By Andrew Warshaw
June 27 – FIFA executive committee member Worawi Makudi is refusing to step down as boss of Thai football following the election row that shows no sign of abating.
June 26 – Qatar’s 61-year-old emir, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani announced yesterday that he has transferred power in the energy-rich and increasingly influential gulf nation to his fourth son – the 33-year-old crown prince, Sheik Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani (pictured), who has strong footballing links.
By Mark Baber
June 26 – After the Jerusalem District Court last week approved the transfer of Beitar Jerusalem to Eli Tabib from Arcadi Gaydamak, the take-over of the club now awaits a ruling from the Israeli Football Association (IFA) and its Budget Control Authority before being finalised.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
June 26 – UEFA has admitted for the first time that the Euro 2020 finals may not be the last to be taken to multiple venues because of the unpredictable economic climate and the massive spend involved – and says FIFA should also consider ditching single-nation tournaments.
June 26 – FIFA has imposed a worldwide ban on two Lebanese assistant referees who were jailed in Singapore this month for accepting sexual favours to fix a match.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 26 – Fenerbahce, one of European football’s most fanatically followed clubs, have been left reeling after being handed a two-year ban by UEFA which has delivered on its pledge to clamp down hard on match-fixing.
By Mark Baber
June 25 – The Iranian Football Federation (IFF) has made an official complaint to FIFA against the South Korean football association following the aftermath of last Wednesday’s world cup qualifier in South Korea, which saw the Iranian players being pelted with bottles by Korean fans, following their 1-0 victory.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 25 – Italian football, already marred by a damaging match-fixing scandal, has been plunged into even graver off-the-field crisis when police revealed that 18 of the 20 top-flight clubs had been raided as part of a tax and money laundering investigation over the buying and selling of players.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 25 – Qatar’s state-of-the-art Aspire Academy, one of the world’s most sophisticated sports facilities and constantly being promoted by the Gulf state as a key part of its 2022 World Cup programme, is showing its humanitarian face by linking up with Argentine and Barcelona icon Lionel Messi in the fight against malaria.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 25 – FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke insists there is no Plan B for next year’s World Cup and no chance of stripping Brazil of hosting rights as a result of the anti-government protests that have swept through the country for the past fortnight.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 25 – Thailand have avoided being thrown out of world football after a tiny fourth-tier club agreed to withdrew a lawsuit that threatened to stop the Thai FA (FAT) from holding controversial elections.
By Krzysztof Baranowski
June 25 – Polish telecommuncations company INEA have snapped up the naming rights to UEFA Euro 2012 stadium – Stadion Miejski in Poznan, Poland.
I don’t know about you, but I always thought that company accounts were supposed to reflect financial reality.
Not, it seems, when the value of professional footballers is concerned.
Over the five years between 2008 and 2012, clubs competing in England’s Premier League booked a cool £1 billion-plus in net profits from the sale of players.
This means, in effect, that those players were undervalued by the same amount in the clubs’
By Mark Baber
June 24 – Al Ahli fans stormed Cairo’s military stadium this weekend against the backdrop of demonstrations held by Islamists in favour of president Mohammed Morsi and in a possible foretaste of anti-Morsi demonstrations planned for June 30 , the first anniversary of Morsi’s inauguration, which aim to force new elections.
By Mark Baber
June 24 – Gus Poyet was sacked from his position as manager of Championship club Brighton and Hove Albion yesterday and, in a PR disaster for the club, apparently only heard of the sacking whilst in the BBC studios where he was acting as a pundit for the Confederations Cup coverage.