July 2 – Having looked like a team that were struggling to find any cohesion or common purpose after four straight losses, including a miserable performance in March at the Concacaf Nations League final, suddenly the USA look as though, if not the real deal, they are certainly worth a reappraisal.
July 2 – Elite football in the form of major tournament returns to Switzerland for the first time since 2008, with Euro 2025 and the quest for continental glory set to take over the Alpine nation this July with more than 600,000 tickets sold and increased prize money on offer for the 16 finalists.
By Paul Nicholson in Grand Cayman
October 22 – CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb has called on his federations to maximise their potential and drive the region into a new era by taking opportunities for development into their own hands.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 22- Amos Adamu, the discredited former Nigerian powerbroker banned for three years by Fifa, has served his time but says he is in no hurry to get back into football.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 22- Ricardo Teixeira, until last year one of the most powerful men in world football, appears to have lost his bid to be granted residency in the tiny tax haven of Andorra.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 22- Embattled Fifa executive committee member Worawi Makudi insists he retained the presidency of Thai football perfectly legally despite last week’s election success suddenly being plunged into fresh chaos.
October 21 – A four-day FIFA Development Seminar in Grand Cayman was kicked off by FIFA President Joseph Blatter, CONCACAF President and FIFA Vice-President Jeffrey Webb and FIFA Secretary General Jérôme Valcke in Grand Cayman yesterday.
By Paul Nicholson
October 22 – At the Gala Dinner for the opening of the CONCACAF Sport Summit in Grand Cayman, it was announced by Dr. Djibril Diallo, senior adviser to the Executive Director of UNAIDS, that confederation president Jeffrey Webb has been awarded the 2013 UNAIDS ‘Protect the Goal’ Special Award for the Diaspora.
By Paul Nicholson in Grand Cayman
October 22 – The landmark CONCACAF Sport Summit, titled ‘Transformation through partnership’ opened here Monday night with a powerful, at times hilarious, address by former political prisoner Tokyo Sexwale, who spent 15 years imprisoned alongside Nelson Mandela on South Africa’s Robben Island.
“With the glamour and opportunity also comes responsibility.” Michel Platini
Those were the words with which UEFA’s president introduced its interim club-licensing benchmarking report. It is a study that makes for fascinating reading and, to a certain extent, Europe’s top clubs have demonstrated they recognise the Platini creed.
Despite the ongoing economic crisis that has seized the global financial system since 2008, club revenues grew almost 7% year on year between 2011 and 2012,
October 21 – Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal against Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s Sweden was the pick of the ties when the draw for the European playoffs for next year’s World Cup finals was made today.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 21- German football’s decision not to employ goal-line technology has been brought into sharp focus by a bizarre and controversial “phantom” goal in the Bundesliga, pictures of which have been flashed across the world.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 21- The international players union, FifPro, has issued a damning indictment of the exploitation of minors in South American football, urging Fifa to take action and demanding a complete overhaul of the practice.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 21- Brazilian Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo, the government official in charge of preparations for next year’s World Cup, appears to have staged a u-turn and has decided to stay on.
October 21 – The inaugural finals of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Women’s Under-20 Tournament kicked off Friday at the Waterhouse Mini Stadium in Jamaica with a 7-2 win for Cuba over Grenada. In the second match of the doubleheader, Trinidad & Tobago took the maximum three points with a comprehensive 3-0 victory over Anguilla.
By Paul Nicholson
October 20 – CONCACAF has moved against the scourge of match-fixing by appointing a new full time executive to lead the fight regionally. Dr. Laila Mintas will take up the new position of Director of Sports Integrity on November 15 with a brief to design and implement processes that will prevent and investigate match-fixing issues in the region.
It isn’t World Cup fever, but Tuesday night’s win over Poland has left England gripped by what I would diagnose as a mild case of World Cup euphoria.
More than 15,000 fans were said to have registered their interest in going to Brazil; bookies predicted a £100 million betting bonanza; and a much-publicised tabloid story about manager Roy Hodgson’s half-time team-talk seems only to have redoubled the country’s determination to get behind the team.