By David Owen
December 5 – Clubs which supply squad members for next year’s FIFA World Cup in Russia can look forward to massively increased payments of around $8,530 per player per day, in recognition of their “contribution to the successful staging” of the tournament.
December 4 – The conduct of Zimbabwean football boss Philip Chiyangwa (pictured), an ally of FIFA president Gianni Infantino, has been called into question in his own country amid allegations of corruption.
December 1 – If they weren’t before, they are now. The gloves are officially off in the race for the hosting of the 2026 World Cup. USA, Mexico and Canada submitted their 2026 World Cup bid, as did Morocco, before the November 30 deadline.
December 1 – French police have questioned former FIFA vice-president Reynald Temarii (pictured) in their investigation into suspected corruption in connection with the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bid process.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 29 – Football’s lawmakers look set to have be rushed into a decision over whether to allow video technology to be used at next year’s World Cup – one of the most important rule change considerations of recent years.
November 29 – Referees will have the power to stop matches if there are any obvious signs of racism by fans at next year’s World Cup, according to FIFA president Gianni Infantino.
November 29 – FIFA has reported that 742,760 tickets have been allocated in the first phase of Russia 2018 ticketing. Russians account for 53% of the ticket demand to date.
November 28 -Fresh revelations at the FifaGate scandal trial in New York have heaped more unwanted publicity on 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar with the former president of Colombia’s federation testifying that a sports marketing executive told him that up to $15 million in bribe money was potentially available for South American officials to back Qatar’s bid.
November 29 – Gambia’s authorities are on a collision course with FIFA after the country’s National Sports Council (NSC) refused to rescind its decision to suspend the executive committee of the national federation.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 27 – Could former Brazilian strongman Ricardo Teixeira, one of those indicted by US justice authorities as part of the FIFAGate corruption scandal, be edging ever closer to facing justice?
By Andrew Warshaw
November 24 – Football’s lawmakers have been forced to postpone their annual business meeting in Abu Dhabi where the main focus of attention was to have been video technology.
November 24 – The tiny west African state of Gambia is the latest country to fall foul of FIFA’s government interference rules and has been given an ultimatum of November 27 for the country’s National Sports Council (NSC) to reverse its decision to suspend the executive of the national FA.
November 24 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino wants to bring in new rules relating to the transfer system by next year.
November 24 – UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has re-iterated his opposition to FIFA bringing in video technology too early.
By Paul Nicholson
November 24 – FIFA and Alibaba seem to have re-announced a sponsorship for the Club World Cup that was first unveiled in 2015.