Mauritius club fined for not doing the TMS paperwork
July 20 – FIFA has sanctioned a club in Mauritius for failing to use its Transfer Matching System (TMS).
FIFA
FIFAGate: Napout stays locked up as Judge Chen considers Covid-19 compassionate release
July 21 – A New York court has delayed deciding on a request for compassionate release from prison by former Conmebol president Juan Angel Napout (pictured).
IFAB clears path for league to take 5 subs rule into next season
July 16 – Football’s rule-making body has given the green light for teams to continue to use up to five substitutes instead of three next season in a bid to cope with potential fixture congestion in the aftermath of the Covid-19 outbreak.
FIFA extends eChallenger Series, as esports revenue streams grow
By David Owen
July 10 – FIFA is suckling on the teat of its increasingly productive esport cash cow just a little more vigorously, unveiling plans on Friday for an extension of the FIFA eChallenger Series, along with games-maker EA Sports.
FIFA referees boss steps in to bring order to VAR chaos
July 10 – With controversy still raging over the interpretation of VAR, even with matches played behind closed doors, FIFA is taking over the responsibility for the system from the game’s lawmakers.
FIFA blow Look Loy and United TTFA mediation away. Warner’s alumni head for court
By Paul Nicholson
July 8 – FIFA has blasted the ‘United TTFA’ lobby group and its lawyers who still believe they are running the Trinidad and Tobago FA despite having had their officials removed from office by a FIFA Normalisation Committee.
FIFA completes 2026 World Cup workshops on road to picking 10 US host cities from 17 bids
July 8 – FIFA has concluded its candidate host city workshop for the 2026 World Cup. In 2021, the world federation will name the host cities, slimming down the field of 17 contenders to 10 in the US.
Swiss call in Extraordinary Prosecutor to examine criminal charges against Infantino
By Paul Nicholson
July 3 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino took a step nearer towards a full criminal investigation in Switzerland into his behaviour following the announcement today by the supervisory authority of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office that an extraordinary federal public prosecutor had been appointed to examine criminal complaints made against him and Swiss federal prosecutor Michael Lauber.
FIFA bans ex-finance boss Kattner for 10 years and hits him with CHF1m fine
By Andrew Warshaw
July 1 – It is four years since Markus Kattner (pictured) was sacked within months of Gianni Infantino coming to power as Fifa president despite having only just piloted Infantino through his first controversial FIFA Congress, in Mexico City.
Coronavirus exacts heavy toll as FIFA projects 2020 revenues down by almost 50%
By David Owen
June 30 – FIFA is now budgeting for this year’s revenues to come in at little more than half of its original projections, as a consequence of coronavirus.
Infantino says FIFA is still chasing Germany 2006’s elusive €6.7m ‘funny’ money
By Andrew Warshaw
June 29 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino says the organisation has not given up getting its money back following the collapse of the 2006 World Cup fraud trial in Switzerland, insisting the story “is not finished” and hinting FIFA’s ethics apparatus is pursuing its own investigation.
Swiss investigators to dig deeper into Platini’s ‘disloyal’ CHF2m
June 29 – Swiss federal prosecutors have cited former UEFA president Michel Platini in a widening of their probe into the infamous CHF 2 million “disloyal payment” made to him in 2011 by then FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
Aussies revert to Pom-bashing after failing to win English vote for WWC 2023
June 29 – A leading Australian commentator has heaped scorn on the English FA for refusing to back his country’s joint bid with New Zealand to stage the 2023 women’s World Cup.
2023 World Cup vote reveals the unhealing deep divisions between FIFA and Europe
By Andrew Warshaw
June 26 – Australia and New Zealand no doubt celebrated long into the night – or rather the morning given the time difference – after securing victory over Colombia to win the right to stage the 2023 women’s World Cup and make history by taking it to the southern hemisphere for the first time.
Infantino says his Swiss judiciary scandal is ‘absurd’, as buddy Lauber looks a lost cause
By Andrew Warshaw and Paul Nicholson
June 26 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino, unable to shake off continuing suspicion over his motives for undocumented meetings with under-fire Swiss attorney general Michael Lauber, has broken his silence by insisting it was “absurd” to suggest he had done anything wrong.