Video ref trialled in first pro league game in the US
August 15 – Trials of the video assistant referee system (VAR)has continued in the US with the third tier USL league, working in collaboration with Major League Soccer (MLS).
FIFA
Exclusive: Banned Mayne-Nicholls furious at FIFA justice’s double-standards
By Andrew Warshaw
August 12 – Harold Mayne-Nicholls, the former Chilean FA boss who led the FIFA evaluation team for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, has broken his long silence over his ban from the game, accusing FIFA of double-standards and of blocking his attempts to gain justice.
FIFA Ethics is investigating Del Nero, and Infantino was just meeting clubs…
By Andrew Warshaw
August 11 – Just days after he was controversially cleared by FIFA’s ethics committee of any wrongdoing, Gianni Infantino has been plunged into yet more embarrassment over his pledge to clean up the organisation in the wake of the Sepp Blatter regime.
Samoura lined up for UK debut with Soccerex keynote
By Andrew Warshaw
August 11 – FIFA has confirmed that new Secretary General, Fatma Samoura will deliver a keynote address as part of the opening of this year’s Soccerex Global Convention in Manchester at the end of September.
FIFA Diversity Award to recognise outstanding contribution
August 11 – While FIFA’s Anti-discrimination task force seems to have been consigned to the backburner of projects the governing body doesn’t really know what to do about (not unlike the its former chair Jeffrey Webb who is under house arrest in the US), the Zurich mandarins have announced an awards ceremony to cover what is still one of the most contentious issues in world football.
Andrew Warshaw: FIFA’s double standards. It’s what we call reform
To lose one FIFA president may be considered unfortunate. To lose two in the space of a few months smacks of carelessness. Apologies to fans of Oscar Wilde for the adulteration of one of his most pithy sayings but it might well be used to characterise last week’s ruling by FIFA’s ethics committee – one of the most momentous and controversial since the body was first set up – to let Gianni Infantino off the hook.
US watching? Infantino hangs out with Brazil’s ‘Most Wanted’ Del Nero
By Paul Nicholson
August 8 – If the FBI is having trouble finding (and arresting) Brazilian football president Marco Polo del Nero then they should have a word with FIFA’s new president Gianni Infantino. He was pictured at the weekend hanging out with del Nero in Rio de Janeiro during the opening days of the Olympic games.
FIFA ethics’ ‘double standards’ ridiculed by former reform advisor Pieth
By Andrew Warshaw
August 8 – FIFA’s entire ethics framework has lost both credibility and independence as a result of the decision to clear Gianni Infantino of any misconduct despite a string of persistent allegations over serious ethics breaches. That is the view of Mark Pieth, the Swiss governance expert first brought in by FIFA to oversee the reform process.
FIFA Ethics integrity in tatters? Infantino cleared to keep taking the private jets
By Andrew Warshaw
August 5 – FIFA’s supposed new era of credibility and respectability under Gianni Infantino took a decisive and controversial twist today when he was cleared of any misconduct despite a string of serious and persistent allegations over ethics breaches.
Judge pushes ‘FIFA’ trial to end 2017 with more arrests on cards as probe ‘broadened’
August 4 – The federal judge overseeing the US-led corruption probe into FIFA and a raft of its former senior officials says the trial of the first eight defendants will probably now not start before September or October next year.
FIFA adds to top team with hire of Jouhaud as new comms chief
By Andrew Warshaw
August 4 – A gaping hole in FIFA’s day-to-day administration has finally been filled with Fabrice Jouhaud taking on the role of Chief Communications Officer “following a thorough recruitment process”.
Jordaan lawyers up as rumours grow he is on US arrest list
By Andrew Warshaw
August 3 – An exclusive South African report has revealed that Danny Jordaan, the public face of the 2010 World Cup, has hired an elite set of lawyers to defend him in the ongoing FIFA corruption scandal.
Guatemalan Jimenez switches plea to guilty over World Cup bribes
August 1 – Four months after pleading not guilty, former Guatamalan football chief Brayan Jimenez has changed his plea to guilty in a US court to charges racketeering and wire fraud as part of the FifaGate scandal and faces up to 20 years in prison.
Samoura says war zones have prepared her for FIFA’s slings and arrows
By Andrew Warshaw
July 29 – FIFA’s new Senegalese secretary-general Fatma Samoura, whose appointment raised a number of eyebrows as she had no prior experience in football, believes the time she spent working in war zones for the United Nations has more than prepared her for the challenges that lie ahead.
Infantino puts down African roots in Nigeria, Hayatou misses the meet
By Andrew Warshaw
July 28 – Fresh speculation has emerged as to why long-serving African football chief Issa Hayatou stayed away from FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s recent visit to Nigeria, his first to an African nation since succeeding Sepp Blatter.