May 28 – Al Hilal Bank, the Abu Dhabi bank, has renewed its sponsorship of the UAE’s premier club tournament, the UAE President’s Cup, for a fifth year. The other major sponsors are Etisalat and the Abu Dhabi Sports Channel.
By Mark Baber
May 28 – Qatar’s Barwa Real Estate Group has denied its proposed Oryx Island & Gulf Resort projects, widely reported as planned to house World Cup fans, are in any way related to projects for the 2022 World Cup.
By Mark Baber
May 27 – Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard (pictured) has announced the broadcasting of live betting odds will be banned from sports coverage, with gambling advertising relegated to designated commercial breaks during quarter and half-times.
By Mark Baber
May 27 – The South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) has moved this year’s edition of the biannual SAFF Championship, to be held in Kathmandu, forward by two weeks.
By Mark Baber
May 23 – The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) has this morning decided to postpone its 7th VFF Congress scheduled for June 5, with a new date to be set at a meeting of the Executive Board on June 11.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 23 – Malaysian football authorities have pledged to investigate new claims of match-fixing and have urged police to protect players amid death threats from bookies, according to local reports.
By Mark Baber
May 22 – The Bangladeshi women’ side lost 9-0 against Thailand and Iran lost 6-0 to the Philippines yesterday in the AFC Women’s Asia Cup Qualifiers in Dhaka yesterday. The qualifiers, played in the Bangabandhu National Stadium, are being sponsored by Pizza Hut’s local franchisee, Transcom, a multi-sector company who run a number of Pizza Hut franchises in the country.
By Mark Baber
May 20 – Mixed messages have been emerging over the last week regarding the controversial issue of allowing Saudi women to attend football games.
By Mark Baber
May 17 – Singapore and Vietnam have both appointed new supremos for their national teams in advance of the upcoming Asian Cup qualifiers.
By Mark Baber
May 16 – A group of ASEAN sports ministers have tabled a plan to launch a joint bid to host the World Cup in 2034, according to the deputy president of Malaysia’s football association and AFF member Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah (pictured).
By Mark Baber
May 5 – The ‘Neighbours Series’ tournament, scheduled to be hosted by Fulham FC at Craven Cottage between the national sides of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh in June, has been cancelled.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
May 13 – The controversial appointment of a North Korean woman to serve at the top table of Asian football is being viewed in some quarters with considerable scepticism and a backward step in terms of bringing openness and transparency back to the troubled Continent.
By Mark Baber
May 9 – The Pakistan Football Federation have signed a long term strategic partnership with Forward Sports International who will become the ‘Uniform, Kit and Gear’ sponsors of Pakistan Football.
By Mark Baber
May 8 – The likelihood of India hosting the 2017 Under-17 World Cup received a boost as the All India Football Federation’s (AIFF) bid received the support of the Indian Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) as well as of FIFA’s vice-president Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein (pictured).
By Mark Baber
May 7 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) general assembly accepted Iran’s Football Federation’s (IFF) request to lift a ban on development projects for Iranian football teams.