By David Owen
November 7 – With just a week to go before anti-doping chiefs gather in Johannesburg to adopt a revised version of the World Anti-Doping Code, a UK body has slammed the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)’s approach to athletes’ use of recreational drugs.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 6 – The last minute cancellation of the Soccerex convention scheduled to be held in Rio later this month has sparked a war of words between the convention organiser Duncan Revie and Rio de Janeiro’s state government. Revie blames the government for pulling out due to civil unrest, the government says that the situation results from a commercial revenue shortfall.
Whoever is being economical with the truth about the reasons for the Soccerex global football convention in Rio being cancelled, the news was timed with a shambolic attempt at promoting Brazil’s World Cup. What started out as a good idea and looked like smart timing for a push to get people to travel to the 2014 party, rapidly went downhill.
When Thierry Weil, FIFA’s marketing director, and Ricardo Trade, head of the local organising committee,
By Paul Nicholson
November 6 – CONCACAF held the draw for the confederation’s Women’s Under-20 Championship 2014 Cayman Islands, yesterday. The eight team finals will be played in Grand Cayman in January 2014, the top three teams qualifying for the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup finals to be held in Canada in August.
November 6 – The International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS), the Qatar-based organisation that is increasingly becoming an important player when it comes to tackling the integrity of sport – in particular match-fixing and discrimination – has signed a partnership with UNICEF in Brazil.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 6 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter is keen to scrap World Cup qualifying playoffs in future – because they are too painful for the losers. Blatter may not be around in 2018 depending on whether he stands for president again but says so many playoffs is a hard way for teams to miss out on the finals.
By Panos Bletsos
November 6 – The Hellenic Football Federation looks to be in serious trouble as more than 40 state officials, including prosecutors and financial crime investigators, raided the EPO headquarters unannounced on Monday in search of evidence of financial irregularities.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
November 5 – After months of sensitive negotiations, a major milestone in the history of Cypriot football was reached today when Greek and Turkish Cypriot officials signed a provisional agreement with FIFA aimed at ending decades of mistrust and disunity between the respective footballing communities on the divided Mediterranean island.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 5 – Far too risky or a calculated move that paid off? Very much the former according to both FIFA and the international players’ union FIFpro who have criticised English club Tottenham Hotspur for allowing their French international goalkeeper Hugo Lloris to play on last weekend after he briefly lost consciousness before recovering.
By Tom Parsons
November 5 – Arsenal celebrated their top of the league status on the field as well as enhancing it off the field after becoming the first sports team in the UK to reach 3 million Twitter followers. The landmark was achieved during the Arsenal v Liverpool game, a game where Arsenal went 5 points clear at the top of the table.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 5 – Serbia should follow English football’s lead in tackling hooliganism after yet another Belgrade derby was marred by fan violence, according to a senior government sports official. Nenad Borovcanin made his comments after fans ran riot before and during last weekend’s clash between bitter rivals Red Star and Partizan.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 5 – Former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson has ruled out any chance of the country winning the World Cup next summer. The multi-travelled 65-year-old Swede, currently coach of Chinese Super League team Guangzhou R&F, led England to the quarter-finals in both 2022 and 2006 but doubts they can improve on that in Brazil.
By Alexander Krassimirov
November 5 – Levski Sofia ultras have embroiled the club in a new scandal that could bring serious sanctions. At the home game against Pirin Gotse Delchev at the Georgi Asparuhov stadium in Sofia, supporters of Levski displayed two slogans aimed at the refugees who have flooded into the Bulgarian capital in recent months.
By Paul Nicholson
November 5 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter should take note, nice hair could be a contributing factor in the race to top the Twitter charts. Stats from Twittercounter of the 100 most followed accounts show just 5 football clubs or football players making the list.
By David Owen
November 5 – Pressure on FIFA over the timing of the 2022 World Cup has ratcheted up another notch, with news that the international skiing and snowboarding governing body is looking to forge a common front with other federations against holding the tournament in the winter sports season.