By Andrew Warshaw
May 16 – Kosovo and Gibraltar seem certain to be fast-tracked into the 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign starting in September after being accepted as the 210th and 211th members of FIFA even though Serbia says it will fight Kosovo’s entry by legal means.
May 16 – The head of the European Union’s police agency says he is “extremely concerned” about a possible attack on Euro 2016 in France, saying the tournament is an “attractive target” for terrorists.
May 16 – A suspicious package that led to the evacuation of Manchester United’s Old Trafford stadium on Sunday and the postponement of the club’s final Premier League game of the game ended up being a fake device accidentally left behind by a private firm after a training exercise.
May 15 – Manchester United unveiled third quarter revenues up 29.9% to £123.4 million, predominantly the result of a controlled explosion in commercial revenues which rose 37.7% for the quarter to £65.8 million.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 14 – Domenico Scala, head of FIFA’s audit and compliance committee and one of the organisation’s most important independent watchdogs, dramatically resigned today after his position was rendered untenable by Gianni Infantino, prompting the first major crisis of Infantino’s three-month-old presidency.
By Andrew Warshaw and Paul Nicholson in Mexico City
May 13 – Just when he promised the world he would be leading FIFA into a new era of transparency and good governance, Gianni Infantino faces new accusations of undermining the corruption-plagued organisation’s entire reform process after less than three months as president.
By Paul Nicholson in Mexico City
May 13 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino took the unexpected step of unveiling the first key appointment of his regime today, naming Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura (pictured) of Senegal as his Secretary General, the first woman in its history to be handed FIFA’s most senior management position.
By Paul Nicholson in Mexico City
May 13 – After a five-month wait CONCACAF at last has a new president. Canadian FA chief Victor Montagliani won the presidential election in Mexico City at CONCACAF’s Congress. Montagliani takes over world football’s most dangerous post, though the presidency of CONMEBOL would run it close.
When delegates from FIFA’s 209 member federations convene for their annual congress in Mexico later today, the man who wanted so much to be king will be conspicuous by his absence. Had the cards fallen differently, it would almost certainly have been Michel Platini and not Gianni Infantino taking centre stage in Mexico City at the start of the post-Sepp Blatter era.
By James Dostoyevsky, Mexico City
CONCACAF’s presidential election in Mexico City yesterday, was always going to be an interesting affair.
By Paul Nicholson in Mexico City
May 13 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has signed a two-year agreement with its nearest neighbouring confederation, the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC), specifically to co-operate on football development, education and competitions.
May 13 – The head of Russia’s 2018 World Cup organising committee Alexey Sorokin says he has been assured by new FIFA president Gianni Infantino the tournament will go ahead as planned despite allegations of corruption and the still be to be concluded Swiss probe into the bid process for both 2018 and 2022.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 13 – Hours away from the start of the 66th FIFA congress in Mexico, on the sidelines Kuwaiti clubs were stepping up their protest to end the country’s exclusion from international football.
May 13 – Two officials who appeared to be drunk during a top-flight domestic game in the Czech Republic, widely seen since on YouTube, have been banned by their national federation.
May 13 – Tottenham Hotspur’s Argentine manager Mauricio Pochettino has signed a contract extension which commits him to the north London club until 2021.