USA 1 Saudi Arabia 0
June 19 – American comedian Rodney Dangerfield used to say, “I don’t get no respect.” The same could be said for the United States Men’s Soccer Team as barely 10,000 fans showed up for a supporter friendly 8.15 pm kickoff versus Concacaf Gold Cup, Group D opponents, Saudi Arabia in a 1-0 win that again raised more questions than answers.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 12 – Jerome Valcke, for years Sepp Blatter’s right-hand man and his most senior day-to-day administrator, was sensationally banned from all football activities for 12 years today for serious misconduct including underselling TV and media rights for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, using FIFA’s money for private travel and destroying evidence.
February 12 – FIFA presidential candidate Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa has signed an amended version of an Amnesty International pledge to end human rights abuses and corruption in the sport.
At the start of the FIFA presidential race, all we heard was the need for a clean campaign, with each candidate energetically promoting his own cause. No finger-pointing, no duplicity, no mud-slinging.
February 12 – Attendance figures picked up slightly on the previous week for round 25 of the Premier League season but with 19, 356 seats unfilled across the 10 fixtures, Aston Villa despite a 2-0 win accounted for more than half of them.
By Mark Baber
February 12 – A new era has dawned for the Football Kenya Federation as Nick Mwendwa has been voted in as the new president of the Football Kenya Federation, finally bringing to an end the controversial reign of incumbent Sam Nyamweya.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 12 – If Africa is regarded as the main battleground to pick up votes in the forthcoming FIFA presidential election, then CONCACAF runs a close second.
By David Owen
February 12 – The return of Champions League football has benefited Manchester United, with the Old Trafford club announcing doubled pre-tax profits of £33.1 million for the six months to December 31.
By Paul Nicholson
February 12 – The long held lead by Arsenal as the Premier League club with the most Twitter followers is likely to end this week with Manchester Untied having closed the gap on their London rivals to just 6,500 followers.
February 12 – Germany will officially bid to be among the first countries to experiment with video replays if lawmakers approve live trials next month.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 12 – FIFA’s decision to freeze funding to CONCACAF and CONMEBOL, the two confederations most affected by the ongoing corruption scandal with a spate of officials charged and arrested, has drawn a carefully worded response from CONCACAF who insist they are putting their house in order and clearly want the payments resumed.
By David Owen
February 11 – Soaring costs have taken their toll on profits at Crystal Palace, the south London Premier League club which recently received an injection of new money from US investors.
February 11 – Swiss weekly newspaper Weltwoche has published damning detail of an Australian-led campaign to attack Qatar, destabilise FIFA and fund a disinformation campaign against FIFA election candidate Shaikh Salman bin Al-Khalifa.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 11 – Describing the upcoming election as “perhaps the most crucial date in the history of football governance”, FIFA presidential candidate Prince Ali bin al-Hussein took a swipe at his rivals today as he outlined a detailed plan of action for his first year in charge of world football’s scandal-plagued governing body.
By Mark Baber
February 11 – As Third Division club Amedspor, from Turkey’s largest Kurdish-populated city Diyarbakir, enjoys a run to the Turkish cup quarter-finals, it finds itself under attack from the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) – with player and fan bans imposed and police raids for alleged ‘ideological propaganda’.
By Paul Nicholson
February 11 – The intensive lobbying of African federations for their vote in the upcoming FIFA presidential elections last week saw more use of the ‘Gianni Jet’. This time it was spotted on a Facebook post delivering UEFA-funded candidate Gianni Infantino to Juba in South Sudan.