By Andrew Warshaw
December 6 – Ricardo Teixeira, the disgraced former head of Brazilian football and not so long ago one of the most powerful men in world football, has apparently been forced to abandon plans to seek refuge in the tiny tax haven of Andorra.
By Mark Ledsom
November 20 – China has held on to top spot in an international ranking of major sporting event hosts published by the sports data research company Sportcal.
By Paul Nicholson
November 7 – FIFA sponsor Adidas reported a third quarter drop in net profit by 8.1% to €316 million, with sales down 7% to €3.88 billion and operating profit down 6% to €463 million. But the sporting goods and appareil giant said that this was pretty much in line with expectations and analysts are expecting a bumper World Cup year in 2014.
By David Owen
November 7 – With just a week to go before anti-doping chiefs gather in Johannesburg to adopt a revised version of the World Anti-Doping Code, a UK body has slammed the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)’s approach to athletes’ use of recreational drugs.
By Paul Nicholson
November 5 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter should take note, nice hair could be a contributing factor in the race to top the Twitter charts. Stats from Twittercounter of the 100 most followed accounts show just 5 football clubs or football players making the list.
By Tom Parsons
October 25 – The eagerly awaited launch of Sir Alex Ferguson’s autobiography generated the inevitable twitter backlash to accompany some of the more controversial talking points.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 23- Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who retired in the summer after 27 years at the club, has revealed he was asked twice to become manager of England – but refused both times.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 1 – British Sports Minister Hugh Robertson has waded into the debate over the 2022 World Cup by laying the blame for the “mess” over whether to switch the tournament to winter firmly at FIFA’s door – but says Qatar have every right to be hosts.
By Mark Baber
September 25 – Electronic Arts’ (EA) FIFA 14 became available in America on Tuesday. The new version of the game features improved and more realistic physics as well as new team and multi-player modes. Initial market reaction was positive with EA shares up 1.37% on the day to $26.55.
By David Owen
September 24 – The cost of sporting justice has started to escalate. Figures contained in the recently-published International Olympic Committee (IOC) final report covering the 2009-12 quadrennium reveal that the IOC’s allocation to the International Council of Arbitration for Sport (ICAS) surged to more than $8 million in 2012.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 24 – The head of the international players’ union FIFPro has threatened to get tough with FIFA unless it is consulted over a variety of concerns, not least the scheduling at next year’s World Cup in Brazil which, he says, could potentially endanger players’ health.
September 19 – The Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020 will be staged in what could be the hottest weather for the event in 120 years, with temperatures reaching 38°C and with Tokyo’s humidity at 71% the temperature would actually feel like 62°C, according to the U.S. National Weather Service’s Heat Index calculator.
By David Owen in Buenos Aires
September 11 – The new President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has revealed in Buenos Aires that he is a keen football fan, even, as a youngster, preferring the sport to fencing, the activity in which he went on to win an Olympic gold medal.
By David Owen in Buenos Aires
September 5 – The power of football is much in evidence as the high-stakes battle for the 2020 Olympics enters its eleventh hour in this elegant South American city beside the river Plate. In recent days, a string of leading football figures have played walk-on parts as the contest builds to its dramatic denouement on September 7, when 100 or so International Olympic Committee (IOC) members will choose between Istanbul,
By Paul Nicholson
September 2 – Ricardo Teixeira, the former FIFA executive committee member and head of the Brazilian football federation (CBF) for 23 years, has applied and, according to reports, been granted residency in Andorra. The landlocked micro-state in the Pyrennees, bordered by Spain and France, does not have an extradition treaty with Brazil, effectively putting Teixeira out of the reach of any potential Brazilian court summons.