June 2 – The Cayman Islands, whose most infamous footballing figure was disgraced former FIFA vice-president Jeffrey Webb, are back in the news with another FIFA sanction that this time round looks like a triumph of FIFA bureaucracy over the realities of getting international football played in the most challenging conditions the world has ever seen.
June 1 – World Cup participants in 2022 will be allowed to use five substitutes per match after football’s rule-making body IFAB extended the right until the end of next year.
By Samindra Kunti
May 28 – Swiss bank Julius Baer has been fined $80 million by the U.S. Department of Justice for its role in FIFAGate, the scandal that rocked world football in 2015.
May 28 – With only one international match played since FIFA last published its rankings, the calendar is about move from famine to feast with an explosion of activity including Gold Cup and Euro 2020 and Copa America, as well as World Cup qualifiers.
May 27 – World federation FIFA has launched a consultation on the future of the game, focusing on the congested match calendar, fan experience and laws of the game.
May 26 – A former secretary general of Conmebol, Eduardo Deluca (pictured), has been fined CHF 5,000 as part of an official Swiss inquiry into money laundering.
May 24 – World governing FIFA has brought the bidding process for the Women’s World Cup into line with the process for the men’s equivalent following an amendment of the organisation’s statutes at Congress that will in future see all member associations vote for the host country.
May 24 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino has personally backed overhauling the offside rule by doing away with hairsbreadth decisions that have caused so much anguish among players and fans alike.
FIFA is currently trialling a new rule in China and the United States that would give the advantage to strikers and stop what Infantino called being offside “by a nose” because of controversial VAR calls.
“The offside rule is definitely one of the laws we need to look at,” said Infantino.
May 24 – The Nordic membership of FIFA has stepped up pressure on the world governing body to improve workers’ rights in Qatar, the 2022 World Cup hosts.
By Paul Nicholson
May 21 – Whatever credibility or trust that might have been lingering in FIFA’s Ethics apparatus was pretty much shattered at the world governing body’s congress today with the election of Maria Claudia Rojas (pictured), former chair of the investigatory chamber, to the deputy chair of its adjudicatory chamber.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 21 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino today outlined an 11-point plan for making football “truly global” and in doing so took another veiled swipe at Europe’s perceived domination of the sport.
By Samindra Kunti
May 21 – What Gianni Infantino wants, Gianni Infantino normally gets. At today’s annual (virtual) Congress, the FIFA president in his opening address alluded to reshaping the global calendar, and the future and frequency of Zurich’s flagship competitions.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 21 – Gianni Infantino hit back strongly today at suggestions that he might have been complicit in helping orchestrate the aborted European Super League.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 21 – On the eve of Gianni Infantino welcoming FIFA’s global membership to today’s annual congress, the Special Prosecutor who was investigating his infamous secret meetings with the former Swiss attorney general formally quit.
May 20 – Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) president Yasser Al Misehal has explained his organisation’s proposal for a feasibility study into staging the World Cup on a biennial basis as “a chance for players to participate more in their peak years”, echoing the sentiment of FIFA’s head of global development Arsene Wenger.