By Andrew Warshaw
September 11 – Will this be the moment that exposes key ethical questions about Gianni Infantino’s conduct as FIFA president amid his claims that he is persuing meaningful reform?
September 11 – South Africa’s Football Association (SAFA) are holding an emergency committee today “to discuss the way forward” following FIFA’s decision to order a replay of the World Cup qualifier against Senegal over “match manipulation” by the referee.
September 8 – South Africa are considering appealing against FIFA’s decision to order a replay of their World Cup qualifier against Senegal 10 months ago over “match manipulation” by the referee.
September 8 – FIFA has opened disciplinary proceedings against Tottenham midfielder Dele Alli over his middle-finger gesture during England’s World Cup qualifier against Slovakia on Monday.
September 8 – Forty-one North American cities have declared an interest in hosting matches at the 2026 World Cup as part of the joint bid by the United States, Canada and Mexico.
By Paul Nicholson at the Edinburgh Sports Conference
September 7 – The transfer window just closed saw player agents earn more than $76 million in commissions England, once again the highest value market in Europe for football’s intermediaries.
By Paul Nicholson
September 7 – David Chung, president of the Oceania Football Confederation and the second highest official at FIFA as senior vice president, is under increasing pressure from football stakeholders in his home country Papua New Guinea, where a breakaway group of top clubs is running its own league and development programmes already with greater numbers and participation than Chung’s FIFA-backed organisation.
September 6 – FIFA says it will review its ranking system after qualification for the 2018 World Cup is finished. The announcement comes in the wake of criticism of how countries can play the system to improve their tournament seedings.
September 1 – Paraguay says it wants to definitely join Argentina and Uruguay in a regional bid to host the centenary World Cup in 2030. And Chile may come on board too.
August 29 – Opponents of embattled Sierra Leone Football Association president Isha Johansen appear to have lost the latest stage of their legal battle over who controls the game.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 23 – FIFA has been quick to condemn the notorious hacking group Fancy Bears for releasing documents alleging that 25 players were allowed to take prohibited substances for medical reasons – known as Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUEs) – at the 2010 World Cup.
August 23 – Uruguay and Argentina will officially launch their joint bid for the 2030 World Cup next week at a ceremony involving the country’s two leaders.
August 21 – Sierra Leone may have more important issues to contend with than football following the devastating mudslide that has taken hundreds of lives but the battle to control the sport shows no sign of slowing down.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 18 – Eighteen months after being sacked, former FIFA number two Jerome Valcke has broken his long silence by wading into the debate over Sepp Blatter’s suggestion that a plot to remove him was hatched well before the US-led investigation into football-related corruption that ultimately led to his downfall.
August 18 – Thirty-four cities in the United States, seven in Canada and three in Mexico, in all encompassing 49 stadia, are on a list of proposed venues to host the 2026 World Cup, the United Bid Committee for the three prospective joint hosts has announced.