By Paul Nicholson
July 7 – USA, Canada and Mexico have officially formed a United Bid Committee for their joint pitch to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup. With the deadline for the submission of the formal bid to FIFA being 16 March 2018, the Bid Committee will begin discussion with potential host cities and stakeholders immediately.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 4 – Fresh revelations by the German news magazine Der Spiegel have added another layer of intrigue over whether FIFA president Gianni Infantino was under renewed investigation at the time both of FIFA’s two main ethics bosses were relieved of their duties in May.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 3 – The future of football or an expensive counter-productive exercise? The jury seems very much to still be out when it comes to video technology following the conclusion of the Confederations Cup.
By Samindra Kunti in St Petersburg
July 3 – Gianni Infantino praised Russia for its staging of the Confederations Cup, but doping allegations cast a shadow over the tournament’s end. The FIFA president vowed that Russia will face disciplinary proceedings if the doping allegations surrounding their team at the 2014 World Cup are proven.
By Mark Baber
July 3 – Sudan has managed to escape a FIFA ban, which had been due to go into force on Friday, after a last-minute deal was reached between feuding factions competing for control of the Sudan Football Association.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 3 – Defiant as ever, Sepp Blatter says he will travel to Russia for next year’s World Cup despite serving a six-year ban from all football-related activities imposed by FIFA’s ethics committee.
By Samindra Kunti
June 30 – Germany and Chile will play the final of the 2017 Confederations this Sunday after eliminating Mexico and Portugal respectively in the semi-finals. For a tournament that was met with scepticism and supposedly fading interest, FIFA is reporting positive TV audiences for the group stages.
By Samindra Kunti
June 30 – The former CBF president Ricardo Teixeira has called the Garcia report “inconclusive” and postulated, facing a US indictment against him, that Brazil is a safe haven.
By Samindra Kunti in Kazan
June 29 – FIFA’s secretary-general Fatma Samoura has said the governing body wants to eradicate doping in the game. Samoura also welcomed the publication of the Garcia report.
From the vantage-point of today, the Garcia report has something of the air of the Dead Sea Scrolls – an important relic offering vital clues about how life was lived in a bygone era.
By Paul Nicholson and Samindra Kunti
June 28 – The Garcia report into the 2018/2022 World Cup bidding procedures is both as revealing as it is, for the most part, old news. It shows the political depths that the individuals on FIFA’s executive committee would go to solicit favours from bidders; it also shows how far bids will push their people and the rules to win. What it doesn’t do is find the smoking gun that would derail Russia or Qatar hosting 2018 or 2022.
By Paul Nicholson
June 28 – FIFA reacted swiftly to the leak to German media of the Garcia Report into the 2018/ 2022 World Cup bidding process by posting the full report online. It was a smart move by FIFA that immediately took the focus of the media reports away from Qatar – who had been lined-up for a series articles from the report – and brought balance to the wider issues of the bidding process and activity of all the bidding nations.
By Paul Nicholson
June 27 – The Garcia report into the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding, has been leaked to a German newspaper. Until now the report, named after FIFA’s former Ethics chief investigator Michael Garcia, has only been released in summary. A summary that was hotly contested by Garcia.
By Samindra Kunti in St Petersburg
June 27 – Confederations Cup organisers say they are satisfied with the way the group stages have gone, but acknowledge that the video assistant referees need time to fine-tune their decision-making. Dubbed as the ‘half time’ press conference, FIFA and its Russian organisers gave their view on the tournament so far and the issues arising.
By Paul Nicholson
June 26 – The dispute over the running of football in Cameroon that has seen FIFA’s unequivocal support of Tombi A Roko Sidiki as Cameroon FA (Fecafoot) president has entered a new phase. News is emerging of a complaint filed to FIFA’s ethics body against president Gianni Infantino and secretary general Fatma Samoura.