By Andrew Warshaw
February 15 – As he begins a 12-year ban from football, in contrast to flying round the world and staying in luxury hotels as FIFA’s most senior day to day administrator, Jerome Valcke’s lawyer insists the organisation’s former number two has done “absolutely nothing wrong” despite being punished for abusing FIFA’s money and a host of other misdemeanours.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 15 – The latest move in Michel Platini’s efforts to resume his shattered career as UEFA president was taking place today with FIFA’s appeals committee considering his eight-year ban from all football-related activity.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 12 – Jerome Valcke, for years Sepp Blatter’s right-hand man and his most senior day-to-day administrator, was sensationally banned from all football activities for 12 years today for serious misconduct including underselling TV and media rights for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, using FIFA’s money for private travel and destroying evidence.
February 12 – FIFA presidential candidate Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa has signed an amended version of an Amnesty International pledge to end human rights abuses and corruption in the sport.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 12 – If Africa is regarded as the main battleground to pick up votes in the forthcoming FIFA presidential election, then CONCACAF runs a close second.
February 11 – Swiss weekly newspaper Weltwoche has published damning detail of an Australian-led campaign to attack Qatar, destabilise FIFA and fund a disinformation campaign against FIFA election candidate Shaikh Salman bin Al-Khalifa.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 11 – Describing the upcoming election as “perhaps the most crucial date in the history of football governance”, FIFA presidential candidate Prince Ali bin al-Hussein took a swipe at his rivals today as he outlined a detailed plan of action for his first year in charge of world football’s scandal-plagued governing body.
By Paul Nicholson
February 11 – The intensive lobbying of African federations for their vote in the upcoming FIFA presidential elections last week saw more use of the ‘Gianni Jet’. This time it was spotted on a Facebook post delivering UEFA-funded candidate Gianni Infantino to Juba in South Sudan.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 11 – One of the original ‘Zurich Seven’ detained in the first wave of arrests in May that kicked off the biggest corruption scandal in the history of FIFA has been refused bail in a Brooklyn court.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 10 – Despite publicly pledging its support for Gianni Infantino at the forthcoming FIFA presidential election, is Russia secretly planning to switch sides and back Bahrain’s Asian football chief Shaikh Salman instead?
By Andrew Warshaw
February 10 – FIFA’s decision to block $20 million of funding to CONMEBOL and CONCACAF, the two confederations at the centre of football’s worst ever corruption crisis, was implemented late last year and approved by acting general secretary Markus Kattner as well as members of the executive committee, Insideworldfootball has learned.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 9 – The increasingly fraught relationship between FIFA presidential candidate Prince Ali bin Al Hussein and the official overseeing fair play in the electoral process, Domenico Scala, has come under further strain with the Jordanian demanding Scala steps down because of conflict of interest over nationality.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 9 – FIFA presidential candidate Gianni Infantino’s controversial World Cup expansion plan has suffered its first significant setback, with Europe’s major clubs coming out firmly against any change to the status quo.
By David Owen
February 9 – FIFA Presidency candidate Gianni Infantino hinted last week that if successful in his quest for the top job he might appoint an African general secretary.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 9 – Musa Bility, Liberia’s football leader who was excluded from being a candidate for FIFA president because he failed strict integrity checks, seems determined to do everything in his power to make life difficult for the official who barred him from taking part.