By David Gold
March 19 – D-day for Indonesia’s embattled Football Association (PSSI) is looming with no sign in sight of a resolution to its conflict with the breakaway domestic league.
It was one of those dramatic “I was there” occasions – but for tragic reasons. The day when football took a back seat and the fragility of human life took over.
Anyone who was at Tottenham’s White Hart Lane stadium on Saturday cannot fail to have been emotionally moved by the harrowing scenes of Bolton Wanderers midfielder Fabrice Muamba collapsing with heart failure.
Never in all my years of covering the game have I seen so much collective shock and distress among players,
By Andrew Warshaw
March 19 – Romário (pictured), the former Brazilian striker turned Congressman, has once again criticised 2014 World Cup preparations, suggesting his country will be “embarrassed” by poor organisation.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 18 – UEFA President Michel Platini is set to meet Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (pictured)tomorrow for an update on the match fixing scandal that has rocked Turkish football.
By David Gold
March 17 – Bolton Wanderers midfielder Fabrice Muamba (pictured) is in a North London hospital tonight after collapsing during an FA Cup tie with Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane.
By David Gold
March 16 – UEFA has confirmed the appointment of ESPN as the Caribbean’s official broadcaster of the European Championships in 2012 and 2016.
By David Gold
March 16 – A man has admitted throwing a banana at Anzhi Makhachkala’s Brazilian star Roberto Carlos (pictured) during a league match in Samara, but will not be punished.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 16 – FIFA President Sepp Blatter (pictured left) emerged from his 2014 World Cup summit meeting with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff (right) today pledging to work more closely together to keep preparations for the tournament on track.
By David Gold
March 16 – Sergei Fursenko, the head of the Russian Football Union (RFU), has threatened to close the stadia of clubs who do not look after their pitches.
By David Gold
March 16 – The Egyptian Football Association (EFA) chairman Anwar Saleh (pictured) says that they are as yet undecided on the future direction of football in the country.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 16 – Jordan’s FIFA vice-president Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein (pictured left) has sought to diffuse any tension with English football authorities by playing down Premier League chairman Sir Dave Richards’ (right) outburst at this week’s International Sport Security Conference in Doha.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 16 – Egyptian authorities have reacted to the Port Said massacre by charging 75 people – including nine policemen – with murder and/or negligence.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 16 – The voting process that led to Russia and Qatar being selected as hosts for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups has again come under the spotlight, this time as part of FIFA’s own anti-corruption reform programme.
As far as bad days go, March 14, 2012 is one Sir Dave Richards probably wants to forget.
The strange thing is that it all started so innocuously for the English Premier League chairman on the first day of the International Sport Security Conference here in the Qatari capital Doha.
Richards sat down to take part in an interesting if unspectacular panel session titled: “New Frontiers: Rewards and Challenges to Growing a Sporting Brand in New Markets”.
By Tom Degun at the International Sport Security Conference in Doha
March 15 – The International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS) has today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Germany’s Institute for Fan Culture in order to develop and share knowledge within the field of violence and hooliganism in sport.