By Andrew Warshaw
October 10 – Ghana is demanding a neutral venue for next month’s all-important World Cup play-off against Egypt, saying it is too dangerous to play in Cairo.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 10 – Sri Lanka’s former FIFA executive committee member Vernon Manilal Fernando, regarded in some quarters as the Godfather of the region, has been banned for life by the governing body.
By Andrew Warshaw
Ocotber 9 – The United States will only seriously consider going for the 2026 World Cup if the bidding process is changed and FIFA’s rules are tightened up, US Soccer federation president Sunil Gulati declared today. Gulati, one of the newest members of FIFA’s executive committee, said his country was still bruised over their crushing 14-8 defeat by Qatar for the 2022 tournament and would not be prepared to go through the expense and stress of bidding again unless there was more clarity.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 8 – FIFA’s leading corruption buster Michael Garcia has broken his silence over his much-publicised upcoming tour of 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding countries by warning that anyone who breaks an obligation to co-operate with the investigation could face sanctions.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 7 – With all the focus on the Qatar 2022 World Cup, a number of other ongoing issues went relatively unreported following FIFA’s executive committee in Zurich last week, not least the announcement that Mark Pieth (pictured), the Swiss governance expert appointed two years ago to make recommendations for change, would be terminating his association with FIFA at the end of this year, by mutual agreement.
By David Owen
October 7 – High-profile matches at next year’s World Cup tournament in Brazil may effectively be played over four periods rather than two, following FIFA’s endorsement of additional “cooling” breaks to protect the health of players.
By David Owen
October 7 – Clubs which supply squad members for teams qualifying for the 2014 World Cup can look forward to receiving about $2,800 a day for each player selected. The figure represents a substantial increase from the $1,600 per player per day paid by FIFA after the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
By David Owen
October 7 – FIFA President Joseph Blatter is aiming to join forces with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to urge the Brazilian Government to do its utmost to ensure the country’s new doping control facility is operational, and duly accredited, before next year’s World Cup, insideworldfootball has learnt.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent, in Zurich
October 4 – Sepp Blatter admitted today he “took responsibility” for the Qatar 2022 World Cup winter-summer debacle – but left open a key number of questions, not least the eventual rescheduling of the tournament. Announcing, as expected, that a commission involving all the game’s stakeholders would be set up to try and find a way through a myriad of complexities, the FIFA president was in typically canny mood.
By Mark Baber
October 4 – The Russian Foreign Ministry commented on Thursday evening on the possible entry into Russia of Michael Garcia, confirming that the head of the FIFA ethics committee was not welcome.
October 4 – With a week to go before the end of the first phase of ticket sales for the 2014 World Cup, over 4.5 million tickets have been requested for the 64 matches.
By Andrew Warshaw in Zurich
October 4 – No decision on switching the 2022 Qatar World Cup to winter will be made until next year’s World Cup finals in Brazil, at the earliest, Insideworldfootball has learnt. As FIFA’s eagerly awaited two-day executive meetings in Zurich wound up, as anticipated, an agreement was reached to set up a commission to examine the issues of moving the 2022 World Cup date away from the heat of the Qatar summer.
By Paul Nicholson
October 4 – FIFA has suspended sanctions against Ukraine and Peru for their upcoming World Cup Qualifying matches in October.
By Andrew Warshaw in Zurich
October 4 – With the hype of the Qatar ‘winter or summer’ debate reaching fever pitch amongst the world’s media, providing a feast of guesswork and mis-interpretation, Qatar 2022 chief Hassan Al Thawadi has re-iterated once again that his country’s intensive lobbying campaign to secure the tournament was totally above board and broke none of FIFA’s strict bidding rules.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
October 3 – Qatar is coming under subtle pressure to formally request switching the 2022 World Cup from the searing heat of the Gulf summer in order to save FIFA having to make the landmark one-off decision. Although the Qataris have long insisted they would never contemplate taking unilateral action and being the ones to ask for a change, InsideWorldFootball has learned that a deal could be struck to ensure the 2022 hosts are not unduly jeopardised by offering themselves to hold the tournament in winter.