October 29 – Stung by the recent legal complaint to the European Commission by top leagues and player unions, FIFA is setting up a Task Force led by its head of global football development Arsene Wenger in an attempt to appease mounting scrutiny over player burnout.
October 28 – Controversial Djiboutian football boss Souleiman Waberi has announced that he will bid for a seat on the FIFA Council.
October 28 – The executive chairman of Mexican media giants Televisa, Emilio Azcarraga, is stepping down from Grupo Televisa SAB in the wake of the FBI’s bribery probe into broadcast rights sales for FIFA World Cup matches. The resignation comes with immediate effect.
October 27 – After an October international match window that saw 126 competitive matches and 17 friendlies played, Argentina remain top of the world rankings,but France and Spain are closing in on them.
October 25 – On Thursday, FIFA, responding to its commitment in the US following legal action by sports marketer Relevent and LaLiga, has set up a working group to review its rules around allowing leagues to play matches outside their domestic markets.
October 24 – FIFA has been accused of not paying the final part of agreed sums to players across Europe whose contracts have not been honoured by their clubs.
October 24 – World governing body FIFA is again under fire following the accusation by trade union Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI) that it is refusing to engage on human rights concerns in Saudi Arabia, defying its own human rights obligations.
October 22 – More than 100 internationals in the women’s game are calling on FIFA to reconsider allowing Saudi Arabian oil company Saudi Aramco to be a sponsor.
October 21 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino insists player welfare “remains a priority” despite top European leagues and players’ union Fifpro filing a legal complaint to the European Commission against the world governing body.
October 21 – No Barcelona, Manchester United, Liverpool, AC Milan or Arsenal, not even Atletico Madrid. The Club World Cup is without five of the biggest and most supported clubs in the world. But it does now have Lionel Messi… and his five-season-old club Inter Miami who have been give a wild card entry into the tournament.
October 17 – Outspoken LaLiga president Javier Tebas has called on Gianni Infantino to call off his pet project, the expanded Club World Cup, arguing that “it is not necessary for the players, nor for the clubs, nor for FIFA, and all it does is cause disorganisation.”
October 16 – FIFA have signed Chinese computer giant Lenovo as a global sponsor for the next two World Cups, the men’s 2026 World Cup and the 2027 Women’s World Cup, both of which will be played in the Americas.
October 15 – Players have never been closer to going on strike amid growing discontent over an increasingly congested calendar, according to the head of their global union FIFPRO.
October 15 – FIFA has said that it will open dialogue with stakeholders an article 17 of its Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (RSTP) following the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling in the Lassana Diarra case that found of its transfer rules are contrary to EU law.
October 14 – FIFPRO Europe and the European Leagues association have followed through on their threat and, filed a complaint tothe European Commission against FIFA over the international match calendar.