November 29 – FIFA has reported that 742,760 tickets have been allocated in the first phase of Russia 2018 ticketing. Russians account for 53% of the ticket demand to date.
November 28 -Fresh revelations at the FifaGate scandal trial in New York have heaped more unwanted publicity on 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar with the former president of Colombia’s federation testifying that a sports marketing executive told him that up to $15 million in bribe money was potentially available for South American officials to back Qatar’s bid.
November 29 – Gambia’s authorities are on a collision course with FIFA after the country’s National Sports Council (NSC) refused to rescind its decision to suspend the executive committee of the national federation.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 27 – Could former Brazilian strongman Ricardo Teixeira, one of those indicted by US justice authorities as part of the FIFAGate corruption scandal, be edging ever closer to facing justice?
By Andrew Warshaw
November 24 – Football’s lawmakers have been forced to postpone their annual business meeting in Abu Dhabi where the main focus of attention was to have been video technology.
November 24 – The tiny west African state of Gambia is the latest country to fall foul of FIFA’s government interference rules and has been given an ultimatum of November 27 for the country’s National Sports Council (NSC) to reverse its decision to suspend the executive of the national FA.
November 24 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino wants to bring in new rules relating to the transfer system by next year.
November 24 – UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has re-iterated his opposition to FIFA bringing in video technology too early.
By Paul Nicholson
November 24 – FIFA and Alibaba seem to have re-announced a sponsorship for the Club World Cup that was first unveiled in 2015.
November 21 – For the first time since they took over in May, FIFA’s new ethics watchdogs have bared their teeth by banning three leading officials for life.
November 20 – The Chinese Football Association have moved to play down an apparent gaffe by national team manager Marcello Lippi after he was quoted as saying the country were making plans to bid for the 2030 World Cup.
November 17 – A loophole that allows national teams to boost their seedings for the World Cup by deliberately avoiding playing too many friendly matches is likely to become a thing of the past after next year’s finals in Russia.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 16 – An Israeli-based media watchdog is urging FIFA to throw the book at the head of Palestinian football for comparing Israel to a Nazi state in the latest escalation of Middle East footballing tensions.
By Paul Nicholson
November 15 – The depth of the corruption around the sale of TV rights that has plagued South and North America and shattered the reputations of football officials worldwide, was unmasked in the federal court in Brooklyn yesterday. For the first time major broadcast networks Fox Sports (USA), and Televisa (Mexico) were dragged into the narrative alongside Brazil’s TV Globo, all of whom were accused of paying bribes for rights.
November 14 – Northern Ireland are to push for the implementation of video assistant referees in the wake of the country’s failure to reach the World Cup courtesy of a highly controversial first-leg penalty that left players, officials and fans fuming.