September 5 – CONCACAF president and chairman of the FIFA Anti-Racism and Discrimination Task Force, Jeffrey Webb, has moved swiftly to praise the Brazilian expulsion of Gremio from the Brazilian Cup following a section of the club’s fans racially abusing a Santos player.
By Paul Nicholson
September 5 – Sports data gathering giant STATS has acquired Bloomberg Sports, the sports data and analytics leaders in the US sports market. The merger creates a powerful data, technology, analytics and content group serving a broadbase of clients from media to leagues and teams globally.
September 4 – The World Football Forum 2014 to be held at the Ritz-Carlton in Moscow, November 13, has announced that a panel discussion on the implications of UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations will be led by the Chief Executive of Chelsea Football Club, Ron Gourlay.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 4 – Lawyers representing many of the world’s leading female footballers protesting against playing next year’s Women’s World Cup in Canada on artificial turf have written to FIFA president Sepp Blatter as well as all six Confederation heads as the campaign for natural grass intensifies.
By Mark Baber
September 4 – FIFA has again stepped into the Nigerian football morass in a further attempt to bring sanity to the troubled federation which has seen rival factions emerge, both claiming leadership. The Giwa faction claims Chris Giwa was fairly elected whilst Aminu Maigari was under arrest by security forces. The Maigari faction was planning to hold elections today and regards Giwa as an interloper.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 3 – Although he is mainly known in football politics for being Asia’s FIFA vice-president and one of the game’s renowned modernists, Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein is also head of Jordanian football and in an attempt to boost his country’s profile has turned to one of England’s most familiar faces to be its next national coach.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 4 – Despite all the pre-World Cup rhetoric about the tournament helping to reduce racism in Brazilian football, leading club Gremio have just been banned from the country’s main cup competition after some of their fans abused a Santos player.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 4 – Further evidence has emerged that Germany will withdraw its bid to host the latter stages of Euro 2020, ensuring Wembley stages the semi-final and final. Last week in Monaco, both countries privately hinted that a deal had been done, echoing a previous gentleman’s agreement England were accused of reneging on back in the 1990s.
September 4 – A Female Coaches Advocacy Group has been launched in the US to encourage and promote women into coaching the game. The group is to start at the state level in Colorado and in Southern California with Cal South to create a state network of women in coaching to start dialogue with mentor college women to get involved in coaching.
By Mark Baber
September 3 – Nigerian football remains in chaos as two rival factions within the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) battle for legitimacy. The Giwa-led faction claims he was elected President last week whilst the Maigari-led faction have organised new elections for tomorrow (Thursday).
By Andrew Warshaw
September 3 – FIFA President Sepp Blatter has re-iterated his stance that Russia will not be stripped of the 2018 World Cup despite European diplomats reportedly considering calling for a boycott in protest at the worsening crisis in eastern Ukraine.
September 3 – UEFA are attempting to distance themselves from a potentially awkward situation at next week’s anti-discrimination conference in Rome.
September 3 – Sepp Blatter has pulled out of opening next week’s annual Soccerex football business conference in Manchester, a huge blow to organisers who have lined up a heavyweight programme of speakers for the three-day event.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 3 – Ivory Coast will host their Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Sierra Leone this coming weekend after the government relented and allowed the game to go ahead despite fears over the deadly Ebola virus.
September 3 – Italy’s leading team on the pitch continues to lead the country’s social media off it, this time with a video skit made on Juventus’ Australian tour using dead-pan Italy star Andrea Pirlo.