge what is good evidence on any particular subject, unless he knows that subject well. A lawyer is no better than an old woman at a post-mortem examination.” George Eliot, Middlemarch
For hundreds of years the legal profession has been among society’s least popular functions. It’s pretty clear that not everyone likes the way lawyers practise their business but the fact is the modern world could not carry on without them.
June 30 – Italian Serie B club Catania faces relegation after its president admitted fixing five games last season to avoid dropping out of the division.
June 30 – FIFA’s main crime-buster has expressed his regret at Interpol’s decision to end the two organisations’ “unique collaboration” because of the corruption scandal that has rocked world football’s governing body.
By Paul Nicholson
June 30 – With build projects for the final two stadia in Yekaterinburg and Kaliningrad being approved by Russian central government, the 30 day countdown to the first official event of the 2018 World Cup has begun. The Preliminary Draw will be held in St Petersburg on July 25 with 141 teams in the pots that will be drawn by FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke.
While FIFA continue to battle with snitches that cut deals to save their own backsides (literally yet metastatically, one hears), and after the movie-style orchestrated group-arrests have slowly lost their Zurich lustre, a New FIFA future is nowhere to be detected – as yet.
By Paul Nicholson
June 30 – News that Trinidad & Tobago had received extradition papers from the US seeking former FIFA vice president Jack Warner, who was indicted in the FIFA investigation, have been quickly denied by the US Department of Justice which said it has not sent “any final requests” regarding the extradition.
By Samindra Kunti
June 29 – Francois de Keersmaecker has been reelected as president of the Belgian Football Association, the KBVB, but the Pro League has already threatened to take financial reprisals after a contentious voting procedure and more accusations of mismanagement at the KBVB.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
June 29 – Global shopping brand Lyoness has signed a contract to become the main sponsor of Rapid Wien. The company will serve as the Austrian side’s main sponsor, starting in the 2015/2016 season, for a five-year period under a deal worth some €1.8 million per year, Rapid said.
At the beginning of April, in the wake of serious allegations against him, I interviewed Asian football supremo Dato’ Alex Soosay. The under-fire Malaysian was unequivocal: he was innocent of any wrongdoing. Moreover, the dark days of the Asian Football Confederation’s corruption-tainted past were over, he said.
June 29 – UEFA’s new-look executive committee holds its first meeting today and tomorrow with financial fair play and the format for the 2016 Euro finals the top items on the agenda though discussions on a successor to FIFA president Sepp Blatter seem certain to take place, whether formally or informally.
By Mark Baber
June 29 – The Spanish League (LFP) has filed an appeal regarding the playing dates for the 2022 World Cup, according to a spokesperson for the Court of Arbitration for Sport, although a date for the hearing has yet to be set.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 29 – Dominico Scala, independent chairman of FIFA’s audit and compliance committee, has said that the time for playing the politics of the media is over, as FIFA prioritises its reform agenda and prepares for a change of leadership.
By Samindra Kunti
June 29 – Marco Polo Del Nero’s real estate assets have grown 175% since joining the Confederation of Brazilian Football (CBF) in 2012 as vice-president, according to Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo. It has increased speculation and suspicion around Del Nero, the current CBF president, about management of the federation and its finances.