By Paul Nicholson
January 16 – Fans who are being priced out of attending the Brazil World Cup because of the high rates of accommodation should take a look at a campsite option launched by two Englishmen in Recreio, in the west of Rio de Janeiro. For £35 a day per person, campers can turn up and get the full World Cup experience in one of Rio’s safer districts and in an area of outstanding natural beauty.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 16 – In what might be perceived, somewhat controversially, as a sign that Lionel Messi is losing his lustre, millions of fans have bizarrely left the Barcelona and Argentine superstar out of UEFA’s team of the year.
January 16 – Leeds United, one of the biggest names in English football but struggling to rekindle past glories, have moved a step closer being taken over after Bahrain-based investment company Gulf Finance House (GFH) agreed to sell part of its stake in the iconic club.
January 16 – The prospect of a women’s Club World Cup to mirror the men’s event has reportedly moved a step following the first session of the FIFA Task Force for Women’s Football, chaired by Moya Dodd, the Australian co-opted member of FIFA’s Executive Committee.
By Paul Nicholson
January 16 – CONCACAF President Jeffrey Webb was in Senegal, Africa, last night to receive a special recognition award from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).
By David Owen
January 16 – Joseph Blatter, it is fair to say, has on occasion been slow to warm to new technology. When it comes to social media, however, the FIFA President is very much down with the kids.
January 15 – FIFA have extended their top-level sponsorship deal with credit card provider Visa until 2022. Visa will retain exclusive global rights in the Financial Services product category.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
January 15 – Spartak Nalchik has decided to pull out of the Russian National Football League, the second tier of Russia’s professional football league, due to the club’s ongoing financial woes.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 15 – FIFA’s main corruption-buster has warned that match-fixing criminals may try to target World Cup matches this summer. But says Ralf Mutschke, football’s world governing body will do all it can to make sure the tournament remains clean.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 15 – The bitter dispute over the name of English Premier League club Hull City has been stepped up with owner Assem Allam, who has pumped millions of his own money into the club, threatening to quit unless the English Football Association approves his plans.
January 15 – FIFA has named an elite group to officiate in Brazil this summer. Included in the list is English referee Howard Webb, who took charge of the bad-tempered 2010 World Cup final, but has had an indifferent season in the English Premier League.
By Alexander Krassimirov
January 15 – The fan clubs of Levski Sofia have told Bulgarian authorities that they will not participate in anti-government protests in the capital. For nearly a year, Sofia the city has been disrupted by protests against the government of the country.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 14 – Two new panels, one of ex-players and coaches and the other comprising officials and other experts, are to advise football’s lawmakers on proposed changes to the game. The two bodies are part of the reform structure being made to the International FA Board, the guardians of the rules of the game comprising FIFA and the four British associations.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 14 – Kosovan football authorities are celebrating a major breakthrough after FIFA finally cleared the national team and clubs to play friendly matches after a long-running dispute that was in danger of derailing any meaningful progress.
“I am the lord of the philosopher’s stone,” Mammon, The Alchemist, Ben Johnson
Four hundred years after those fictitious words were first uttered on a London stage, alchemy, the fabled process of turning base metals into gold, is of course just as much hocus-pocus as it was then. Even so, it does not seem to have stopped football clubs trying to turn leaden-footed footballers into the latest golden generation.