By Duncan Mackay in Zurich
May 31 – Secret negotiations are taking place for Sepp Blatter to step down as President of FIFA in 2013 rather than serve the full four-year term he would be due if he is elected here tomorrow, it has been claimed.
By David Gold
May 31 – St. Etienne and Toulouse missed out as the French Football Federation (FFF) confirmed the nine cities to host games during the 2016 European Championships, which will include new stadiums in Lille and Lyon.
By Andrew Warshaw in Zurich
May 31 – Asian football chief Mohamed Bin Hammam has ordered his members not to walk out of tomorrow’s eagerly awaited FIFA Congress as he and veteran FIFA powerbroker Jack Warner stepped up their legal fight against being suspended for allegedly paying thousands of dollars in bribes to Caribbean nations.
By Andrew Warshaw in Zurich
May 31 – UEFA President Michael Platini today refused to back calls by the English Football Association to call off tomorrow’s FIFA election and said he doubted there would be enough support to do so.
By David Gold
May 31 – CONCACAF has confirmed that the women’s football qualifying tournament for the London 2012 Olympic Games will take place at the BC Place Stadium in Vancouver from January 19 until 29 next year.
By Andrew Warshaw in Zurich
May 30 – FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke insisted today that he had never accused Asian football chief Mohamed Bin Hammam of buying the 2022 World Cup and categorically stood his ground after becoming embroiled in the ongoing bribery scandal.
By Andrew Warshaw in Zurich
May 30 – It was a combative, almost fist-pumping performance from Sepp Blatter.
By Andrew Warshaw in Zurich
May 30 – The clearest proof yet that bribes were definitely offered to Caribbean members of FIFA emerged today when a picture of bundles of cash allegedly delivered in a brown envelope was released to newspapers around the world.
By Andrew Warshaw in Zurich
May 30 – Mohamed Bin Hammam refused to accept defeat today in his fight against suspension over FIFA’s bribery scandal by announcing he is appealing against the decision by the Ethics Committee.
By Andrew Warshaw in Zurich
May 30 – Growing speculation is emerging that the entire Asian delegation could pull out of the FIFA Congress on Wednesday (June 1) in protest at their President, Mohamed Bin Hammam, being suspended after being charged with offering or paying bribes to Caribbean members to vote for him.
By David Gold
May 30 – West Bromwich Albion have penned their biggest ever kit deal by opting to sign a new agreement with Adidas rather than Umbro.
By Andrew Warshaw in Zurich
May 30 – FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke’s position was unexpectedly plunged into severe danger·today·when he admitted that a damaging email he sent suggesting the 2022 World Cup was bought was genuine.
By Andrew Warshaw in Zurich
May 30 – A crestfallen Mohamed Bin Hammam has blamed FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke for helping to bring about his suspension as the unprecedented bribery scandal within football’s world governing body continued to reverberate around the globe.
By Andrew Warshaw in Zurich
May 29 – A furious Jack Warner tonight blasted back at being suspended by FIFA with a litany of mind-blowing corruption allegations against other senior officials, notably President Sepp Blatter and his number two Jerome Valcke that will ensure the row ripping the world governing body apart will continue for a long time yet.
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One is rarely quite 100 percent sure with FIFA.
But it now looks like Joseph Blatter will get the go-ahead on Wednesday to extend his stint in the governing body’s top seat to 17 years.
Unless 75 percent of the organisation’s 208 member associations vote down the congressional agenda, it is hard to see what can stop the ‘election’ from going ahead, in spite of a campaign that has achieved the seemingly impossible by turning FIFA into even more of an international laughing-stock than it was before.