By Paul Nicholson
The alacrity of FIFA’s move to call on stakeholders to find a solution to the detention of part-time footballer Hakeem Al Araibi in Thailand shows a remarkable new found conscience and morality in an organisation that eschews a philosophy of never mixing politics and football.
January 28 – The man behind a string of incriminating leaks that shook the footballing world over the past few weeks “is absolutely aware” of the earthquake he has triggered according to his lawyer.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 28 – Southern African countries have thrown their full weight behind FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s bid for re-election in June, a somewhat pointless exercise given that, as things stand now at least, he is the sole candidate for the job although, as revealed exclusively today in Insideworldfootball, a European rival to Infantino is being lined up.
January 28 – Inter Milan is now under full Chinese ownership with private-equity fund LionRock Capital having the 31.05% stake retained in the club by in Indonesian Erick Thohir when he sold to Chinese electronics retailer Suning Commerce Group in 2016.
January 28 – Having been controversially awarded this summer’s African Nations Cup despite a history of fan violence, Egypt has gained yet more concessions from the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
January 28 – The Abu Dhabi Sports Council has snapped up all the remaining tickets for the AFC Asian Cup semi-final to be played in the 42,000 capacity Mohamed bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
By Abdelaziz Abuhamar
January 28 – Though it is the fourth time in the AFC Asian Cup, it will be the first time the two Asian giants have met in the knock out stage. Iran and Japan have previously met three times in group stage of the continental tournament.
January 28 – Just 90 minutes and a win against Japan separate Iran from the final of the Asian Cup, a competition they have not won since 1976, but Carlos Queiroz has stressed that Iran must stay true to themselves to overcome a major test against the four-time record champions.
By Abdelaziz Abuhamar
January 22 – They are passionate, close and hail from totally football family. The Afif brothers of Qatar are having a big impact at the AFC Asian Cup 2019 in the United Arab Emirates.
By David Owen
January 27 – Arsenal, the North London team battling to secure the top-four Premier League finish that could see them return to the Champions League, have reported one of the biggest annual pre-tax profits ever recorded by a football club.
January 27 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has issued a statement saying that it is “continuing” to work with FIFA on the detention of part-time footballer Hakeem Al Araibi in Thailand.
UAE 1 Australia 0
By Samindra Kunti
January 25 – The United Arab Emirates shocked Australia 1-0 in the quarterfinals to send the defending champions packing and prolong their stay at their own party which they are now warming up to. They will face Qatar in another spicy geopolitical showdown in the last four.
South Korea 0 Qatar 1
By Paul Nicholson in Abu Dhabi
January 25 – Qatar pulled off the surprise win of the tournament to date knocking out traditional regional heavyweight South Korea 1-0 to take them to their first Asian Cup semi-final.
January 25 – French authorities have handed a leading African football administrator Patrice-Edouard Ngaissona over to the International Criminal Court in The Hague where he faces war crimes charges. He was transferred to the Netherlands on Wednesday.
January 25 – A Portuguese man arrested in Hungary on suspicion of extortion and secrecy violations provided hacked documents to the Football Leaks website because he was “outraged” by criminality in the sport, his lawyers say.