By Paul Nicholson
May 25 – FIFA’s Moscow Congress on June 13 will not be asked to vote on president Gianni Infantino’s $25 billion new competition proposals. But it will be asked to push forward the 48-team World Cup agenda with the approval of a feasibility study for the expansion of Qatar 2022.
May 25 – The budget beleaguered FIFA World Football Museum that has been a major casualty under FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s sweeping cost cuts, has phoenix-like re-emerged for the Russian World Cup to host major exhibition at Hyundai Motorstudio Moscow.
May 25 – For the second year running London will host the FIFA eWorld Cup Grand Final 2018. The finals organised by FIFA video gamemaker Electronic Arts will be played from August 2-4, though the venue is still to be announced.
By Paul Nicholson
May 23 – The $25 billion international calendar revamp proposal that FIFA was going to ask its members to vote on at its annual Congress in Moscow has reportedly been postponed. It is now unclear when a decision and vote will be taken, though more detail of the proposal is expected to be shown to FIFA Council members when they meet June 10 prior to the June 13 full member congress.
May 17 – Former FIFA Executive Committee member Worawi Makudi has scored a token success in the fight to clear his name.
May 11 – The international players union FIFPro is the latest organisation to express their opposition to Gianni Infantino’s ambitious plans to change the landscape of world football with two new competitions, a revamped Club World Cup and a new FIFA Nations League.
May 10 – In a move that seems likely to be regarded in some circles as a protectionist measure to avoid negative publicity, FIFA has scrapped its daily media briefings at next month’s World Cup, with a need-to-know policy installed instead.
May 9 – Sepp Blatter, who continues to speak out about the way FIFA has been operating since he was forced to step down before being banned from the game, has urged his old organisation to allow Morocco to take part in the 2026 World Cup ballot.
May 9 – Hector Trujillo, the first defendant to be sentenced in the FIFA corruption scandal, has been banned for life by FIFA’s ethics committee for taking bribes linked to marketing deals for World Cup qualifying games.
May 9 – Just five weeks before the start of the World Cup, FIFA has given Russia a symbolic wrap over the knuckles by fining the Russian soccer federation CHF30,000 ($30,000) after fans racially abused French players during a recent game in St. Petersburg.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 5 – The head of the umbrella body for Europe’s major leagues has stepped up the war of words over Gianni Infantino’s proposal to restructure world football by accusing the FIFA president of trying to buy votes.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 3 – The body representing Europe’s major leagues has issued its sternest warning yet over Gianni Infantino’s controversial plans to change the face of global football as fresh details emerged about the scale of his proposals.
May 2 – In a move that seems likely to fuel increasingly fraught relations between FIFA and UEFA, Europe’s leading federations have reportedly been offered up to $75 million every two years under plans by Gianni Infantino for a new global league, part of his ambitious proposed $25 billion overhaul of world football.
By Andrew Warshaw and Paul Nicholson
May 1 – Gianni Infantino’s grandiose plan to radically change the landscape of world football kicked into gear Monday when FIFA hosted initial talks with confederation leaders over investment proposals for two new competitions worth an estimated $25 billion.
By David Owen
May 1 – Spare a thought for FIFA Congress delegates whose efforts to collect the $250 per diems to which they are entitled at this year’s event in Moscow may be complicated by pesky “Russian legislation”.