August 18 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has met with the 10-nation international police body ASEANPOL with a view to forging closer collaboration, particularly in the battle against match-fixing and organised betting crime in the region.
By Paul Nicholson
August 16 – The Malaysian football federation has pulled out of hosting the 67th Annual FIFA Congress in Kuala Lumpur in May next year, citing security issues and on the advice of their government. The key issue appears to be the refusal of the Malaysian government to provide visas for Israeli delegates.
July 22 – Brunei national team stars were on hand to help launch a series of social responsibility activities today in conjunction with the AFC U-14 Festival of Football 2016 for the ASEAN zone in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam.
July 20 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) will hold its 2016 AFC Annual Awards Night ceremony at the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi on December 1.
July 1 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has banned two Thai referees for life for involvement in match-fixing following a meeting of its disciplinary committee.
June 10 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has announced the eight candidates who will contest the election for the three available Asia places on on the new FIFA Council.
June 9 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is readying for its Goa elective Congress on September 27 where it will vote for its representatives to FIFA’s new Council. Meanwhile member nations are battling out for the final places in the 2018 FIFA World Cup/2019 AFC Asian Cup joint-qualifiers.
June 2 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) at a meeting of its Governance Reform Task Force has taken steps to implement a new and more detailed whistleblower policy, a first for a football confederation outside the area of match-fixing.
May 12 – The Asian Football Confederation have called an Extraordinary Congress to be held in Goa, India, on September 27 to elect its three additional members to the newly established FIFA Council, including the required female representative.
May 2 – China’s leading social media platform Weibo has seen an 18% growth in sports teams, leagues and players using the site – there are now 1,200 official sports organisations on the platform.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 29 – Asako Takakura has been appointed the first ever female coach of Japan’s senior women’s national team, hailed as an important breakthrough in promoting gender equality and the skills of women coaches globally.
By Paul Nicholson
April 28 – The cost of winning has caught up with Chinese Super League giant Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao FC who have revealed a staggering loss of RMB953 million ($147 million) in their year ended 2015 accounts.
April 22 – China’s increasingly broad-based ownership positions in sport saw trading company Wuhan Double Co announce it is to spend €39.5million buying a 100% share of Nice International Sports Limited, whose principle business is player agency.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 8 – Asian football leaders are becoming increasingly concerned over individual member federations being suspended by FIFA because of government interference in their affairs, a trend they warn is seriously hindering development in the region.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 31 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has rehired its former general secretary Dato’ Alex Soosay (pictured) as a consultant less than a year after he quit over claims, still to be proven, that he was involved in a cover-up during an investigation into corruption allegations dating back to the era of Mohammed bin Hammam.
