April 20 – In a further escalation of a dispute that seems certain to once again incur the wrath of FIFA, the Indonesian government has suspended the activities of the country’s national association.
By Mark Baber
April 17 – A-League club Perth Glory have given up their fight against Football Federation Australia (FFA) sanctions, admitting their guilt in breaching the salary cap regulations and accepting a $269,000 fine and relegation to seventh spot in the home-and-away season – losing their place in the A-League finals.
By Mark Baber
April 17 – The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) is the latest football governing body to see vicious infighting, with allegations of corruption, attempts to disqualify potential electoral opponents, threats of legal action and attempts by the incumbent to lever FIFA’s power against potential rivals, prior to this Friday’s Punjabi Football Association (PFA) elections.
By Mark Baber
April 13: A report by the Chinese Xinhua news agency, quoting the vice-president of the Italy-China Chamber of Commerce, has ignited a new bout of media speculation about the future ownership of Italy’s AC Milan.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 13 – Indonesian authorities are at loggerheads with FIFA over alleged government interference amid continuing uncertainty afflicting the domestic game.
By Mark Baber
April 10 – The Chinese Football Association (CFA) have secured LeTV Sports and its LeTV Superphone, a competitor of the Apple iPhone, as the title sponsor of the Chinese Women’s Super League for the next five years.
By Mark Baber
April 7 – After weeks of delay, the Indonesia Super League (ISL) finally kicked off this weekend, but faces an uncertain future as the Professional Sports Agency of Indonesia (BOPI) warned that the PT Liga Indonesia could have its licence to operate the ISL revoked if it continues to ignore official recommendations.
March 23 – Carlos Queiroz’s uncomfortable tenure as Iran’s coach ended on a bitter note when he was briefly barred from leaving the country over allegations of a reported $300,000-plus in unpaid taxes.
March 19 – Pakistan’s home World Cup qualifier against Yemen has been switched to neutral ground in Bahrain after it was postponed following Sunday’s deadly bombings in Lahore.
By Mark Baber
March 18 – Egypt’s Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat has indicted 16 defendants for the Zamalek massacre in which 20 fans died after a crowd outside the stadium was fired upon by police before the game between Zamalek and Enppi on February 8.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 18 – China is setting out a blueprint for staging the World Cup a generation down the road by raising the standard of the national team as part of a sweeping development project.
March 18 – Bhutan, officially the world’s worst national team, have pulled off a second straight fairytale victory by defying all the odds – and this time progressed to the second round of Asian World Cup qualifying.
By Mark Baber
March 17 – FIFA has postponed the Pakistan v Yemen World Cup qualifier, which had been scheduled for today, following Sunday’s twin bombings aimed at Christians in Lahore.
March 13 – Bhutan, the world’s worst international team according to FIFA rankings, defied their lowly status by securing a shock 1-0 win over Sri Lanka in their World Cup qualifying debut as the Asian zone kicked off for places in Russia in 2018.
Brazilian superstar Zico, often referred to as the ‘White Pelé’, was not only a fantastic player, but he has become a respected and a successful professional coach. Having coached in Iran, Japan and Brazil, more recently he has become an idol in India’s Goa.