By Duncan Mackay
March 10 – FIFA general secretary Jérôme Valcke (pictured) has postponed his trip to Brazil next week following the criticism he received from the Government there after he criticised the preprations for the 2014 World Cup, claiming that they needed a “kick up the backside”.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 9 – After months of rumour and counter-rumour about his state of health, Ricardo Teixeira (pictured), controversial President of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) and head of Brazil 2014, has taken an indefinite medical leave of absence.
The sudden decision to call off FIFA general secretary Jérôme Valcke’s planned trip to Brazil this week has once again cast world football’s number two in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.
Valcke was due to make the latest of his many World Cup inspection tours, this time to Recife, Brasília and Cuiabá, but the visit was postponed in what appeared to be a deliberate trouble-shooting exercise by his boss, FIFA President Sepp Blatter.
By David Gold
March 9 – FIFA President Sepp Blatter has said that women’s football has a stronger social dimension than the men’s game.
By David Gold
March 9 – Former Brazil striker Ronaldo, a member of Brazil 2014, has said that FIFA general secretary Jérôme Valcke’s criticisms of their preparations for the World Cup were correct.
By David Gold
March 9 – British MP Damian Collins (pictured) has tabled a Parliamentary bill which would require football clubs to reveal the identity of their owners, as well as putting an end to the football creditors’ rule.
By Tom Degun at the Global Sports Forum Barcelona in Barcelona
March 8 – Manchester United legend Eric Cantona (pictured) has predicted that the United States can win the World Cup in 20 years by building on the system he is introducing at New York Cosmos, where he is Director of Soccer.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 9 – FIFA has wasted no time defending its position by hitting back at a critical Council of Europe report by declaring there were “certain inaccuracies” in a recommendation calling for an internal investigation of Sepp Blatter’s (pictured) re-election as President last year.
By David Gold
March 8 – The International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS) has announced a partnership with the Institute for Fan Culture (IfF) in Germany.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 8 – The World Cup beer battle between Brazil and FIFA has taken a vital step forward with officials finally recommending lifting the strict ban on the sale of alcohol at stadiums.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 8 – A key Council of Europe watchdog has questioned FIFA President Sepp Blatter’s (pictured) election victory last year and says more assurances need to be given that it was clean.
The easiest way to understand Roman Abramovich, the owner of Chelsea, is to appreciate that he is like a child with a new toy train set. The child knows his shiny new train set is better than anything possessed by the other kids, and while he wants to show off, he does not want to share his toys with anyone else. All he wants is to show how clever and superior he is in possessing this set.
By David Gold
March 8 – A European Parliament report today called on UEFA to ensure that football clubs cannot be sponsored by organisations closely related to their owners, thus circumventing the new Financial Fair Play rules (FFP).
By David Gold
March 8 – Georgia is planning to bid to host the European Championships in 2020 with neighbours Azerbaijan, their President, Mikheil Saakashvili, said on Wednesday.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 7 – Gambia is the latest country to risk being kicked out of world football after FIFA warned that the tiny West African country faces “severe sanctions” as a punishment for the Government dissolving the Gambia Football Association (GFA) following a 2013 African Nations Cup qualifying defeat to Algeria.