April 1 – Port of Spain – In an unexpected turn of events, formerly disgraced Austin “Jack” Warner, the ex-president of CONCACAF, CFU, ex-VP of FIFA and several other football organisations around the world, has announced his comeback into international football.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
March 31 – Israeli football authorities have broken their silence over the hugely sensitive dispute with Palestine, insisting efforts are being stepped up to improve conditions for Palestinian players and officials in and out of the West Bank and Gaza.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
March 31 – AEK’s plan to build a new €65 million stadium has obtained the backing of Greece’s Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Change Yiannis Maniatis who signed a project proposal intended for the Greek parliament. The document needs a total of four ministerial signatures to be submitted, and the country’s interior minister, culture minister and finance minister have already promised to ink the proposal.
March 31 – Eritrea have pulled out of the qualifiers for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco for no apparent reason. They had been due to face South Sudan in the first round of the preliminary phase over two legs in April.
March 31 – Swedish football has been left in shock after a supporter of the Stockholm club Djurgarden died from head injuries sustained in an assault before his team’s season-opening fixture at Helsingborg.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 31 – Reaction continues to pour in to the establishment of the new Nations League tournament that looks set to become an integral part of European football from 2018.
By Paul Nicholson
March 30 – English Premier League club Southampton, continually reported to be selling its top players and for sale itself, has reported a financial loss of £7.1 million for 2012/13. Before taking into account transfer spending the club made an operational profit of £8.7 million in the period which bridged the club’s first and second seasons back in the Premier League.
By Tom Parsons
March 28 – Hyde FC playing in the Skrill Conference Premier haven’t exactly had a season to remember on the pitch but their presence on Social Media has been entertaining to follow. One tongue-in-cheek tweet read: “Hearing reports that Floyd Mayweather has made a $38 million bet on Hyde tonight. Come on The Tigers! #WinItForFloyd”.
By Paul Nicholson
March 28 – FIFPro, the World Footballers’ Association has strongly backed UEFA’s president Michel Platini callingfor a worldwide ban on Third Party Ownership (TPO) of players.
By Tom Parsons
March 28 – A study by Accepted Socially has seen Manchester City finish top of the Social Media standings, a feat fans will hope they can emulate on the pitch when the Premier League title is decided over the next six weeks.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
March 28 – Municipal authorities of Bialystok have signed a deal with local football club Jagiellonia to promote the Polish city and support its efforts to combat racism and intolerance. Under the deal, Bialystok will provide PLN 3.5 million (€830,000) to Jagiellonia in an arrangement taking them through to December 15.
By Paul Nicholson
March 28 – The planned UEFA Nations League, scheduled to start in 2018, has been met with caution by the world footballers association FIFpro, and the Association of European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL). Both bodies have issued statements indicating they have reservations over the potential impact of the new format.
March 28 – FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke admits “time is flying” towards completing the final three stadiums for the World Cup and that the delays faced by Brazil should serve as a lesson to future hosts.
Since Mexico ’86, when Morocco’s Atlas Lions became the first African side to reach the second round at the World Cup finals, the continent has managed, in the six tournaments that have followed, to maintain an unbroken presence in the knockout stages.
But on the seven occasions that an African team has reached the second round or the quarter-finals, the managers at the helm have come from every other part of the world except –
Just as the cavernous conference hall at Astana’s Palace of Independence was being cleared away and the delegates from 54 countries were being chauffeured to the Kazakh capital’s airport past dozens of weird futuristic-looking buildings, in a side room Michel Platini unbuttoned his jacket and leaned back in relaxed, almost triumphant mood.
The president of UEFA knew the job had been done, that he had pressed all the right buttons during his organisation’s annual congress and received the support he needed to carry on leading his flock.