December 2 – FIFA has extended its media platform with the launch of its first app in five languages – English, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish. The world’s governing body predicts the app will download over 70 million copies in the first few months, making it the world’s most downloaded sports application.
“It’s better to burn out than to fade away.” Neil Young
Or is it? I remember a time when all rock stars, Young included, were, well, young. And then the music industry discovered irony, and we realised it was no more ridiculous for Jagger to perform Satisfaction at 55 than 25.
I don’t know if the deft through-ball with which Ryan Giggs, then aged 39 years and 363 days,
November 29 – Scottish Premier league club Heart of Midlothian looks set to exit administration after creditors today voted in favour of a company voluntary arrangement (CVA). Fan group Foundation of Hearts (the preferred bidders of the administrators BDO) offered £2.5 million towards debts of £30 million.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 29 – Oceania, by far the weakest confederation in world football and predominantly made up of tiny island nations, wants to give itself a better chance of World Cup qualification by combining its playoff pathway with that of the Asian Football Confederation. The AFC is currently allocated four automatic qualifying slots, with the fifth-placed Asian team going into an intercontinental playoff. Oceania, by contrast, has no direct route to the finals,
November 29 – Tunisia are the latest African country to have their attempt to reach the World Cup finals through the back door quashed by FIFA. Invoking the ineligible player argument has become almost de rigueur in Africa, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. Tunisia claimed Cameroon fielded two in their recent World Cup qualifying playoff won by the Indomitable Lions on a 4-1 aggregate.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 29 – The match-fixing scandal in Austria is escalating with the news that 20 current or former players are now being treated as suspects amid reports that at least 17 first and second division matches could have been manipulated over the last seven years.
By Paul Nicholson
November 29 – UEFA have opened disciplinary proceedings against Celtic after fans unveiled banners depicting IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands and Scottish warrior William Wallace at their Champions League game against Milan. But the Green Brigade fan group who were responsible for the banners have now escalated the issue raising questions about their rights to the freedom of political expression.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 29 – Two men have now been charged as part of the investigation into alleged match-fixing in English football as fresh details emerged amid claims that even World Cup games may have been rigged. Chann Sankaran, a 33-year-old Singapore national, and Krishna Sanjey Ganeshan, a 43-year-old with dual UK and Singapore nationality, have been remanded in custody and will appear in a Birmingham magistrates court.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 29 – Zahir Belounis, the French-Algerian footballer who has returned home after finally securing his exit permit to leave Qatar courtesy of a wave of international support, says he has nothing against the country itself but everything against the club that hired him.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
November 28 – Zahir Belounis, the French-Algerian footballer finally granted his exit visa from Qatar, would not have been allowed to leave without huge international pressure on the Qatari authorities, according to his brother. But, claims Mahdi Belounis, hundreds of thousands of Euros owed to Zahir – who had claimed 18 months of unpaid wages – remained unpaid right up until his departure from the Gulf state today.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 28 – Brazil’s World Cup preparations, dogged by the probability that many of its 12 stadia will not be completed before FIFA’s end-of-year deadline, have been further rocked by the deaths of two workers at the Sao Paulo venue due to host the symbolic opening game next year.
By Paul Nicholson
November 28 – FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee has turned down appeals from both Ukraine and Peru who were sanctioned for racial abuse and crowd disturbances. They will now have to serve the original penalties imposed and both will start their next World Cup qualifying games for the 2018 tournament behind closed doors.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 28 – One of the world’s leading match-fixing investigators says it was “only a matter of time” before English football was targeted and says the latest case should serve as a wake-up call in the battle to bring down the criminal gangs and their ringleaders.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 28 – The endemic scourge of matchfixing, which has tarnished the reputation of leagues across the globe, has struck at the heart of English football, until now considered by many to be immune from what FIFA and crime-busters have long believed is the most serious danger to the sport.
November 28 – CONCACAF has opened voting for its inaugural confederation awards that will be presented in December 2013. The new awards will honour the top performers from across the confederation in another initiative designed to open up the regional governing body to its membership and football fans across the region.