By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
December 2 – Michel d’Hooghe, one of FIFA’s longest-serving administrators who is being investigated as part of the World Cup anti-corruption probe, says he is suffering “the hardest period of my life” and being treated “like a murderer” even though he has done nothing wrong and has absolutely nothing to hide.
December 2 – UEFA President Michel Platini has vehemently denied a report that he was given a Picasso painting as an inducement to vote for Russia as 2018 World Cup hosts.
December 2 – Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are, as expected, on the three-man shortlist again for this year’s Ballon d’Or prize as the world’s best player, but the nomination of German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer is more of a surprise though fully deserved.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 1 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter, has repeated there is no chance of moving the 2022 World Cup from Qatar amidst another swathe of allegations about alleged corruption over the bidding process for both 2022 and the 2018 tournament in Russia.
November 28 – In a statement to German paper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, FIFA Ethics chief Hans-Joachim Eckert refutes the criticism made by German FA President Wolfgang Niersbach of the ethics process.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 27 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter’s idea of bringing in video replays and permitting coaches to be allowed tennis-style challenges against refereeing decisions appears unlikely to be implemented in the near future.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 26 – A defiant FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke insists that the decision by two top-tier sponsors to end their association with FIFA had nothing to do with making a stand against the corruption allegations that have engulfed world football’s governing body.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 25 – Sony Corporation will not be renewing its top-tier $280 million FIFA sponsorship which ends December 31, according to Japanese reports. After the loss of Emirates Airlines as a sponsor last month FIFA had said that it was in “ongoing talks with Sony” over renewal of their eight year deal. Now it seems those talks have ended.
By David Owen
November 23 – Towards the end of one of the most difficult months of his long tenure comes a reminder of one of the reasons why Sepp Blatter has for so long proved so difficult to dislodge from his post as FIFA President.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 21 – The hosting of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups by Russia and Qatar, which appeared to be a closed case a week ago, has been plunged back into the spotlight after the two FIFA ethics chiefs at the centre of the anti-corruption investigation agreed the evidence should be further examined in-house – and then opened up to FIFA’s entire executive committee.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 20 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter has personally rejected English FA chairman Greg Dyke’s demand for Michael Garcia’s World Cup investigation report into allegations of misconduct surrounding the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids to be published in full.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 20 – One of the two whistleblowers whose evidence to the FIFA 2018 and 2022 World Cup bid investigation was deemed unreliable has revealed she was contacted by the FBI after initially making her corruption claims against Qatar and says she permanently fears for her life.
By Andrew Warshaw and Paul Nicholson
November 18 – In another dramatic twist in the 2018 and 2022 World Cup investigation into possible corruption in the bidding process, FIFA has lodged a criminal complaint against a number of individuals (“persons”) with the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland in Berne.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 18 – Two whistleblowers who provided potentially incriminatory evidence to the FIFA World Cup anti-corruption probe are furious that their cover has been effectively blown and have both registered a formal complaint against FIFA ethics judge Hans Joachim Eckert.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 18 – The two FIFA ethics chiefs at the centre of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding investigation have agreed to meet face-to-face on Thursday to try and agree over what should and shouldn’t be published and resolve their untimely dispute that has heaped embarrassment on world football’s governing body.