February 4 – The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and its members have attacked FIFA’s plans for a biennial World Cup, saying that global finals every two years would cause ‘immeasurable damage’ to global sport.
Former Wales striker Thomas Hal Robson-Kanu, who now runs the nutritional drinks company, The Turmeric Co., urges FIFA to ditch its biennial World Cup plans and to work with purpose-driven brands to grow the sport’s commercial appeal organically.
By Paul Nicholson
February 3 – FIFA’s consultation process over its proposed football agent regulations has been called a “pantomime”, “fake” and a distortion “of the reality of a process which is far away from being genuine or robust”.
February 3 – On Thursday, host club Al Jazira from the United Arab Emirates and AS Pirae from Tahiti kick off the Club World Cup, the much-maligned tournament that remains a sideshow in the annual calendar.
February 2 – FIFA will trial ‘robot referee’ technology at the Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi which kicks off on Thursday with host club Al Jazira taking on Tahiti’s AS Pirae.
February 2 – FIFA has completed a two-day consultation on football agent regulations in Montevideo, Uruguay, where the world governing body met with agent organisations from Americas, Asia, Africa and Europe.
February 1 – FIFA’s legal team is undergoing a makeover with four key team leaders exiting the world governing body and the merger of two of the key integrity and judiciary functions.
February 1 – Former Chelsea manager Avram Grant (pictured) is under investigation by FIFA over accusations of sexual harassment.
January 31 – The Confederation of African Football (CAF) and several African FA presidents have came out in support of FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s controversial speech at the Council of Europe last week when he suggested the staging of biennial World Cups would provide a solution to the African migrant crisis.
By Samindra Kunti
January 28 – On a visit to Paris, FIFA president Gianni Infantino has appointed French FA (FFF) president Noel Le Graët as his delegate to oversee the organisation’s newly opened office in Paris.
January 28 – The sense that FIFA’s senior leadership is running out of control under president Gianni Infantino has been reinforced by news that a key advisor, Miguel Macedo has evaded sanction despite being found to have sexually harassed a member of his staff.
By Samindra Kunti
January 26 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino has taken his sales pitch for a biennial World Cup to new, unprecedented and questionable levels when he seemed to link a World Cup every two years to a better future for refugees crossing the Mediterranean.
August 25 – Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter has criticised his successor Gianni Infantino for relinquishing his responsibilities by moving his personal base to Qatar and away from FIFA’s Zurich headquarters and for dividing global football at a time when the world needed its leading sport to bring unity.
January 24 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino was in Europe at the weekend and hosted a meeting with European Commission vice-president Margaritas Schinas with an agenda that included both the Qatar 2022 World Cup and the ‘future of football’.
January 21 – FIFA are poised to bring in radical new rules designed to stop the richest clubs hoarding players and help home-grown youth development.