By Samindra Kunti
February 24 – In a letter to FIFA president Gianni Infantino, Conmebol boss Alejandro Dominguez (pictured) has expressed his “disappointment” and accused the world federation of “discrimination” and “abuse of power” by moving the FIFA Council from Paraguay back to Zurich.
February 21 – In a time of little international football Belgium have remained top of the FIFA ranking. Palestine moved up the ranking following their success in January’s Bangabandhu Cup.
February 20 – In a rare example of cost cutting among its highest-ranking officials, FIFA have scrapped plans to hold next month’s two-day session in South America and have told members not to travel.
February 20 – Arsene Wenger, FIFA’s new head of global development, appears to have spoken out prematurely about the need to tweak the offside rule sooner rather than later in order to get rid of the farcical situation surrounding a spate of VAR decisions.
February 18 – India has confirmed the host cities for the U-17 Women’s World Cup in November. Navi Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium will host the final with Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar, Guwahati and Kolkata serving as other host cities.
February 11 – In a ground-breaking move, FIFA and FIFPro – the world players’ union – have joined forces to set up a global fund to protect players’ salaries.
February 11 – On the eve of the FIFA delegation’s on-the-ground inspection of Australia and New Zealand’s bid for the 2023 Women’s World Cup, Football Federation Australia boss James Johnson has expressed his confidence in the Antipodean quest to co-host the tournament.
February 3 – FIFA’s eNations Cup 2020 will be hosted in Copenhagen by the Danish Football Association (DBU) May 22-24. It will be the first time the finals have been played in front of a live audience.
January 29 – Former Argentinean president Mauricio Macri has a landed a new job. He will head the FIFA Foundation, an organisation founded by the world federation to promote social change.
By Samindra Kunti
January 23 – Leading agents, including Mino Raiola, Jorge Mendes and Jonathan Barnett, have threatened FIFA with legal action over proposals to cut fees to the representatives of players and clubs involved in transfers.
January 22 – On the first day of Donald Trump’s impeachment trial on Capitol Hill in Washington, FIFA president Gianni Infantino courted the US president thousands of miles away at a dinner during the World Economic Forum in Davos, expressing his hope that “the ‘American dream’ becomes reality…all over the world.”
By David Owen
January 10 – FIFA President Gianni Infantino has officially joined world sport’s most prestigious club. The 49-year-old was one of three new International Olympic Committee (IOC) members inducted at the 135th IOC Session in Lausanne on Friday.
January 3 – A 2030 World Cup final in Manchester or Liverpool? It is what senior Tory figures have asked newly elected UK prime minister Boris Johnson to back in a bid to recreate “something like the London Olympics.”
December 21 – Belgium will finish 2019 as the world’s top ranked team, ahead of France and Brazil – the same positions they held in December 2018 in the FIFA/Coca-Cola men’s World Rankings.
December 20 – FIFA has received nine bids for the commercial rights to the new expanded 24-team Club World Cup being held in China in 2021.