By Paul Nicholson
August 24 – William Wallace, removed from the presidency of the Trinidad and Tobago FA by a FIFA Normalisation Committee just three months after being elected to office, is not backing down in the dispute to have the legality of board’s removal contested in Trinidad rather than at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland.
August 21 – FIFA is not stepping back from its own statutes and rules of law and is maintaining that the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) is the correct forum for the ousted former Trinidad and Tobago FA leadership who have complained against their replacement by a Normalisation Committee.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 19 – FIFA’s ethics body today stood firm behind Gianni Infantino in the wake of the much-publicised Swiss criminal investigation into his conduct, refusing to suspend him by arguing the allegations did not “ justify the adoption of any kind of measure”, yet seriously calling into question its credibility and so-called independence.
August 20 – FIFA has suspended two more Haitian football officials and has extended a 90-day provisional ban meted out to federation (FHF) president Yves Jean-Bart while it investigates allegations of teenage girls being sexually abused at the national training centre, built with a FIFA grant.
August 20 – Switzerland has dropped impeachment proceedings against Michael Lauber after the attorney general agreed to quit office early amid persisting accusations of misconduct during an investigation into FIFA.
August 19 – Former Senegal and English Premier League striker Demba Ba has called on football’s stakeholders to condemn China’s treatment of Uighur muslims, whatever the financial cost in terms of broadcast deals and player contracts.
August 19 – Despite the strong threat of LaLiga’s clubs being prevented earning sponsorship income from the gaming and betting sector, another club has announced an online gambler as its main shirt sponsor.
August 18 – Just as Bayern Munich were plotting a return to European greatness after their 8-2 demolition of Barcelona in the Champions League quarter finals, the club has been hit by racism allegations towards a leading coach in its academy that has now triggered a police investigation.
By Paul Nicholson
August 14 – Trinidad and Tobago High Court judge Carol Gobin has ruled against FIFA’s application to dismiss a lawsuit brought against it by former TTFA board members over their replacement with a normalisation committee.
August 13 – The defence of FIFA president Gianni Infantino by Olli Rehn (pictured), chairman of FIFA’s Covid-19 steering committee, has prompted a sharp response from a former FIFA staffer and a former candidate to represent CAF at the FIFA council.
August 11 – It isn’t every day that the prime minister of a country gets involved in a specific club take-over, but Boris Johnson has called on the English Premier League to explain why it neither approved nor rejected the recently failed Newcastle United deal.
By Paul Nicholson
August 10 – It has been a busy few days of letter sending by FIFA and its president Gianni Infantino who have scrambled to inform FA presidents their version of the circumstances surrounding the criminal investigation into Infantino’s meetings with the Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber.
August 10 – Rui Pinto, the Portuguese whistleblower whose string of incriminating revelations shook the footballing world before he was controversially extradited from Hungary to his native Portugal, has been freed from house arrest while remaining under judicial control.
By Paul Nicholson
August 10 – FIFA’s newly hired external PR teams went into overdrive at the weekend with a stunning assault, led by FIFA’s new-found media luvvie Alasdair Bell, the organisation’s deputy general secretary, on the FIFA reform process led Basel criminal law professor Mark Pieth (pictured) as being a useless waste of money.
August 7 – Scottish clubs Hearts and Partick Thistle have each been fined £2,500 by the Scottish FA for going to court to try and stave off their respective relegations.