By Paul Nicholson
September 19 – Russia’s minister of sports Vitaly Mutko (pictured) has responded to European politicians’ calls for sports sanctions saying that nothing can be ruled out but that sports and politics should be kept separate.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 18 – Just as FIFA hosts a landmark summit on ethics in sport, fresh details have emerged that a raft of high-ranking officials were offered expensive watches at the World Cup.
By Andrew Warshaw in Geneva
September 18 – Nineteen hopeful countries will learn on Friday which 13 of them have been selected by UEFA to stage the one-off pan-European finals in 2020.
Diciamo la verità, non invidiamo l’esposizione mediatica di Carlo Tavecchio, presidente della Federcalcio. Da quando la gaffe estiva con accuse razziste ha messo a rischio la sua elezione (e l’Uefa ha aperto un procedimento su di lui), persino l’abbigliamento del numero uno del calcio italiano è spesso soggetto a “revisione” da parte dei media italiani. Eppure la scorsa settimana, in Consiglio Federale, un primo passo verso la riforma del calcio è stata fatta. Tavecchio, infatti,
September 18 – Nizhny Novgorod has received the go-ahead to build a new stadium for the 2018 World Cup, according to the city’s governor Valery Shantsev. Russia’s Ministry of Sports is expected to sign a contract for the build with construction firm Stroitransgaz before the end of October.
Scotland goes to the polls today to decide whether to break with the most successful political union in the history of the world. England and Scotland have been bound in statutory togetherness since March 1, 1707. Yet a decision to end that economic and political union – so powerful that it once dominated the globe in an age of empire – could come within the next 24 hours.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 18 – National team coaches from Europe have played down the likelihood of a boycott of the 2018 World Cup as a penalty for Russia’s incursion into Ukraine. Meeting in St Petersburg for a technical study of the Brazil World Cup, the coaches of UEFA’s 54 member nations are reported to have been lukewarm over the idea of a boycott that has the support of a raft of European diplomats.
September 18 – English FA chairman Greg Dyke says it is highly unlikely UEFA will put up a candidate to take on Sepp Blatter for the FIFA presidency next year now that their main man, Michel Platini, has decided not to run.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 18 – Sports ministers from across Europe will convene in Switzerland today to sign a landmark agreement in an attempt to reduce match-fixing.
By David Owen
September 17 – Sony Corporation, the Japanese consumer electronics group that is one of six FIFA top-tier sponsors, has announced that it will pay no dividend for its current financial year, for the first time since its shares were listed in 1958, the year of Brazil’s first World Cup victory.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 17 – The German judge who will deliver the eagerly awaited verdicts into whether any corruption took place during the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bid process has given a broad hint that he will not hold back from recommending sanctions.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 17 – In a bid to improve the flagging fortunes of the national team, the recent win in Switzerland notwithstanding, the English Football Association has sent out its first draft of proposals to reduce the number of non-EU players within the English game by up to 50%.
By Paul Nicholson
September 17 – While talk in Russian football has been about quotas on foreign players and the need to raise the quality and number of Russian coaches, top clubs still appear to be looking outside Russian borders for top management.
By Ben Nicholson
September 17 – Carlos Treviño, a Mexican politician, who was Secretary of Social Development in Querétaro from 2006-2009, has successfully damaged his hopes as a spokesperson for the people by making racist comments about Ronaldinho via Twitter. Feeling aggrieved about sitting in traffic that was caused by the hysteria surrounding Ronaldinho’s presentation to the fans at his new Mexican club, Quarétero, he expressed his malcontent by referring to Ronaldinho as an ape.
By Ben Nicholson
September 17 – The MLS is making progress with the sale of Chivas USA, but likely at the expense of the team’s absence in the 2015 season. The parties involved have been kept discrete, but it is thought that a combination of a wealthy American executive and a Mexican businessman will form the ownership structure of the LA-based club.