By Mark Baber
March 26 – Major League Soccer (MLS) has announced a multi-year partnership deal with Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, with Etihad becoming the official airline partner of MLS in the United States.
By Paul Nicholson
March 6 – Less than a year after FIFA ordered the Antigua and Barbuda FA (ABFA) to re-run its elections, the Caribbean federation has again landed itself in trouble and been sanctioned for financial impropriety. This is not the first time the federation or its officials have found themselves in trouble over money.
March 5 – The MLS looks set to draft in replacement referees for the opening matches of its season this weekend as a wages dispute between the league and the referees union over payment looks increasingly unlikely to be resolved before kick off and the referees committed to carrying out their threat of strike action.
March 4 – The international friendly between Ukraine and the US looked like it had become a victim of the crisis in the country when Anatoliy Konkov, president of the Ukrainian Football Federation, said that the team would not be travelling to Cyprus for the rescheduled fixture.
By Paul Nicholson
February 17 – The US men’s national team may face the ‘group of death’ in Brazil at the World Cup finals – Germany, Portugal and Ghana are their opponents – but it is very much alive and kicking as preparations for the Finals start to take shape with one eye also firmly fixed on the future.
February 7 – The Caribbean Football Union (CFU) has adopted a series of integrity measures with immediate effect and to include the CFU Cup which kicks off. While there has never been allegation of match-fixing in the Caribbean, the measures will warn and educate players and officials of one of the biggest challenges facing top level football worldwide.
February 5 – Croatian playing legend and now president of the Croatian Football Association, Davor Šuker, is in the Caribbean visiting the Turks and Caicos Islands this weekend. The trip follows an initial approach from the Croatians to the Turks and Caicos Islands last December offering assistance and seeking to build a stronger relationship with the federation.
February 4 – The Union of Central American Football (UNCAF) has said that it will play its next championship for national teams, the UNCAF Copa Centroamericana, in the US, most likely 1-13 September 2014, in the FIFA window for international fixtures.
By Paul Nicholson
January 24 – Canadian Soccer Association (CSA) president Victor Montagliani unveiled yesterday a new strategic plan for the sport in the country. Titled Leading a Soccer Nation, the document outlines priorities for 2014-18. But Montagliani is looking further ahead and says that Canada should bid for the 2026 World Cup.
By Mark Baber
October 4 – Head of Iran’s Football Federation (IFF), Ali Kaffashian said on Thursday that the US football federation has welcomed the prospect of a friendly football match between Iranian and US national teams.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 23 – El Salvador’s football federation has imposed life bans on 14 national team members for their roles in a match-fixing scandal. One other player was given an 18-month ban, two were suspended for six months, one was acquitted while four others face further investigation.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 9 – José Manuel ‘Chepo’ de la Torre has been sacked as Mexico coach following last Friday’s shock 2-1 home defeat by Honduras that seriously dented their automatic World Cup qualification hopes.
By Mark Baber
August 12 – Two Mexican league players have escaped punishment, despite testing positive for the banned performance-enhancing drug clenbuterol, after they claimed to have eaten the substance accidentally in contaminated meat, according to the Mexican Football Federation (FMF). In Mexico, the eating of contaminated beef has been accepted as a legitimate excuse for the presence of clenbuterol in an athlete’s sample since 2011, when the Mexican government pledged to address the public health problem of contaminated meat.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 7 – A Jamaican international and one of his country’s team officials have been suspended for 30 days by FIFA after they failed drugs tests following a 2014 World Cup qualifier against Honduras on June 11.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 30 – Sunil Gulati, head of the US Soccer Federation whose country lost out to Qatar in the battle to stage the 2022 World Cup, has questioned the entire bidding process and called for greater transparency in future.