By Andrew Warshaw
April 25 – Harold Mayne-Nicholls (pictured), who led the FIFA inspection team that evaluated the credentials of all 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding candidates, has had his ban from all football-related activities reduced on appeal from seven to three years – another blow to the supposed independent judgement of FIFA’s ethics chiefs.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 25 – The climax to Liverpool’s first season under their charismatic German manager Jurgen Klopp, highlighted by reaching the semi-finals of the Europa League this week, has been marred by their highly rated £18 million central defender Mamadou Sakho being unavailable at the worst possible time after failing a drugs test.
April 25 – Costa Rica has stepped up to more hosting duties in the CONCACAF region picking up the 2017 Under-20 Championship which acts as the qualifiers for the FIFA U-20 World Cup, to be played in South Korea in 2017.
April 25 – The lawmakers of world football, the International FA Board, have invited leagues and associations interested in running experiments with video replays to a first workshop on the ground-breaking innovation in Amsterdam next month.
By Samindra Kunti
April 25 – Anderlecht’s Belgian title campaign turned into chaos in the playoffs at the weekend as players argued on the pitch and a farcical 4-2 defeat at KV Oostende led to fans rioting.
By Samindra Kunti
April 25 – One of the longest running shirt sponsorships in European football comes to an end this summer when for the first time in 33 years Philips won’t be the brand on PSV Eindhoven’s shirt. Philips’ sponsorship will be replaced by Energiedirect in a three-year deal worth €18 million.
April 25 – Liberia’s George Weah, regarded as one of the greatest African players of all time and the first African to win FIFA’s player of the year award, is to make a second bid to become president of his troubled nation – 11 years after losing a bitter campaign.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 22 – Gianni Infantino wasted no time, on his first trip to Qatar since becoming FIFA president, in stressing the need for the 2022 World Cup hosts to maintain efforts to improve workers’ welfare.
By Mark Baber
April 22 – FC Barcelona have unveiled the designs for their revamped home – the Nou Camp Nou – at a ceremony attended by Barca board members, the first-team squad and media representatives. Club president Josep Maria Bartomeu said the new stadium will become “an icon for the city,” though most would argue it already is in global opinion.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 22 – In his eagerly awaited first book since leaving FIFA, Sepp Blatter has revealed that he was once asked by Switzerland’s foreign ministry to persuade an African leader to quit office in exchange for an ambassadorial role.
April 22 – New FIFA president Gianni Infantino joked that his only remaining question over the Russia 2018 World Cup on his recent visit was on his “bet with Minister Mutko if I will speak better Russian or he better English in 2018.” Mutko may not have mastered the English-language but the Russians are increasingly showing they have a grip of World Cup communication.
April 22 – With scores of their players repeatedly unpaid, Romanian football authorities have eased contract restrictions that will now allow them to move on and not be retained by clubs against their will.
April 22 – Liverpool’s Anfield stadium will host the final of the Four Nations Rugby League tournament November 20, while the London (and by the West Ham’s Olympic Stadium) will host the final group game of the tournament between England and Australia.
By David Owen
April 21 – Just at the moment, everything Tottenham Hotspur touches is turning to gold. The North London club – the only team still realistically capable of derailing Leicester City’s Premier League fairy tale – is enjoying a dream season, with a Champions League slot for 2016-17 all but secured.
By Paul Nicholson
April 21 – Gordon Derrick, the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) president who was banned from running for the presidency of CONCACAF after FIFA’s Independent Audit and Compliance chief Domenico Scala ruled he had failed the integrity test, did in fact clear all the CONCACAF integrity hurdles before the file was passed to FIFA.