By Paul Nicholson
January 19 – With FIFA election candidates lobbying for votes and a flamethrower as entertainment for the assembled, the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) focused on its own football activity at the weekend, for the first time holding a ‘public’ draw ceremony for the 2016 CFU Men’s Caribbean Cup in Antigua.
January 12 – Bolton Wanderers, one of the most iconic names in English football, have been given a stay of execution by avoiding an immediate winding-up order.
January 19 – Hull City, Panathinaikos and Sporting Lisbon have all settled their financial fair play issues with UEFA but Galatasaray have failed to comply with break-even rules and have been referred to the governing body’s adjudicatory chamber.
By Paul Nicholson
January 19 – The US investigation into money laundering by South American football officials has gained a wider perspective as news has broken that one of the senior bankers at Swiss bank Julius Baer has been in US custody since the autumn.
By Mark Baber
January 18 – According to Real Madrid general manager Jose Angel Sanchez, Premier League clubs are under investigation by FIFA over transfers of minors and could face bans similar to those imposed on Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid last week.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 18 – In a seemingly deliberate move to avoid being accused of conflict of interest, African football boss Issa Hayatou is distancing himself from his confederation while the FIFA presidential campaign gains momentum.
January 18 – The Spanish league has come out in support of Real and Atletico Madrid describing the FIFA transfer bans meted out to both of them as “disproportionate” and “excessive”.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 18 – Harold Mayne-Nicholls, the FIFA-appointed Chilean who headed the inspection team that examined the credentials of all nine candidates for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, is to appeal against his seven-year ban imposed six months ago by FIFA’s ethics committee, saying he cannot understand why he has been treated so harshly.
United States attorney general Loretta Lynch may change FIFA, but old school football politics is likely to prove an altogether tougher dragon to slay.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 18 – Negotiations are under way for the BBC to stage a live debate with candidates in the build-up to the FIFA presidential election on February 26.
By Paul Nicholson
January 18 – FIFA presidential candidate Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan has accused rival candidate Shaikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa of trying to engineer a bloc vote for himself in the upcoming FIFA presidential elections with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Asian (AFC) and African (CAF) confederations.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 18 – FIFA presidential candidate Tokyo Sexwale’s hopes of gaining the unanimous support of his own African confederation have suffered a further blow with Ghana saying the South African lacks the requisite leadership skills.
By Paul Nicholson
January 15 – FIFA’s presidential lobbying has been most active in Africa this week with three contenders – Gianni Infantino, Prince bin al-Hussein and Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa – all present in Kigali, Rwanda, for the West Africa Football Union meetings.
“Birds of a feather flock together.” Aesop
When Sepp Blatter gave an interview to the Tass news agency recently it made headlines everywhere. The Football Association chairman, Greg Dyke, even took what Blatter had said to the British parliament. The widespread outrage arose from Blatter’s claim that he had intended to stitch up the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding in favour of the US and Russian World Cups.
By Bernd Fisa
January 15 – There was a touching and humbling backstage aside at the Ballon D’Or Awards earlier this week when Ronaldo, Messi and Neymar paid tribute to former Glasgow Rangers captain and Dutch international Fernando Ricksen.