Spanish judge rules Messi will stand trail for fraud, jail beckons

Lionel Messi2

October 9 – The world’s best-known and most talented footballer faces a possible jail sentence after a Spanish court ruled that Argentine and Barcelona striker Lionel Messi and his father should stand trial on tax fraud charges, rejecting a request by prosecutors to drop the charges against the mercurial superstar.

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FIFA suspends Blatter, Platini and Valcke. Chung banned

FIFA signage

By Andrew Warshaw
October 8 – FIFA’s crumbling, corruption-tainted foundations were smashed to pieces today when Sepp Blatter and his would-be successor as president, Michel Platini, were both given provisional 90-day suspensions along with Jerome Valcke, FIFA’s number two who was recently put on gardening leave.

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Sport is at a “defining moment”, says ICSS chief, calling for neutral integrity body

Chris Eaton 4

By Paul Nicholson
October 8 – The International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS) has issued a statement from its executive director Chris Eaton reacting to media reports of the impending suspension of FIFA president Sepp Blatter saying this “represents a defining moment for world football and wider sport” and calling for a “independent and neutral global oversight body” to take on the monitoring of sport governing bodies.

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