By Paul Nicholson
November 2 – Russia’s 2018 preparations are ramping up with reports that the redevelopment of the Luzhniki stadium which will host the opening match and the final is ahead of schedule while elsewhere infrastructure projects are gathering pace with the Nizhny Novgorod regional government announcing it has allocated Ruble 1.9 billion for a subway link to its stadium.
By Samindra Kunti
November 2 – The Brazilian capital Brasilia is in danger of missing out as a host city for the Olympic football tournament as the city’s dire economic situation may prevent it from signing the required contracts.
November 2 – Manchester City’s Belgian captain Vincent Kompany has described as “a joke” UEFA’s decision to launch an investigation into the booing of the Champions League anthem by the club’s supporters.
By Paul Nicholson
November 2 – Delegates heading for the Securing Sport 2015 conference in New York that starts Tuesday will hear from one of the candidates for the FIFA presidency. Former South African government minister and anti-apartheid campaigner Tokyo Sexwale will give a keynote speech on the opening day, his first since declaring his candidacy.
By David Owen
November 1 – US Città di Palermo, the Sicily-based Serie A club, has acquired an official ‘Global Forex and Binary Options’ partner. The club – known for its pink and black, ‘the sad and the sweet’, colours, adopted in 1905 – has paired up with InstaForex, an online currency, metals and index-trading specialist headquartered in one of the planned 2018 FIFA World Cup host-cities, Kaliningrad.
It is doubtless not the smartest move to begin a column you hope one or two people might actually read in the style of an IQ test or a maths exam. Just this once, however, I am going to chance it.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 31 – The much-publicised slush fund allegations surrounding Germany’s hosting of the 2006 World Cup have exploded into fresh controversy amid claims that Franz Beckenbauer, who led the country’s bid, may have personally endorsed a financial inducement to Malta just weeks before its FIFA member was about to vote.
October 30 – In the latest of a series of cherry-picked interviews, Sepp Blatter has lashed out at American-based sponsors for undermining him and his organisation with their adverse comments about FIFA’s corruption scandal.
By Mark Baber
October 30- Barcelona defender Javier Mascherano admitted to two counts of tax fraud totalling 1.5m euros in a five minute hearing on Thursday in Gava near Barcelona.
By Paul Nicholson
October 30 – AFC president and FIFA presidential candidate Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa has issued a stinging rebuke of the reports that he led a task force that identified and prosecuted footballers active in Bahrain’s democracy protests in 2011.
October 30 – Lawyers acting on behalf of Eva Carneiro, the Chelsea team doctor who was verbally lambasted by manager Jose Mourinho and had her position downgraded, have served notice of a claim of constructive dismissal against the club after she failed to agree a severance package.
October 30 – The most powerful official in Asian sport says his continent and Europe should strike a deal to carve up support and avoid going head to head for the right to succeed Sepp Blatter as FIFA president.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 30 – FIFA’s reform guru Francois Carrard is being urged to address the question of gender imbalance as an immediate priority as part of the measures to lift football’s world governing body out of the dark ages.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 30 – The US Virgin Islands has been identified as the country that scuppered former Trinidad and Tobago international midfielder David Nakhid’s hopes of standing for FIFA president.
October 30 – Manchester City are supporting an ‘Innovation in Sport’ competition launched by Ideas Britain via its app which connects young people with great ideas to expert business coaches and brands.