‘Time for Africa again!’ – Blatter tweets support for Morocco
By David Owen
February 22 – Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter has come out in favour of Morocco’s bid for the 2026 World Cup.
By David Owen
February 22 – Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter has come out in favour of Morocco’s bid for the 2026 World Cup.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 22 – Amid accusations of double-standards and favouritism, FIFA has staged a rare u-turn by lifting its ban on member federations and regions publicly endorsing one or other of the two candidates bidding to stage the 2026 World Cup – provided both bidders are given the same opportunities to promote their credentials.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 22 – FIFA is reportedly closely monitoring the conduct of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in using football as a political tool against 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar.
By Paul Nicholson
February 22 – The next round of sentencing has begun in the US Department of Justice case against football’s corrupt officials and marketing partners with Panama-based Mimo International Exports and Imports ordered to pay a fine and restitution totalling $1.4 million for bribing Costa Rica’s former FA president Eduardo Li (pictured).
February 22 – Two-time winners Guangzhou Evergrande are still without a victory in the 2018 AFC Champions League following a 0-0 draw with Cerezo Osaka in Group G on Wednesday.
February 22 – Construction delays at the new Samara World Cup Arena have been resolved according to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko, with test games now rescheduled for end April.
February 22 – Morocco’s 2026 World Cup bid campaign team has begun issuing a series of promotional e-magazines in several languages that have been distributed to FIFA members in the hope of generating support ahead of the all-important vote on June 13.
February 22 – Leicester City are paying a price, albeit relatively insubstantial by Premier League standards, for their fairytale title success in 2016 by having to fork out £3.1million to settle a long-running financial fair play dispute.
February 22 – US-based New Balance has expanded its footprint in France’s Ligue 1, becoming the Official Kit Supplier FC Nantes in a deal that will start next season.
February 22 – The Philippines Football League (PFL), which starts its second season in March, has agreed a multi-year data partnership with Sportradar. Included in the deal is a package of integrity and fraud prevention solutions to safeguard the game in the country.
February 21 – Sports specialist insurance broker Hart Special Risks, based in Genoa, Italy, have become a supporting partner of the Tackling Matchfixing conference, March 9-10. They join Sportradar and the Asian Football Confederation as a Supporting Sponsor. The Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee are sponsoring the conference dinner at Chelsea Football Club’s Stamford Bridge stadium on March 9.
February 21 – FC Bayern München and Qatar Airways have agreed a new partnership with the airline becoming a Bayern platinum partner from July 2018 until 2023, replacing Lufthansa whose current agreement expires end June 2018.
February 21 – Agent Trump will be delighted, US broadcaster FOX Sports has unveiled a World Cup 2018 schedule of more live broadcasts than ever before and including studio coverage from the heart of the iron fist of democracy in Moscow’s Red Square.
February 21 – After just four months Brazilian top-tier side Santos have renegotiated their kit deal with Umbro, saying that the original agreement was unfair and having threatened to cancel the partnership.
February 21 – The Chinese owner of AC Milan has described suggestions that he has been declared bankrupt as “fake news” amid unconfirmed reports in Italy that his assets will be auctioned off on Taobao, the Chinese equivalent of eBay, to settle his debts.