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.
By David Gold
June 26 – Former British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has hailed Sunderland’s new sponsorship deal with not-for-profit organisation Invest in Africa as the best in the club’s history.
Michel Platini once bemoaned to me the extinction of the old-style ‘Number 10’, a position in which he, of course, excelled like few others.
“They have practically done away with le Numéro 10,” he said, sitting in a large office across the street from the Comédie Française.
“There is practically no longer an organiser.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 26 – Restructured Scottish giants Rangers look certain to start life in the lower leagues after six Scottish Premier League (SPL) clubs said they would vote against the 54-time domestic champions being allowed entry into the top flight.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 26 – FIFA’s new head of security Ralf Mutschke admits that match-fixing can never be totally eliminated but says FIFA will never give up the fight to weed out the criminals as the issue continues to seriously undermine the sport both in Europe and globally.
By David Gold
June 26 – The President of the Russian Football Union (RFU), Sergey Fursenko, has quit following his country’s early exit from the 2012 European Championship.
By David Gold
June 26 – New Australian A-League team Western Sydney Wanderers has been officially launched at a media event at the Parramatta Stadium.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 25 – Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko has cited the country’s protracted transition season for their surprise group stage elimination from the 2012 European Championship – and also laid the blame partly at the feet of coach Dick Advocaat (pictured below).
By David Gold
June 25 – The Confederation of African Football (CAF) and the board of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations have confirmed the final qualifying round draw for the tournament will take place in Johannesburg on July 5.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 25 – UEFA’s hopes of imposing Financial Fair Play (FFP) sanctions against clubs who fail to balance the books have suffered a potentially damaging blow after Turkish club Bursaspor won a shock appeal against being banned from playing in Europe for failing to pay transfer fees.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 25 – The cash-for-votes scandal that led to former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner resigning in disgrace from all footballing activities is clearly having no effect on his political career after he was appointed Minister of National Security in his native Trinidad and Tobago.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 23 – Russia’s Euro 2012 went from bad to worse today when the national association was fined for the third time by UEFA because of the misbehavior of their fans.
By Tom Degun
June 22 – Football Federation Australia (FFA) has revealed its plan to help develop and improve elite male football players in the country after releasing the outcomes of their National Competition Review (NCR).
By Tom Degun
June 22 – The mascot for the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup in Azerbaijan later this year has been officially named the “Top Top Girl” following a nationwide competition to decide what she would be called.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 22 – FIFA and UEFA are on a collision course over whether to allow Kosovo the right to play international matches, with European officials furious at what they see as a clear attempt by the world governing body to undermine their regulations.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 22 – UEFA’s refereeing chief Pierluigi Collina has defended the organisation’s experimental system of two extra goal-line officials but admits that an “unfortunate mistake” helped eliminate Ukraine from the 2012 European Championship.