By Andrew Warshaw
March 12 – Local officials insist that Rio de Janeiro’s iconic Maracana stadium, still worrying FIFA more than any other venue in the run-up to the Confederations Cup in June, will be ready to stage a test event next month.
March 12 – The power of Brand Beckham was never more evident than in a Rich List just published by Goal.com, the football web site owned by Perform.
By Paul Nicholson
March 12 – Michael Garcia, the American lawyer charged with investigating corruption in football, has given a very clear message to administrators and officials throughout the game: if you have information and “you want to talk, come and talk to me now. I am under orders from no-one.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
March 12 – Former FIFA administrator Jerome Champagne has not ruled out running for President if, as expected, Sepp Blatter steps down in two years’ time. Since leaving FIFA under a cloud in 2010 after 11 years, the multi-lingual former French diplomat has been primarily working as an international football consultant in the field of development as he considers his next heavyweight move.
The island of Ireland is a place where history casts a particularly long shadow.
So perhaps I shouldn’t be as surprised as I am that so few people seem to know about a proud episode in the island’s footballing history that took place 99 years ago.
I first stumbled upon this years ago during one of my periodic trawls through the pages of an old Rothmans football yearbook.
With the centenary approaching,
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
March 11 – Another leading FIFA administrator was dramatically suspended today when Sri Lanka’s Vernon Manilal Fernando (pictured) was provisionally banned from any football activity for 90 days as part of an ongoing investigation by corruption busters.
By Paul Nicholson
March 11 – Violence erupted in Egypt again over the weekend and the Egyptian FA headquarters were burned down after fans rioted after the second court ruling following the Port Said disaster in February 2012 handed down sentences to a further 54 people and confirmed the 21 death sentences already passed last month.
By Mark Baber
March 11 – Influential Australian think-tank, the Lowy Institute, has published a new report examining how football diplomacy around the 2015 Asian Cup will provide opportunities for government, business and community groups to strengthen their engagement with Asia.
By Mark Baber
March 11 – As FIFA seeks clarification over reported remarks by the head of the Nigeria Women Professional League (NWPL), a tape of the controversial interview has been released by Nigeria’s Premium Times and activists have called for a FIFA ban.
By Andrew Warshaw, Chief Correspondent
March 11 – Financial figures released by the Premier League’s bottom club, Queens Park Rangers, in their bid to remain in the top flight of English football will have raised eyebrows throughout Europe, not least at UEFA’s Swiss headquarters.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 11 – A Lebanese referee forced to flee for his life has decided to quit, the latest unsavoury episode to strike at the heart of the sport in the Middle Eastern country.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 11 – The biggest fan ownership scheme in English football has moved a vital step closer after the group hoping to buy stricken Portsmouth exchanged contracts to buy the club out of administration.
By Osasu Obayiuwana in Marrakech, Morocco
March 11 – In what can only be termed as the ultimate comeback, Mali’s Amadou Diakite (pictured), the disgraced former FIFA executive committee member, has returned to the top of continental football administration, winning another four-year term on the executive committee of the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
By Osasu Obayiuwana in Marrakech
March 11 – Issa Hayatou, elected without opposition to a record 7th term as president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), has hit out at critics of his lengthy tenure.
By Osasu Obayiuwana, at the CAF Congress in Marrakech
March 9 – The 35th Ordinary General Assembly of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), to be spread over two days, began on Saturday at the Palais De Congrais in Marrakech, Morocco.