10 October 2024 – The Saudi Arabian bid team for the World Cup 2034 have made a point of expanding horizons and cultural connections. Their latest initiative takes them into world of comic books and a special edition manga, Japan’s iconic style of comic-book art.
October 9 – FIFA are so keen to make the expanded Club World Cup, Gianni Infantino’s pet project, be a success despite widespread opposition from player unions that they are willing to rewrite transfer rules.
October 9 – FIFA has appointed Bibiana Steinhaus-Webb as its new head of women’s refereeing.
October 7 – A letter sent to members of the executive committee of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and which has been circulated around member associations has caused concern and fear in Africa’s national associations over the ongoing future of CAF, and Africa’s right to govern its own football eco-system within Africa.
October 8 – Italian defender Marco Curto has been banned for 10 matches by FIFA, five of them suspended for two years, for racially abusing Wolverhampton Wanderers forward Hwang Hee-chan in a pre-season friendly.
October 7 – FIFA has announced it will propose expanding the women’s Olympic soccer tournament from 12 teams to 16, as well as the addition of futsal and beach soccer to the games in a mission to further elevate women’s football and diversify the sport’s Olympic offerings.
October 6 – The Palestine Football Association (PFA), which has lost pretty much every political battle with its Israeli neighbours in the football politics arena, have nevertheless ‘welcomed’ the FIFA Council’s decision to refer their case to FIFA’s Ethics bodies.
October 4 – Just when it looked like FIFA might finally take a giant courageous leap by siding with the Palestinian cause in the Middle East, procrastination was again the name of the game.
October 3 – Is FIFA finally running out of patience with Israel? Following delay after delay over Palestinian demands for action, a decision on whether or not to suspend Israel from international football is set to be taken by the FIFA Council today.
October 3 – Confederation of African Football (CAF) secretary general Véron Mosengo-Omba is having a bad couple of months. Fribourg prosecutor’s office is investigating a series of suspicious payments made to Swiss bank accounts. The news follows a CAF audit report that called for his suspension.
October 3 – On the eve of its Council meeting today, FIFA president Gianni Infantino and his fellow decision makers received yet another demand from Human Rights Watch to “fulfil” the organisation’s responsibilities and stop Israeli clubs organising fixtures in the West Bank, an issue that constantly been kicked down the road by world football’s governing body.
October 3 – FIFA, has issued its first, and surely not last warning to fans prior to the 2026 World Cup urging them to not purchase tickets from ‘unofficial ticketing websites’.
October 1 – Cameroon’s greatest footballing icon, Samuel Eto’o, president of his country’s FA since 2021, has been banned by FIFA from attending any national team games for six months.
September 30 – FIFA has named the 12 stadiums in the US that will host matches at the expanded 32-team Club World Cup 2025.
September 30 – FIFA has partnered with international social issue campaigners, Global Citizen, to produce the first ever World Cup final half-time show in July 2026 at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.