By Andrew Warshaw
April 27 – Asian football has been rocked by fresh revelations that threaten to take the shine off Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa being re-elected unopposed as president of his confederation this week.
By Alexander Krassimirov
April 27 – The disciplinary committee of the Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) has punished CSKA Sofia with a fine of BGN 37,500 (€18,750) for a swastika flag which was flown by the fans during the match against Lokomotiv Sofia last weekend.
By David Owen
April 26 – FIFA is probably going to have to make do with the same size of financial contribution from the Olympic Movement in 2017-20 as it is getting in the present four-year cycle, culminating with the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
April 24 – The World Cup is coming to Northern Ireland – the trophy, not the competition.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 24 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC), poised for a series of crucial election ballots, has scrapped its executive committee meeting scheduled for the eve of its 47-member Congress in Bahrain on April 30.
By Mark Baber
April 24 – In the wake of UEFA sanctioning Croatia for the racist behaviour of same of their fans, the Croatian Football Federation turned on the Head of the Football against Racism in Europe (FARE) organiser in Croatia, falsely blaming him for the team having to play Italy behind closed doors. FARE have responded with an article on their website, which explores the issue in depth.
April 24 – The war on match-fixing continued this week with a series of workshops delivered in Gibraltar, the home of Europe’s off-shore internet gaming industry.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
April 24 – Ajax Amsterdam aims to acquire a majority stake in the company operating the Amsterdam ArenA where the side plays its home matches. The Dutch club currently has 13% of the shares in the sports facility, while the municipal authorities of Amsterdam hold a 48% stake.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 24 – FIFA have been quick to respond to a resolution tabled by a group of European politicians calling for a re-rerun of what they describe as the “illegal” bidding process for the 2022 World Cup which has been dogged by unsubstantiated corruption claims ever since Qatar won the vote by a landslide in December 2010.
April 24 – The president and secretary general of the international players’ union FIFPro have met with the EU’s commissioner for Sport to re-iterate their opposition to the current transfer system.
By Paul Nicholson
April 24 – Russia’s stadium preparations for the 2018 World Cup are on schedule in terms of delivery dates, but off-schedule in terms of cost. An issue that is forcing the organisers to continually re-evaluate, but which they have repeatedly said will not derail the overall plan.
By Mark Baber
April 24 – The Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) has finally reappointed Stephen Keshi as manager of the national team for the third time, bowing to the wishes of Nigeria’s out-going President Goodluck Jonathan, in a ceremony at which NFF President Amaju Pinnick was conspicuous by his absence.
April 23 – The Somali Football Federation (SFF) has again called for African Peacekeeping troops to withdraw from the country’s National facility in Mogadishu and allow it to be returned to football.
If one can believe the social media world, Team China should have already qualified for World Cup 2018. Even though the AFC has only just announced the draw for the eight groups, which is only the secondary stage of a long long qualification process for the Russian tournament.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 23 – A rightwing Israeli non-governmental organisation has stepped up the propaganda war of words over the treatment of Palestinian footballers in the West Bank and Gaza by blaming Palestinian football leader Jibril Rajoub for deliberately stirring up trouble.