By Andrew Warshaw
November 21 – Former French national coach Raymond Domenech, who had a much-publicised fallout with his squad, has launched a rare and astonishing attack on the players concerned, branding Franck Ribéry a “diva”, Samir Nasri a “symbol of selfishness” and accusing Nicolas Anelka of “killing” team spirit.
Suddenly the 2018 World Cup bidding campaign seems a very long time ago.
At its conclusion in December 2010, relations between the world’s oldest Football Association – whose candidate, England, was among the losers – and FIFA, world football’s governing body, were at a low ebb.
Yet today finds Joseph Blatter, FIFA’s long-serving President, dropping in on St George’s Park, the FA’s new national football centre at Burton on Trent in the English Midlands.
By Duncan Mackay
November 20 – Markiyan Lubkivsky, the man who helped make this year’ UEFA European Championships so successful, has been handed a new role, it has been announced.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 20 – Former England captain David Beckham is quitting LA Galaxy in the United States after six years for one last hurrah before his retirement from the game.
By Duncan Mackay
November 20 – St Petersburg will host the opening match and final of the 2017 Confederations Cup, the warm-up tournament for the following year’s World Cup in Russia, it has been announced.
By Duncan Mackay
November 20 – Namibia’s women’s football team have been put forward to represent Africa at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing.
By Duncan Mackay
November 20 – FIFA will today revisit the long running case of South Korea’s Park Jong-woo and whether he should receive his Olympic bronze medal following his political protest which sparked a diplomatic row with Japan at London 2012.
By Duncan Macaky at the Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro
November 19 – The Maracanã, the iconic stadium due to host the final of the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Rio 2016 Olympics, will be ready in late February next year although a quarter of the work remains to be done, the chairman of the company building it promised today.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 19 – Buoyed by the hiring of Italian icon Alessandro Del Piero, the Australian Football Federation (FFA) have announced a new broadcast deal providing unprecedented coverage of both the national team and the Hyundai A-League.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 19 – FIFA’s Football Committee, the body comprising some of the most influential figures in the game and charged with tackling the game’s major issues of controversy, has called for third-party ownership of players to be banned.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 19 – A critical book by ex-German Football Association (DFB) President Theo Zwanziger is causing outrage among his peers especially since he has only recently become an important member of FIFA’s top brass.
By Tom Degun
November 19 – Madrid’s local Government has approved the proposed redevelopment of the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, which is the home of La Liga champions Real Madrid.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 19 – Russian authorities have promised to clamp down on hooliganism and beef up security after the latest alarming outbreak of fan violence that has shocked the country and cast a dark shadow over its credibility as hosts of the 2018 World Cup.
By Tom Degun
November 19 – Premier League giant Manchester United have announced a new four-year sponsorship agreement with prominent Turkish bank Denizbank.
By Duncan Mackay
November 19 – FIFA President Sepp Blatter will continue to try to get futsal or beach football on to the Olympic programme, he has promised.