By Paul Nicholson
December 14 – The Swiss government has responded to questions over whether it plans to shut down FIFA saying that it was not “currently” considering a state intervention at FIFA but fell short of ruling this out as a possibility.
By Mark Baber
December 14 – US prosecutors have used a leak to the Financial Times newspaper to pile pressure on the banks, central to the FIFA corruption scandal, to provide more information of use to their corruption probe.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 14 – The failed joint 2018 World Cup bid by Belgium and Holland, hitherto untouched by the corruption allegations that have struck at the heart of FIFA and its related confederations, has suddenly become unwittingly embroiled in the saga.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 14 – Just days after being arrested as part of the new wave of US justice department indictments in the FIFA corruption scandal and then suspended by FIFA’s ethics committee for 90 days, Paraguay’s Juan Angel Napout has tendered his resignation as president of CONMEBOL.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 11 – Michel Platini’s hopes of running for FIFA president have suffered a potentially fatal blow, as has his entire footballing future, after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) refused to lift his interim ethics suspension.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 10 – The Court of Arbitration for Sport will announce its verdict into Michel Platini’s appeal against his provisional suspension at 10am tomorrow local time, giving the UEFA president just enough time to speed his way to chair the last session this year of his executive committee – provided he is cleared.
December 10 – Loretta Lynch, the US attorney general whose stunning raft of corruption-linked indictments has plunged world football into disgrace, has indicated her organisation will show no let-up in its pursuit of FIFA and its six confederations.
By Paul Nicholson
December 9 – The battle over who controls world football and the looming spectre of continued and deeper intervention into the business of FIFA by the US justice authorities will become a question in the Swiss parliament on Monday.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 9 – The final verdicts into alleged ethics violations by Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini will almost certainly be handed down on December 21 or 22, potentially handing them the worst possible Christmas present.
December 8 – FIFA’s refereeing chief Massimo Busacca (pictured) wants male and female referees to have the same level of expertise and a deeper knowledge of the game.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 8 – The highest court in sport will today consider whether to temporarily uphold Michel Platini’s appeal against the 90-day suspension that bars him from seeking the FIFA presidency.
By David Owen
December 8 – Beneficiaries of FIFA’s $350 million Financial Assistance Programme (FAP) are falling down on basic record-keeping requirements, in spite of the crisis that has brought the governing body to its knees, leading acting secretary general Markus Kattner to highlight “major deficiencies”.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 7 – The FIFA corruption scandal has taken another mouth-watering twist with the revelation that the FBI is investigating the role Sepp Blatter may have played in a $100 million bribery scam.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 7 – A leaked memo published in a French newspaper on Sunday should clear Michel Platini’s name and allow him to bid for the FIFA presidency in February, according to his legal team.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 5 – The two FIFA vice-presidents arrested by police in Zurich on Thursday as part of the burgeoning corruption scandal have been handed 90-day provisional suspensions by the ethics committee.