Champagne says he would move World Cup 2022 back to summer play
November 25 – FIFA presidential candidate Jerome Champagne says FIFA should consider moving the 2022 Qatar World Cup closer back to the tournament’s traditional summer slot.
FIFA
Blatter questions whether FIFA ethics has right to remove his as boss
By Andrew Warshaw
November 25 – Sepp Blatter claims FIFA’s ethics committee, which he himself set up, does not have the power to remove him as president.
Reform proposals reach critical stage in future of FIFA
By Andrew Warshaw
24 November -FIFA’s much-touted reform package will finally be put before the organisation’s top brass next week amid considerable doubt about whether it will go far enough to help wipe out corruption.
FIFA confirms December deadline for Blatter and Platini rulings
By Andrew Warshaw
November 24 – Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini will learn their respective fates over alleged financial misconduct by the end of December, FIFA’s ethics committee has confirmed.
Beckenbauer to face questioning over Warner contract and 2006 vote buying
By Andrew Warshaw
November 23 – With public scrutiny intensifying over what he did and didn’t know regarding the alleged 2006 World Cup cash-for-votes scandal, Franz Beckenbauer, largely untouchable in recent weeks, is to be questioned on Tuesday by external lawyers in connection with the affair, according to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) newspaper.
‘Close to death’ Blatter targets FIFA return and handover to Platini
By Andrew Warshaw
November 23 – Suspended FIFA president Sepp Blatter has revealed he feared for his life when recently admitted to hospital in the wake of the deepening corruption crisis that has engulfed football’s world governing body.
Belgian governance study finds as sports feds go, FIFA isn’t all bad
By Samindra Kunti
November 23 – Belgium’s leading university KU Leuven has screened 35 Olympic sports federations on good governance. The report suggests FIFA is among the better run international sports federations.
FIFA investigators’ report demands Blatter and Platini are sanctioned
By Andrew Warshaw
November 21 – Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini suffered a potentially crippling blow in their efforts to clear their names of any wrongdoing when FIFA investigators today announced they have officially called for sanctions to be taken against both men over that notorious SFr2 million payment.
Banned Platini takes appeal to CAS over FIFA’s ‘Kafkaesque trial’
By Andrew Warshaw
November 20 – Michel Platini has followed Sepp Blatter’s move in going to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to try and get his 90-day provisional suspension lifted. Platini is rapidly losing the battle to clear his name in time to take over from Blatter on February 26 after both had their initial appeals turned down by FIFA’s appeals committee but the UEFA president’s lawyers insisted he has been untreated fairly.
Adidas’ Hainer confident FIFA will reform ‘significantly’
November 20 – World Cup sponsors Adidas, who have taken somewhat of a backseat over the need for FIFA reform compared to their US-based front-line commercial partners, have now waded into the debate with a call for term and age limits on future presidents in the post-Sepp Blatter era.
FIFA to trial doping control database system at Club World Cup
By David Owen
November 20 – FIFA is to trial the ADAMS database management system during the Club World Cup in Japan in December, in a move likely to be welcomed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) as it battles through a challenging period.
Scala says football corruption is ‘systemic’ and reform must be ‘transparent’
By Andrew Warshaw in Zurich
November 19 – Domenico Scala, the FIFA-appointed troubleshooter who has been at the forefront of efforts to clean up the organisation, painted a grim picture today of just how deep corruption runs in football, implying those preaching the opposite message were simply in denial.
Blatter questions appeal decision timing, demands a fair hearing, and vows to fight on
By Paul Nicholson
November 19 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter responded robustly and swiftly to the turning down of his first appeal for a lifting of his suspension by the FIFA Appeal Committee yesterday.
FIFA race: Prince Ali urges federations to vote individually and not as blocks
By Andrew Warshaw
November 19 – Describing himself as the only “world candidate”, the Jordanian prince who took on Sepp Blatter and lost in last May’s FIFA presidential election believes his chances of success second time round are far better now that national federations no longer feel forced into voting for the veteran Swiss.
Blatter and Platini lose appeals against 90-day suspensions
By Andrew Warshaw
November 18 – Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini, both of whom insist they are innocent, have lost their respective appeals against being banned for 90 days for financial wrongdoing.