By Andrew Warshaw
February 19 – In a damaging blow to the image of football in China, which has been spending like crazy to acquire top players towards the end of their careers, Shanghai Shenhua have been stripped of their 2003 league title and fined £103,000 as part of on ongoing investigation into a match fixing scandal.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 19 – UEFA president Michel Platini has used his organisation’s own publication, Uefa Direct, to appeal for the game to pull together to eliminate both cheating and off-the-field foul play.
February 19 – A further delay in a decision rubber-stamping West Ham’s move to the Olympic stadium used for London 2012 looks set to frustrate the club and its supporters.
February 19 – Corporate hospitality packages for the UEFA Europa League final at the Amsterdam ArenA on May 15 are still available, 2 months after the sales programme was launched.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 18 – A consortium led by Keith Harris, former chairman of the Football League but in recent years a leading football financier acting for a number of high-profile clients, has not given up taking over Portsmouth in yet another new twist to the biggest soap opera in English football ownership.
February 18 – UEFA has issued another tender for suppliers, this time a request for IT proposals for ticketing and hospitality solutions for its major events.
February 18 – Fresh moves to combat the worrying resurgence of racism in football are being discussed by FIFA with a view to firm proposals for tougher sanctions being added to the agenda at May’s increasingly significant annual congress in Mauritius.
February 18 – UEFA have increased the penalty on Serbia following the explosive Euro 2013 under-21 play-off match against England in October.
By Andrew Warshaw, Chief Correspondent
February 18 – Chuck Blazer, the larger-than-life whistleblower who sparked the infamous cash-for-votes scandal that led to a spate of resignations and suspensions among senior figures at FIFA, is stepping down from the world governing body’s executive committee after 16 years.
18 February – The Democratic Republic of Congo is the latest African nation to announce their candidacy for hosting the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.
By Paul Nicholson
February 15 – Manchester United’s corporate investors are having as happy a time off the pitch as the team is currently having on it. The two are linked.
February 15 – Football’s lawmakers are to consider allowing players to wear electronic chips to avoid heart failures such as the one suffered by Fabrice Muamba last year.
February 15 – Anti-doping authorities and FIFA have not always been comfortable bedfellows but both sides put on a positive spin after meeting at the headquarters of world football’s governing body on Thursday.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 15 – Professional Footballers’ Association chief Gordon Taylor has angrily denied claims his organisation is scuppering a bid by Portsmouth fans to take over the ailing English club.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
February 15 – Barçelona, with their fan membership scheme, have often been trumpeted as the ideal model for running a football club but even they are now embroiled in an off-the-field dispute making headlines in Spain.