By Paul Nicholson
January 15 – FIFA’s presidential lobbying has been most active in Africa this week with three contenders – Gianni Infantino, Prince bin al-Hussein and Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa – all present in Kigali, Rwanda, for the West Africa Football Union meetings.
By Bernd Fisa
January 15 – There was a touching and humbling backstage aside at the Ballon D’Or Awards earlier this week when Ronaldo, Messi and Neymar paid tribute to former Glasgow Rangers captain and Dutch international Fernando Ricksen.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 14 – Six months after imposing a seven-year ban on Harold Mayne-Nicholls (pictured), the official who led the technical inspection team that evaluated the credentials of all nine candidates for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, FIFA’s ethics judges have finally provided more detail as to exactly why the Chilean was hit so hard.
January 14 – Kuwait have been fined SFr10,000 (£7,000) by FIFA and ordered to forfeit November’s 2018 World Cup qualifier against Myanmar in a controversial case of world football’s governing body digging the knife in while a country is already down.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 13 – In an unpredecented move, FIFA has fired Jerome Valcke for the second time, finally bringing the curtain down on the career of its general secretary who for years took on the mantle of the organisation’s most senior day-to-day administrator and astute troubleshooter.
January 13 – FIFA will open the doors to its World Football Museum to the general public on February 28, two days after the world governing body has elected a new president.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 13 – He may only be standing for FIFA president by default but Gianni Infantino nevertheless believes he is the right man to lead the organisation into a new era of transparency and credibility.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 12 – Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini, fighting to clear their names, could end up being banned foreven longer than eight years.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 12 – A proposed live television debate featuring the five FIFA presidential candidates has been scrapped because only two of them were able to accept an invitation to take part.
January 12 – Amidst all the usual glitz and glamour and the emphasis on business as usual, two men were conspicuous by their absence at the annual Ballon d’Or award ceremony on Monday night.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 12 – FIFA presidential candidate Tokyo Sexwale says Sepp Blatter’s misconduct should be put into perspective and has praised the work of the outgoing veteran Swiss, currently fighting his eight-year ban.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 11 – From day one he has protested his innocence but the net appears to be closing in on Thailand’s controversial former FIFA executive committee member Worawi Makudi.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 11 – Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini have been given the all-clear to launch appeals against their eight-year bans after FIFA’s ethics committee sent them full written reasons for the judgements.
By Samindra Kunti
January 8 – South American football powerhouses Argentina and Uruguay will jointly bid to co-host the 2030 FIFA World Cup. State presidents Mauricio Macri (Argentina) and Tabare Vazquez (Uruguay) made the announcement yesterday at a press conference. Uruguay hosted the inaugural edition of the tournament in 1930.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 8 – The 2020 European Championship finals, taking place in 13 venues across the Continent, looks set to become the first major tournament to embrace video replays, arguably the most ground-breaking law change in the history of the game.