By Andrew Warshaw
November 4 – Vitaly Mutko, Russia’s sports minister who is leading his country’s 2018 World Cup preparations, says Moscow police should never have used water cannons to disperse rioting fans at a recent domestic cup match and admits it did little to enhance Russia’s image overseas.
By Paul Nicholson
November 4 – German football legend and Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness will face trial in Munich in March next year on charges of tax evasion. Hoeness admitted publicly in April that he had millions of euros in a Swiss bank account that he had not declared to the German tax authorities, but that he had now voluntarily declared this account.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 4 – The dispute over whether Kosovo should be given full international playing rights shows little or no sign of being resolved. FIFA President Sepp Blatter recently hosted the latest in a series of talks with Football Federation of Kosovo President Fadil Vokrri and his Serbian counterpart Tomislav Karadzic.
November 1 – UEFA will refuse any request by Celtic to play European fixtures in either England or Ireland next season as a result of their ground being used for the Commonwealth Games.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 1 – French professional clubs look certain to carry out their threatened strike after the country’s President Francois Hollande (pictured) refused to exempt them from his controversial 75% tax on high earners.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 31 – Qatar’s relentless bid to secure a major profile in Europe has been significantly enhanced by a deal between Qatar Tourism Authority and Paris Saint Germain worth a reported €150-€200m a season. Widely rumoured last season, the partnership is designed to promote Qatar as a tourist destination to European audiences.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 31 – UEFA has ordered the partial closure of CSKA Moscow’s stadium for their next home Champions League tie as a result of the highly published racist chanting towards Manchester City’s Yaya Toure. The Russian club, which strongly denied the claims, were charged after Toure complained about being verbally abused by a section of the crowd during City’s 2-1 win on 23 October.
By Gareth Messenger
October 30 – The main supporters group of Spanish La Liga club, Elche, have publicly admitted they were responsible for racist abuse directed at Granada defender Allan-Romeo Nyom (pictured) at the Estadio Martinez Valero on Saturday.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 30 – Seemingly light-hearted remarks made by Sepp Blatter during his much publicised appearance at the famed Oxford Union debating society last week have landed the FIFA president in hot water.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 29- Bayer Leverkusen’s controversial Bundesliga win over Hoffenheim will be allowed to stand despite Stefan Kiessling’s “phantom” goal that raised fresh debate over the need for goal-line technology.
By Matt Scott
October 28 – The FIFA World Cup would be expanded to a 40-team tournament under a proposal aired by Michel Platini today. UEFA’s president has responded to a plan discussed by Sepp Blatter, his FIFA counterpart, to cull the number of European teams competing at the tournament finals.
By Alexander Krassimirov
October 28 – Bulgarian football club Lokomotiv Plovdiv has announced it is on the verge of signing a new partnership agreement with the Gazprom petrol station. The news, announced on the club’s website, was denied by the the Executive Director of NIS Petrol Ivan Kostadinov 24 hours later.
By Tom Parsons
October 25 – Many British television viewers will feel short-changed tomorrow on the day of arguably the biggest footballing match in the Spanish calendar. El Clasico (Barcelona v Real Madrid) takes place on Saturday with kick-off at 5:00pm GMT, however due to British broadcasting regulations the first 15 minutes of the game are not allowed to be shown live on British television.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 25 – Professional clubs in France have decided to go on strike for the first time in over 40 years in protest at the government’s proposal to tax business incomes of more than €1 million at a massive 75%. The clubs have unanimously voted in favour of boycotting fixtures scheduled for November 29 and December 2, the first walkout by French players since 1972 and affecting the two top leagues.
By Andrew Warshaw and Paul Nicholson
October 24 – The Russian racism row following Wednesday night’s Champions League clash between CSKA Moscow and Manchester City was elevated a further level today when UEFA President Michel Platini requested an internal investigation into why the UEFA protocol for dealing with racial incidents was not applied. Already UEFA has opened a disciplinary investigation into the actual incident, while the Russian World Cup organisers have also issued a statement promising to eradicate racism.