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.
By Paul Nicholson
August 16 – FIFA has again stepped into the Sierra Leone row to protect Isha Johansen, the SLFA president that the world governing body recognises but who football stakeholders and government officials in Sierra Leone argue is holding the position in an unelected capacity after her mandate ended August 3.
August 16 – The new season roll-out of the video assistant referee (VAR) system has been met with criticism in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium after a series of errors. But FIFA is determined to push through the referral system in time for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
By Paul Nicholson
August 14 – FIFA had advance warning of the impeding US Department of Justice assault on corrupt officials within its organisation and had taken steps to defend itself via an agreement with top US law firm Quinn Emmanuel.
August 14 – Iran is being formally asked by FIFA to provide further information as to why it banned two Iranian internationals for life as punishment for playing for their Greek club against an Israeli side.