October 9 – With the rules of football under more scrutiny than ever – offside, handball, VAR etc – FIFA’s recently appointed Head of Global Development, Arsene Wenger, has come up with some forward-looking ideas he believes will improve the game.
October 8 – On the day they played each other in an Iberian friendly, Spain and Portugal announced Wednesday they were pushing ahead with a joint bid to host the 2030 World Cup.
October 8 – More than 200 national association members of FIFA have signed up for the Arsene Wenger-led Talent Development Programme.
By Paul Nicholson
October 7 – The Trinidad and Tobago FA have been given a deadline of December 18 by FIFA to get their suspension lifted or face exclusion from the Qatar 2022 World Cup Qualifiers. The TTFA has been given the same deadline for the 2021 Gold Cup.
October 7 – When FIFA football isn’t being played in an international window, politics will be. FIFA president Gianni Infantino was in Paris earlier this week to meet French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace, also present was French FA president Noël Le Graët.
By Paul Nicholson
September 28 – The soap opera that is the United TTFA’s desperate politicking to regain control of the Trinidad and Tobago FA took a couple of more plot turns over the weekend with the withdrawal of the notice to withdraw the court proceedings against FIFA on Friday, and the news from Concacaf that they were keeping the TTFA in the Gold Cup draw, at least for now.
By Paul Nicholson
September 24 – FIFA’s patience with the former leadership of the Trinidad and Tobago FA (TTFA) has inevitably run out. The world governing body tonight suspended the TTFA “with immediate effect and until further notice”.
September 23 – Swiss prosecutors have called for Paris Saint-Germain president and beIN Media supremo Nasser Al-Khelaifi, and former FIFA number two Jerome Valcke to go to jail for alleged corruption in the allocation of World Cup TV rights.
September 21 – New eligibility rules easing restrictions on switching nationality have been introduced by FIFA with African players, in particular, likely to benefit.
September 21 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino has blamed the slowdown in the FIFA-led reforms of the African Confederation of Football (CAF) on the coronavirus pandemic.
By Paul Nicholson
September 18 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino, hosting the 70th FIFA Congress and the first virtually, today gave an unconvincing defence and partial explanation of the Swiss investigation into his own conduct and his secret meetings with disgraced Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 18 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino today justified attending this week’s US-brokered diplomatic agreement between Bahrain, Israel and the United Arab Emirates, an arrangement which prompted outrage amongst the Palestinian community.
By Samindra Kunti
September 18 – FIFA supremo Gianni Infantino made a flying visit to the US for the signing of a diplomatic pact between Israel and both the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in Washington DC, and discussed 2026 World Cup plans with Donald Trump, FIFA said on Thursday.
September 17 – In the first set of FIFA rankings since the Coronavirus pandemic suspended fixtures globally in March, Belgium have retained their position at the top with Portugal moving into the top five following this month’s Nations League fixtures.
By Paul Nicholson
September 16 – FIFA has signed a memorandum of understanding with anti-corruption agency, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) “to step up their joint cooperation to address threats posed by crime to sport,” said a FIFA press release.