FIFA extends Indonesia sanction deadline as festive gesture
By Andrew Warshaw
December 17 – FIFA has given Indonesia one final chance to put its house in order in what President Sepp Blatter described as a “Christmas gift”.
Exclusive: Sport is within our DNA, insists Qatar 2022 chief
Andrew Warshaw in Doha
December 17 – Pinned to a wall in the engine room of Qatar’s 2022 World Cup headquarters in downtown Doha is a detailed planner outlining what is headed “Programme Wide Masterplan: Stage One Draft.”
12 Bulgarian players arrested for match-fixing allegations
By Andrew Warshaw
December 14 – Bulgarian police have detained 12 players and two alleged organisers in the first arrests of an ongoing investigation into match-fixing.
Cyprus FA President to hold meeting to reunite divided island
By Andrew Warshaw
December 14 – A hugely symbolic development in relations between the football authorities on both sides of the political divide in Cyprus will take place in the New Year when the President of the Cyprus Football Association (CFA), Costakis Koutsokoumnis, holds a formal meeting with representatives on the Turkish-controlled north of the island.
FIFA close Mohamed Bin Hammam bribery case
By Andrew Warshaw
December 14 – The FIFA-appointed corruption buster looking into the conduct of Mohamed Bin Hammam, the man who tried to challenge Sepp Blatter for the FIFA Presidency, has admitted no new charges will be brought to support the claim that Bin Hammam bribed Caribbean officials during his doomed election campaign.
Exclusive: “We have to keep our eyes on the ball, the minute we don’t, people will say we can’t deliver”, says Qatar 2022 chief
By Andrew Warshaw in Doha
December 14 – It is just over two years since that momentous December day when Qatar stunned the footballing world by winning the race to stage the 2022 World Cup by a landslide.
FA criticise UEFA’s Serbia racial abuse punishment
By Andrew Warshaw
December 14 – Despite UEFA President Michel Platini’s oft-quoted insistence that his organisation favoured a zero tolerance approach to racism, Serbian authorities were handed a series of less than drastic sanctions today in the wake of their fans’ behaviour at the now infamous under-21 fixture against England in October.
TEAM sister agency extends EBU deal
December 13 – Highlight Event & Entertainment AG group of companies, which owns TEAM Marketing, the exclusive agency of the UEFA’s club competitions, has extended another major agreement, this time with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) through its Highlight Event subsidiary.
Exclusive: North African football emerges from the Arab Spring, badly bloodied but robust
December 13 – Speaking at the International Football Arena (IFA) conference in Japan, Khaled Mortagy, a board director of Egyptian champions Al-Ahly and the African qualifiers for the FIFA Club World Cup, gave a brutally honest presentation outlining the journey the game was taking away from the dark days of football corruption, Government interference and the scenes of shocking violence.
I want to make a real contribution to football in Qatar, says Raúl
By Tom Degun
December 13 – Former Spain and Real Madrid striker Raúl says he wants to make a real contribution to football in Qatar ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, which is why he chose to move to Doha-based club Al Sadd, who play in the Qatar Stars League.
Exclusive: Valcke puts grassroots club football to the top of FIFA agenda
December 13 – Speaking at the International Football Arena (IFA) Roundtable in Tokyo, FIFA general secretary, Jerôme Valcke said that the future of football lies in the development of grassroots activities, “which must be dominated by a strong infrastructure that is centered around club football anywhere in the world.”
Pelé unveiled as new P&G ambassador by tennis star Federer
By Tom Degun
December 13 – Brazilian icon Pelé (pictured left), who is widely considered the greatest football player ever, has been unveiled as a new ambassador for P&G by no less than Switzerland’s Roger Federer (pictured right), arguably the greatest tennis player ever.
UEFA calls for ban on third party player ownership
By Andrew Warshaw
December 12 – European football’s governing body is clamping down hard on third party ownership – by which footballers are partly controlled by outside parties when it comes to access and transfer rights.
Indonesian Government appoints football task force as FIFA ban looms
By Tom Degun
December 12 – The Indonesian Government has formed a football task force in a last-ditch attempt to avoid a FIFA suspension following a major row between two rival soccer factions in the country.
Delroy Alexander: Greater moral not technical guidance needed
I can’t count the number of times I’ve ran the line at a weekend youth football game for my son and his friends during the many programmes that we run in the Caribbean and for strangers that are a man short and in need of a man in black.
It’s hard for me to imagine kids in those games turning on me for making a questionable decision. But that’s exactly what seems to have happened to Richard Nieuwenhuizen on Sunday,