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By Andrew Warshaw
January 1 - FIFA President Sepp Blatter (pictured) will be more likely to support sole nations bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups than joint bids, insideworldfootball has learned.
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By David Owen
December 1 – The Australian bid for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups has scored a major coup by securing backing from Emeritus Archbishop Desmond Tutu (pictured).
By Duncan Mackay in Johannesburg
December 1 – South African Oscar-winning actress Charlize Theron (pictured) has been named as the guest presenter for the 2010 World Cup draw in Cape Town on Friday, and will be joined on stage by a host of sporting celebrities including David Beckham, Haile Gebrselassie and Makhaya Ntini.
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By Duncan Mackay in Johannesburg
November 30 – Paul Elliott, the former Chelsea and Celtic defender who is a member of England 2018’s Board, today met with FIFA Executive Committee member Amos Adamu (pictured) at Soccerex, the global football convention.
The jury is now out on the question of which dozen-or-so of the 15 applicant English cities will be become potential hosts for the 2014 World Cup finals should England’s bid be successful – with a decision due on the 16th of this month.
By Duncan Mackay in Johannesburg
November 30 – Australia will offer to host a “no worries” FIFA World Cup as it goes head to head with its nine rivals for the first time in its bid for the 2018 or 2022 tournaments, it has promised.
By Andrew Warshaw in Johannesburg
November 30 – FIFA President Sepp Blatter (pictured) today admitted for the first time that the World Cup playoff system had to be seriously re-examined as a result of Thierry Henry’s infamous handball that cost Ireland a place in the finals.
By Duncan Mackay in Johannesburg
November 30 – Sepp Blatter has praised the South African Football Association (SAFA) for its preparations for next year’s World Cup after meeting its new President, Kirsten Nematandani, here.
David Triesman finds himself in the position not dissimilar to Prime Ministers: more popular abroad than at home. But this happened to Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair towards the end of their long reign. It has happened to Triesman barely two years in as FA chairman and just as he faces his greatest test leading England’s bid for the 2018 World Cup.
November 29 – Durban’s new 70,000-seater World Cup stadium opened today, but rain kept the crowd down to around 15,000.
By Duncan Mackay in Johannesburg
November 29 – England’s bid to host the 2018 World Cup received another morale-boosting endorsement today when Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (pictured) said that England deserved to host the tournament for the first time in more than half-a-century.
November 29 – FIFA President Sepp Blatter (pictured) revealed today that he has telephoned France captain Thierry Henry to offer him support over his controversial handball in the World Cup play-off win over Ireland.
By David Owen
November 29 – Belgium and Holland can set an example for smaller countries by showing that they too can become candidates to host a World Cup, according to Michel D’Hooghe (pictured), the Bruges-based doctor who is chairman of FIFA’s Medical Committee.
By Duncan Mackay
November 28 – Gary Lineker (pictured), the man many are trying to persuade to take over from Lord Triesman as the leader of England’s bid to host the 2018 World Cup, tonight insisted that his commitments with the BBC would rule him out from playing a more prominent role.
By Duncan Mackay
November 28 – The first official match to be staged at Durban’s new R3.1 billion (£254 million) World Cup venue, the Moses Mabhida Stadium, a South African Premier League match between AmaZulu and Maritzburg United tomorrow, has sold out.