By Paul Nicholson
December 22 – Jose Maria Marin, former head of Brazil’s Football Confederation (CBF) and Juan Angel Napout, former head of Paraguayan football are spending their first Christmas in jail after the jury in what has been dubbed the FIFA-gate trial found them guilty of racketeering conspiracy and accepting bribes in return for commercial rights.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 22 – Under-fire Russian World Cup supremo Vitaly Mutko is on the verge of being ousted as head of the country’s football federation following the doping scandal that rocked world sport and heaped pressure on him to stand down.
By Paul Nicholson
December 21 – Spanish football’s lower divisions are showing a disturbing level of betting-related fixed matches. What is more concerning is that neither the Spanish federation (RFEF) or LaLiga are showing any signs of taking action to stop the match-fixers, clubs or players, despite having been made aware of the issues.
December 22 – With round 19 fixtures starting tonight with Liverpool’s visit to Arsenal for a Friday night early Christmas cracker, the halfway point of the Premier League season is passed. Round 18 fixtures saw another week of full grounds with all home clubs reporting attendance of more than 92% of their total capacity.
December 22 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is to send a high-level delegation led by AFC senior vice president Praful Patel to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in early January 2018.
By Samindra Kunti
December 22 – Belgian businessman Marc Coucke is the surprise new owner of Belgian giants Anderlecht. The pharmaceutical entrepreneur has obtained a majority stake in the club for an undisclosed fee.
December 22 – A German-Russian of dual nationality suspected of trying to blow up the Borussia Dortmund team by detonating three bombs appeared in court on Thursday charged with 28 counts of attempted murder.
December 22 – Manchester City has signed a second professional esports player, Marcus ‘ExpectSporting’ Jorgensen, who will play for City in FIFA esports tournaments ]on the PlayStation 4 (PS4) console.
December 22 – Peru captain Paolo Guerrero says he is innocent and will fight to clear his name despite FIFA reducing his doping ban to six months, allowing him to play at next year’s World Cup.
December 21 – The president of the Confederation of African Football (Caf), Ahmad Ahmad, has reiterated his warning to Cameroon about their ability to host the first expanded 24-team Africa Cup of Nations in 2019.
December 21 – The leader of the tripartite US/Canada/Mexico 2026 World Cup bid committee has promised his team will play by the rules when trying to secure victory over rivals Morocco for the first 48-team finals following the corruption-plagued debacle that overshadowed the 2018 and 2022 process.
By Paul Nicholson
December 21 – After months of damning stories and rumours surrounding financial corruption in the Liberian FA and its controversial president Musa Bility, the investigatory chamber of FIFA’s Ethics Committee has stepped in to investigate. Early reports are that their findings are explosive.
December 21 – Head of the Moscow Department of Sport and Tourism Nikolai Gulyaev said on Tuesday that the whole infrastructure of Moscow is almost ready for World Cup 2018.
December 21 – German giants Borussia Dortmund have extended a long-term deal with Lagardère Sports, the sports and entertainment agency subsidiary of media conglomerate Lagardère Group.
December 21 – The Premier League’s broadcast rights auction looks like losing some of its heat after BT and Sky struck a deal to carry each other’s channels.