By Andrew Warshaw in Zurich
October 20 – FIFA performed a complete U-turn today when they announced the preliminary match schedule for the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil, forcing teams to fly the length and breadth of the country.
By Andrew Warshaw in Zurich
October 20 – Almost five months after being elected for a final term as FIFA President pledging zero tolerance, it’s D-Day for Sepp Blatter who now has to put his money where his mouth is – if you will excuse the unfortunate choice of phrase.
By David Gold
October 20 – FIFA’s head of women’s competitions, Tatjana Haenni, believes that women’s football can replicate the success of women’s tennis and compete on a par with the men’s game in the future.
By Mike Rowbottom at Wembley Stadium
October 20 – Stuart Pearce and Hope Powell were today confirmed officially as respective managers for the GB men’s and women’s football teams at the London 2012 Games, as revealed first on insideworldfootball.
By David Gold
October 20 – The Czech Republic is planning to bid for the European under 21 championship in 2015 rather than the European Championships in 2020, insideworldfootball has learnt.
By David Gold
October 20 – The Forum of Armenian Associations of Europe (FAUE) has asked UEFA President Michel Platini for the crucial European Championship qualifier between the Republic of Ireland and Armenia to be replayed after the Irish controversially won their encounter in Dublin earlier this month.
By David Gold
October 19 – Lara Dickenmann (pictured), Olympique Lyonnais’ midfielder who scored the crucial second goal in their Champions League final victory earlier this year, has told insideworldfootball of her hope to be involved in creating Switzerland’s first professional women’s football club after her playing career is over.
By Mike Rowbottom
October 19 – Stuart Pearce and Hope Powell are set to be named as respective managers for the Team GB men’s and women’s football teams at London 2012, nine years after they studied alongside each other to earn UEFA Pro Licences.
By David Gold
October 19 – The Football People Action Weeks is currently underway, featuring activities for fans, community groups, players, clubs and local authorities to help unite the football community against discrimination and celebrate diversity.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 19 – UEFA boss Michel Platini (pictured right) took the unusual step of appearing in a Swiss court today over why UEFA has not yet implemented a ruling to reinstate Sion in the Europa League.
By David Gold
October 19 – A delegation from China, including the Chinese Football Association (CFA) chief Wei Di, is in Japan to try to learn from its neighbours’ success on the football field.
Sepp Blatter has made much of the need to crack down on corruption following the highly publicised bribery scandal and a raft of other misdemeanours within his organisation. Yet there is mounting criticism of the token punishments handed out by FIFA’s Ethics Committee to those who either took or were offered bundles of cash back in May.
Just when FIFA could have made an example of the guilty Caribbean officials who attended the infamous Trinidad meeting,
By David Gold
October 19 – Highlights from this week’s Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League semi-finals will be available to watch on a new YouTube channel, it has been announced.
By Tom Degun in Guadalajara
October 19 – Pressure has continued to mount on under fire Brazilian Sports Minister Orlando Silva after further evidence of alleged corruption emerged in the scandal that has left him fighting desperately for his position.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 19 – Chuck Blazer, the FIFA official who blew the whistle on the biggest bribery scandal in the organisation’s history, has launched a strongly worded rebuttal of a full-scale attack on him by former colleague Jack Warner, describing it as “garbage” and “an amazing work of fiction”.