By Andrew Warshaw
November 3 – Almost four years after awarding Qatar the 2022 World Cup, FIFA appears to have edged ever-closer to an unprecedented decision to break with tradition and stage the tournament in winter because of the fearsome Gulf mid-summer heat.
November 3 – The greatest night in Australian club football history was marred by intimidation on and off the pitch but none of it could dampen the spirits of Western Sydney Wanderers who became the first Australian champions of Asia on Sunday – not bad for a club making their debut continental campaign and which didn’t even exist three years ago.
By Mark Baber
November 3 – FIFA has confirmed that it will be losing Dubai-based airline Emirates as one of its sponsors when its contract runs out at the end of the year, whilst talks with Sony, another top level sponsor, are reportedly ongoing.
November 3 – UEFA has imposed partial stadium closure orders on both Romania and Hungary after their ill-tempered Euro 2016 qualifying tie – but the sanctions will not affect away fans.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 3 – A decision over when and whether to stage next year’s African Cup of Nations is imminent following urgent talks between African Football Confederation (CAF) officials and the Moroccan organisers who have asked for the tournament to be delayed or postponed because of the Ebola crisis that has claimed more than 5,000 lives.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 3 – As football’s stakeholders gather at FIFA headquarters today for the latest meeting to determine exactly when to stage the 2022 World Cup, FIFA’s leading medical expert has insisted once again that the Qatar tournament must not be staged in the middle of the Gulf summer.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
November 3 – RasenBallsport Leipzig has unveiled plans to increase the capacity of its stadium. Under the plan, the German club’s stadium will be increased 55,000 as the club targets promotion to the Bundesliga’s top tier and, ultimately, qualification for European competition, an ambition of its Red Bull owners.
By Ben Nicholson
November 3 – The MLS has broken its season long attendance record, averaging 19,147 fans per game. Eleven teams saw an increase in attendance figures, whilst eight teams suffered drops in attendance.
By David Owen
November 2 – Everton, whose shirt sponsorship deal with Chang, the Thai beverage company, is now the longest-running in the Premier League, has become the latest top-flight English club to report a pre-tax profit for the 2013-14 season.
By Paul Nicholson
November 2 – Anyone who thought the seismic impact of disgraced American football official Chuck Blazer was over can think again. Blazer has been named as the main informant in an FBI investigation reportedly into money laundering and fraud in football.
By Andrew Warshaw. chief correspondent
October 31 – The head of Sierra Leone football has painted a grim picture of the devastating effect the Ebola crisis is having on the sport back home, with a fanatical football nation in lockdown domestically and forced to play internationals overseas.
By David Owen
October 31 – The venue for the final of next year’s women’s World Cup in Canada will need to seek recertification in January, to verify that its artificial pitch surface remains of the necessary quality.
By Mark Baber
October 31 – South Korean and French delegations have handed over rival bids for the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup 2018 and 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup on Thursday to FIFA President Blatter and FIFA secretary general Jérôme Valcke.
October 31 – The Russia 2018 World Cup will be held at 12 stadiums across 11 cities. In keeping with World Cup tradidition a series of posters have been designed to promote the World Cup and refelct the culture and traditions of the country’s football. Pictured here is a gallery of the posters from the 11 cities: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Saransk, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Yekaterinburg, Samara, Sochi and Rostov-on-Don.
By Paul Nicholson
October 31 – Education is taking lead position in the battle against match-fixing. With a number of confederations and national federations launching player education programmes – the Sportradar-led integrity tour in Wales being the latest – player union FIFPro has launched its own campaign with FIFA and Interpol.