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.
July 2 – Elite football in the form of major tournament returns to Switzerland for the first time since 2008, with Euro 2025 and the quest for continental glory set to take over the Alpine nation this July with more than 600,000 tickets sold and increased prize money on offer for the 16 finalists.
Mohammed Bin Hammam may have been self-serving in accusing FIFA of racism and alleging that, had he been an European, he would not have suffered the punishment he has – banished for life from world football for having been found guilty of vote buying during the FIFA presidential race.
He could not have put it more clearly in a letter to Petrus Damaseb, the deputy chairman of the Ethics Committee: “Were I a European,
By Andrew Warshaw
September 8 – Mohamed Bin Hammam’s eagerly awaited appeal against his life ban for bribery will be heard next week – with the outcome almost certain to rubber-stamp his permanent exclusion from all footballing issues.
By David Gold
September 8 – A dozen La Liga sides have decided to press ahead with plans to reform Spanish televison rights after a meeting at Sevilla’s Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium today.
Messy, sloppy, awkward, embarrassing. Just four of the adjectives that could be applied to the ongoing spat between Swiss club FC Sion and UEFA. Let’s add a fifth: dangerous.
Football fans at large may not be too interested in an argument involving a middle-ranked football club that has little or no international relevance outside its own country. But didn’t they say a similar thing about journeyman Belgian footballer Jean-Marc Bosman all those years ago?
By David Gold
September 7 – SportsMark, who are involved in the London 2012 Olympic Games on behalf of British Airways, has been appointed the exclusive agent in the United States for the sale of Official Hospitality Programmes for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
By David Gold
September 7 – Zanzibar and South Sudan have applied to join FIFA, with the Council of East and Central Africa’s Football Association (CECAFA) helping to fast track their applications.
By David Gold
September 7 – Under fire Manchester City chief executive Garry Cook will not attend the club’s match with Wigan Athletic on Saturday (September 9) as an investigation is carried out into his conduct for allegedly sending an email mocking the mother of defender Nedum Onuoha’s cancer condition.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 7 – One of FIFA’s former powerbrokers is the latest figure to pour scorn over the way the organisation is handled under Sepp Blatter’s Presidency.
By David Gold at the President Wilson Hotel in Geneva
September 7 – AC Milan director Umberto Gandini says that the upcoming season is crucial as Italian football looks to avoid a renewal of the Serie A players’ strike which was called off earlier this week.
By David Gold at the President Wilson Hotel in Geneva
September 6 – Continually buying new players is not “rational”, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge warned today as the European Clubs Association (ECA) endorsed UEFA’s financial fair play rules after its annual Congress here.
By Tom Degun
September 6 – The most likely teams to be crowned as the national champions in Europe’s top five leagues in 2012 will be Chelsea, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Bayern Munich and Paris St-Germain, according to new data.
By David Gold at the President Wilson Hotel in Geneva
September 6 – Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said today that clubs could no longer continue to release players for “nonsense” internationals after the European Club Association (ECA) called for a reduction in the number of international fixtures at their annual congress here.
By David Gold in Geneva
September 6 – FC Sion have confirmed that they have appealed to UEFA against their expulsion from the Europa League, with both players and the club itself set to launch legal proceedings against football’s European governing body at Swiss civil court level.
By David Gold
September 6 – Visa is extending its partnership with Soccer United Marketing (SUM) in a deal which will see them continue as the official payment services company of Major League Soccer (MLS), US Soccer and the Mexican national team’s US tour until 2014.
By Duncan Mackay
September 6 – Mohamed Bin Hammam has claimed FIFA would never have dared to take action against him if he were European.