By Andrew Warshaw
September 25 – A clear and potentially damaging split within FIFA’s own ethics committee over the inquiry into possible corruption surrounding the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bid process has been exposed just as the leaders of football’s world governing body meet for one of its most eagerly awaited sessions.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 24 – On the eve of its latest executive committee meeting, further pressure is growing on FIFA to authorise publication of the comprehensive report into possible World Cup bid corruption in order to maintain credibility and transparency.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 22 – Revelations that FIFA’s much-discussed report into possible corruption surrounding the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bid process might never be made public threatens to plunge the organisation into yet more discomfort and debate over morality.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 22 – UEFA president Michel Platini has denounced FIFA’s ethics committee over the way it has handled the growing controversy regarding 65 designer watches donated to many of the world’s leading football administrators at the World Cup.
September 19 – The man who will deliver verdicts following the report into the World Cup bidding investigation has re-iterated that he will try and make public any sanctions by November – and meanwhile keep the files secret.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 18 – Just as FIFA hosts a landmark summit on ethics in sport, fresh details have emerged that a raft of high-ranking officials were offered expensive watches at the World Cup.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 17 – The German judge who will deliver the eagerly awaited verdicts into whether any corruption took place during the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bid process has given a broad hint that he will not hold back from recommending sanctions.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 16 – Canadian star Kaylyn Kyle is the latest player to become involved in the row over using synthetic turf at next year’s women’s World Cup. Kyle is reported to have been signed up by FieldTurf, the company whose product is being employed at a majority of the six stadiums being used for the tournament.
By Paul Nicholson
September 16 – Canover Watson, a member of the FIFA Audit and Compliance Committee, has been “temporarily relieved” of his duties on this committee by chairman Domenico Scala while an investigation takes place following news of his arrest by Cayman Islands police in August.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 16 – Despite the sceptics assuming he will not stay the course, former FIFA deputy general secretary Jerome Champagne insists he will be standing against Sepp Blatter next year at the organisation’s presidential election.
September 15 – Just because he is Sepp Blatter’s number two, FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke doesn’t always have to agree with his president, the debate over video replays during matches being the latest case in point.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 15 – As the world awaits the findings of FIFA ethics judge Joachim Eckert into possible corruption surrounding the bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, the organisation has become embroiled in an untimely episode – this time concerning gifts offered to senior officials in Brazil.
September 15 -Asian football chief Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa says there will be no rush to agree on an exact date for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
By David Owen
September 12 – In a further positive step for women’s football, FIFA has announced that it is to double its development funding for this fast-growing arm of the sport over its next four-year cycle, culminating with the World Cup in Russia in 2018. The governing body has earmarked $21 million for this purpose in 2015-18, up from just under $10.3 million in 2011-14.
By David Owen
September 11 – FIFA plans to dip into its solidarity fund to help three impoverished West African nations – Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone – stricken by the deadly Ebola virus. The governing body said that at its next finance committee meeting in two weeks’ time on September 25 it would propose using solidarity fund resources to “support the member associations” of these three countries in the fight against the disease.