Canada 2-0 El Salvador
June 24 – Fresh from emerging from a Concacaf-imposed timeout, Canadian head coach Jesse Marsch returned to the technical area at Shell Energy Stadium in Houston, knowing any more misbehaviour would send him back to the naughty room. He needn’t have worried as their opponents El Salvador simply imploded in a red mist.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 26 – You had to feel somewhat sorry for FIFA’s new Secretary General Fatma Samoura when the former United Nations administrator made her first official overseas public address in her new role today.
By Paul Nicholson
September 26 – FIFA has stepped into the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) elections for the FIFA Council and banned Qatari FA vice president Saoud Al-Mohannadi (pictured) from standing. The last minute intervention will again raise questions about the FIFA politics in play as FIFA’s new mandarins and president Gianni Infantino surround themselves with people who can be aligned to their interests.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 26 – You couldn’t really make it up. Well maybe you could. After all, this is FIFA. Ever since football’s world governing body launched its much-trumpeted reform programme, one of the key messages it has been so keen to promote is that it will no longer tolerate racism and discrimination. A major priority. Zero tolerance. No more prevarication.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 26 – Russia’s Sport Minister Vitaly Mutko, who became embroiled in the recent Olympic doping scandal, has been re-elected president of the Russian Football Union (RFU), crushing his only rival for the position to remain the country’s most powerful sporting official.
September 26 – One of the world’s leading human rights groups has urged FIFA to put a stop to Israeli league games being played by teams stationed in the occupied West Bank in what is becoming an increasingly thorny dispute.
September 26 – Korea Republic’s Chung Mong Gyu has taken over as the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) East Zone Vice-President following the resignation of China’s Zhang Jilong.
September 26 – Qatar have sacked yet another national team coach as it tries to find a way of building a competitive team ahead of the 2022 World Cup.
September 26 – Premier League Tottenham Hotspur have teamed up with Jaguar Land Rover China to deliver a year-long youth football development training programme in Guangzhou.
By Paul Nicholson and Andrew Warshaw
September 23 – One of Qatar’s highest-ranking officials is persuing his bid to join FIFA’s inner circle, despite having a FIFA ethics investigation recommending a two-year ban imposed on him and a verdict on his proposed sanction still to be handed down.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 23 – Doubts have been raised over whether FIFA’s new audit and compliance chief Tomaz Vesel is eligible for the job and whether FIFA president Gianni Infantino may have worked behind the scenes to manoeuvre the Slovenian into the role vacated in May by Domenico Scala.
September 23 – Kuwait’s new government-appointed controllers of football – still very much operating outside the international environment following a ban by FIFA and an instruction to Asian Football Confederation members not to engage with them – have announced the first event of their new regime will be the 2016 Kuwait Football Super Cup.
September 23 – Paris Saint-Germain has launched a new app, Fansparc, which is designed to give fans an immersive experience of PSG’s stadium, the Parc des Princes.
By Matt Scott
September 23 – The strength of the Chinese sports industry has been underlined with an investment valuing the largest foreign-owned sports-marketing agency at $45 million.
September 23 – The 72 clubs immediately below the English Premier League have ended prospect of Premier League B teams joining them and have also ruled out Scottish giants Rangers and Celtic being included as part of a widespread revamp.
September 23 – A new social network designed to help players connect with clubs, scouts, agents and coaches has launched. Playerhunter aims of simplify the process of trawling for players, checking them out and speeding the time to contract, while at the same time opening up the number of opportunities to find the clubs that would work for them.