Messi overtakes Beckham as football’s top earner
![Lionel Messi_22-03-12](https://www.insideworldfootball.com/app/uploads/2012/03/Lionel_Messi_22-03-12.jpg)
By David Gold
March 22 – Lionel Messi (pictured) has overtaken David Beckham as the world’s best paid footballer, after a study revealed he made €33 million (£27.5 million/$52 million) during 2011.
By David Gold
March 22 – Lionel Messi (pictured) has overtaken David Beckham as the world’s best paid footballer, after a study revealed he made €33 million (£27.5 million/$52 million) during 2011.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 16 – The voting process that led to Russia and Qatar being selected as hosts for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups has again come under the spotlight, this time as part of FIFA’s own anti-corruption reform programme.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 13 – Two more former FIFA Executive Committee members have, as expected, lost their appeals after being banned for two years on corruption charges during the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
By David Gold
March 9 – FIFA President Sepp Blatter has said that women’s football has a stronger social dimension than the men’s game.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 9 – FIFA has wasted no time defending its position by hitting back at a critical Council of Europe report by declaring there were “certain inaccuracies” in a recommendation calling for an internal investigation of Sepp Blatter’s (pictured) re-election as President last year.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 8 – A key Council of Europe watchdog has questioned FIFA President Sepp Blatter’s (pictured) election victory last year and says more assurances need to be given that it was clean.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 6 – FIFA looks set to bow to pressure from Europe’s top clubs by reducing the number of international fixtures from 2015 and scrapping meaningless friendlies, especially the one in August that coincides with the start of most leagues.
By David Gold
March 5 – FIFA has revealed that over $3 billion (£1.88 billion€2.25 billion) was spent last year on more than 11,500 transfers in the men’s world football market.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 5 – FIFA has been quick to fill the gap to be left in May when Chris Eaton, their director of security, leaves after becoming arguably the game’s most high-profile figure in the battle against global match fixing.
By Andrew Warshaw in London
March 2 – Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein (pictured), the Jordanian FIFA powerbroker driving the global campaign to lift the ban on women footballers wearing the hijab, or Islamic headscarf, during matches says it would be a backward step if the game’s lawmakers ignore his demands.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 1 – FIFA is being urged by the United Nations (UN) to overturn the ban on women footballers wearing the hijab, the Islamic headscarf, during matches.
By Andrew Warshaw in Doha
February 24 – Fresh details have emerged over the imminent departure from FIFA of its head of security Chris Eaton (pictured), arguably the most important figurehead in the fight against match fixing.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 24 – Two more footballing icons have joined the star-studded FIFA panel set up to try and make the game more of a spectacle.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 10 – Muslim women are being discouraged from taking up football because of the worldwide ban of the hijab, the Islamic headscarf, according to FIFA vice-president Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan, the man leading the campaign to change the rules.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 10 – The scourge of match fixing across the globe has resulted in up to 50 separate national investigations, FIFA has revealed.