By Andrew Warshaw in Manchester
September 8 – Twenty-four hours before he was due to address many of the game’s movers and shakers at the Soccerex convention in Manchester, FIFA vice-president Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein of Jordan, one of world football’s most committed reformists, warned that the next four years would be “make or break” for the governing body to get its act together.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 8 – The eagerly anticipated FIFA-commissioned report into possible corruption surrounding the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bid process, which took a year to compile, stretches to 350 pages and recommends sanctioning “certain individuals” .
By Ben Nicholson
September 5 – MLS executive officials have set a September 18-19 date to visit Sacramento to assess their potential as an expansion team, according to Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson. MLS Commissioner Don Garber is expected to be on the trip.
By Mark Baber
September 5 – Whilst a faction of the Nigeria’s football hierarchy has acted immediately to implement FIFA’s directive to restore Aminu Maigari to presidency of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Chris Giwa remains adamant he is the legitimate President and that, mindless of what they may say, FIFA will not ban the country.
By David Owen
September 5 – China has provided a significant boost to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), becoming the first country formally to announce its contribution to a fund for new anti-doping research.
September 5 – The Jamaican Premier League launched this week with the announcement that Red Stripe has committed to the sponsorship of the competition for the next five seasons.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 5 – Europe’s top coaches are not convinced that UEFA’s plan to change the seeding system for the Champions League will be that significant. The format is being altered in future to avoid domestic champions being ranked lower than other clubs from the same country and to prevent them being drawn in the same group such as Group A this season where the champions of Italy (Juventus), Spain (Atletico Madrid),
By Andrew Warshaw
September 5 – Human rights organisations have renewed their offensive against 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar, this time after the apparent disappearance in the Gulf state of two British researchers probing workers’ rights. Krishna Upadhyaya and photographer Ghimire Gundev reportedly arrived in Qatar on August 27 to research a forthcoming report on the conditions of Nepalese migrant workers but there are fears they may have since been detained according to the body that employs them,
September 5 – South African officials say they are becoming increasingly frustrated by a match-fixing saga that has been dragging on for four years and has still not been resolved.
September 5 – A diverse group of stakeholders set up under the auspices of FIFA to get to grips with third-party ownership of players’ economic rights met for the first time this week with a view to coming up with concrete proposals later this month.
September 5 – Manchester United’s £16 million Argentine signing Marcos Rojo has been cleared to join the club following a third party ownership wrangle and the complications of a criminal case back home.
September 5 – CONCACAF president and chairman of the FIFA Anti-Racism and Discrimination Task Force, Jeffrey Webb, has moved swiftly to praise the Brazilian expulsion of Gremio from the Brazilian Cup following a section of the club’s fans racially abusing a Santos player.
By Paul Nicholson
September 5 – Sports data gathering giant STATS has acquired Bloomberg Sports, the sports data and analytics leaders in the US sports market. The merger creates a powerful data, technology, analytics and content group serving a broadbase of clients from media to leagues and teams globally.
September 4 – The World Football Forum 2014 to be held at the Ritz-Carlton in Moscow, November 13, has announced that a panel discussion on the implications of UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations will be led by the Chief Executive of Chelsea Football Club, Ron Gourlay.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 4 – Lawyers representing many of the world’s leading female footballers protesting against playing next year’s Women’s World Cup in Canada on artificial turf have written to FIFA president Sepp Blatter as well as all six Confederation heads as the campaign for natural grass intensifies.