By Osasu Obayiuwana in Marrakech
March 7 – With Issa Hayatou guaranteed re-election to the presidency of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), the spotlight at the CAF Congress, in Marrakech this weekend, now falls on the battle for CAF executive committee places.
Until Tuesday, Issa Hayatou, in his 25th year as president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), was, at least in theory, at risk of being at the end of an unfavourable decision, from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, which could have stood in the way of getting another four-year term in office, that would take the Cameroonian’s tenure to a near 30-year stretch.
No longer. With CAS ruling that the case brought by Ivorian Jacques Anouma,
The resignation of Paul Elliott from the FA and other bodies because he used the “n” word in a private text sent to another black player and a business colleague, is both sad and revealing. It is sad because Elliott had, probably still has, the capacity to go from having played the game at the highest level into becoming an excellent football administrator. It is revealing because it shows how attitudes to race, and particularly use of certain racial words,
By Tom Parsons
March 6 – FIFA ambassador for fair play Simone Farina has admitted he has “no regrets” in refusing to take a bribe during a Coppa Italia match in 2011 and says “we must protect this beautiful sport with all means necessary”.
By Mark Baber
March 6 – Sudan’s qualification campaign for FIFA World Cup 2014 took a body blow when it had its win over Zambia turned into a loss after the country was found to have fielded an ineligible player.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 6 – Brazil’s World Cup preparations – or lack of them – have once again been called into question by FIFA, with Rio’s iconic Maracana stadium the biggest worry.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 6 – The future of Portsmouth, the stricken English club locked in administration for over a year with debts of about £60m, could finally be resolved next month – to the relief of the fans’ consortium hoping to take over.
By Mark Baber
March 6 – Pakistan is planning to launch a new football competition, modelled on the successful Indian Premier League for cricket, in a bid to overcome Pakistan football’s problems.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 6 – After more than a century without a commercial sponsor, Barcelona will break new ground next season by sporting the logo of Qatar Airways on its shirts – the starkest illustration yet of the club needing to embrace commercial reality as Qatar continues its drive to make inroads into European football.
By Paul Nicholson
March 6 – Fox Soccer channel looks set for closure as News Corp announced it will launch a new cable sports network in August taking ESPN head on in the national sports broadcast marketplace. Fox Sports 1 be available to more than 90 million pay- TV homes.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 5 – African football’s contentious presidential election was thrown even more sharply into focus today when the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) threw out Jacques Anouma’s (pictured) last-ditch appeal against being barred from taking on the veteran incumbent Issa Hayatou.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 5 – The International FA Board, football’s law-making body that has stood the test of time for over a century, looks set to repel any attempt to change its role or expand its personnel as the eternal guardians of the sport.
March 5 – Egypt has started its league after a year’s suspension following the Port Said disaster where 74 fans were killed, but now the financial burden of sustaining clubs and playing squads looks to be hitting as players at one club are refusing to train.
By Mark Baber
March 5 – Xpro, the charity for ex-professional players, has revealed the shocking fact that three out of five Premier League players go bankrupt within five years of retirement.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 5 – The idea of the two Glasgow giants abandoning Scottish football and being integrated into the English league has once again been raised – this time by Rangers chief executive Charles Green.