By Paul Nicholson
November 6 – CONCACAF held the draw for the confederation’s Women’s Under-20 Championship 2014 Cayman Islands, yesterday. The eight team finals will be played in Grand Cayman in January 2014, the top three teams qualifying for the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup finals to be held in Canada in August.
November 4 – Former England captain David Beckham is reported to have lined up fellow internationals Rio Ferdinand and Frank Lampard to play for him once his new Major League Soccer franchise has been completed.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 30 – As widely anticipated having ended his illustrious playing career, David Beckham has decided his next move: starting a Major League Soccer team.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 23- The under-17 World Cup, the largest football event of its kind to be staged in the Gulf, may be progressing satisfactorily on the field but off it an inopportune dispute has broken out over the issue of over-age players — generated by the host nation.
By Paul Nicholson in Grand Cayman
October 22 – CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb has called on his federations to maximise their potential and drive the region into a new era by taking opportunities for development into their own hands.
October 21 – A four-day FIFA Development Seminar in Grand Cayman was kicked off by FIFA President Joseph Blatter, CONCACAF President and FIFA Vice-President Jeffrey Webb and FIFA Secretary General Jérôme Valcke in Grand Cayman yesterday.
By Paul Nicholson
October 22 – At the Gala Dinner for the opening of the CONCACAF Sport Summit in Grand Cayman, it was announced by Dr. Djibril Diallo, senior adviser to the Executive Director of UNAIDS, that confederation president Jeffrey Webb has been awarded the 2013 UNAIDS ‘Protect the Goal’ Special Award for the Diaspora.
By Paul Nicholson in Grand Cayman
October 22 – The landmark CONCACAF Sport Summit, titled ‘Transformation through partnership’ opened here Monday night with a powerful, at times hilarious, address by former political prisoner Tokyo Sexwale, who spent 15 years imprisoned alongside Nelson Mandela on South Africa’s Robben Island.
October 21 – The inaugural finals of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Women’s Under-20 Tournament kicked off Friday at the Waterhouse Mini Stadium in Jamaica with a 7-2 win for Cuba over Grenada. In the second match of the doubleheader, Trinidad & Tobago took the maximum three points with a comprehensive 3-0 victory over Anguilla.
By Paul Nicholson
October 20 – CONCACAF has moved against the scourge of match-fixing by appointing a new full time executive to lead the fight regionally. Dr. Laila Mintas will take up the new position of Director of Sports Integrity on November 15 with a brief to design and implement processes that will prevent and investigate match-fixing issues in the region.
October 16 – The landmark CONCACAF summit in the Cayman Islands next week (October 21-22) will kick off with an address by South African freedom fighter and football supporter Tokyo Sexwale (pictured) at a dinner hosted by president Jeffrey Webb.
October 14 – CONCACAF held its first International Referee Symposium over the weekend in Mexico, aimed at improving the standard of professional football referring across the region. The symposium marks another step forward for the confederation, following on from its first series of coaches courses, in its drive to improve standards through education and support throughout its federations.
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.
September 18 – CONCACAF completed the third of its D-License coaching course at the weekend in Aruba, part of a programme of development throughout the confederation to raise the future standards of play and provide a base qualification and path for coaches to follow.