By Jaroslaw Adamowski
May 23 – Seven consortia of construction companies have submitted bids to build a new stadium for Poland’s Widzew Lodz. The facility will have a capacity of between 15,000 and 18,000.
May 23 – Mexico’s World Cup squad have decided to avoid eating beef during their preparations for fear of testing positive for the banned drug clenbuterol.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 23 – The head of US Soccer says has reiterated his country will only target the 2026 World Cup if FIFA’s bidding rules are significantly tightened up – including votes being made public. Sunil Gulati and other senior executives within his CONCACAF confederation have long been uncomfortable with the way the joint ballots for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments were conducted.
By Ben Nicholson
May 23 – David Beckham, in his bid to build a Major League Soccer stadium in downtown Miami, is envisioning a new location for his home turf. Having met with opposition for a waterfront park, largely from disgruntled businessmen from the port area, he has switched his attention to filling a water basin with a 20,000-seat stadium.
May 22- The International Centre for Sports Security, which earlier this month published the most comprehensive report to date into the scale of illegal betting, is expanding its global operations by opening a European head office and appointing former European Professional Football Leagues chief Emanuel Macedo de Medeiros as the new Chief Executive of ICSS Europe from early June.
May 22- Paris St Germain have been called before Uefa’s disciplinary commission over allegations of racism by their fans at last month’s Champions League clash against Chelsea in Paris.
By Mark Baber
May 22- The All India Football Federation’s Club Licensing Committee First Instance Body announced Wednesday that only 9 out of 14 applicants met the required administrative, sporting, infrastructure and financial criteria to play in the I-League, though newly promoted Royal Wahingdoh have been given a one-time exemption.
May 22- All professional footballers in England will be banned from betting on football matches from next season following a string of damaging incidents that have rocked the domestic game.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 22 – A vital final test event at the troubled stadium that is hosting the opening game of the World Cup has been postponed for three days, raising fresh concerns that the Sao Paulo venue will be far from ready for the June 12 kickoff.
May 22 – Fans looking to find the authentic Brazilian football experience in Rio or Sao Paulo at the World Cup this summer should download a couple of digital guides written by Brazilian journalist Qiana Martin and writer of the of www. http://eatsoccer.wordpress.com/ blog.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 22 – FIFA is holding firm on kickoff times for the World Cup despite being threatened with legal action by Brazil’s athletes’ union (Fenapaf) which is calling for two-minute water breaks at the midway point of each half.
By Mark Baber
May 21 – City Football Group (CFG), owners of Manchester City, Melbourne Heart and New York City Football Club have taken a minority stake (believed to be 20%) and formed a partnership with the Nissan-owned Yokohama F Marinos, one of Japan’s leading sides.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 21 – The lifting of the ban on Muslim women footballers wearing the hijab has been welcomed by organisers of the 2016 under-17 Womens World Cup in Jordan, a tournament viewed as potential breakthrough it terms of breaking down social barriers.
May 21 – IMG Licensing has been appointed by UEFA as the master licensee for Euro 2016 and will have global rights until the end of the following year. The contract, to be run from IMG’s Paris office, also covers the UEFA European U21 Championship, the UEFA European Women’s Championship and the UEFA Futsal Euro.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 21 – The FIFA vice-president leading the campaign to wipe out racism in football says there must be no let-up in the effort to spread the message and punish the offenders. Jeffrey Webb, President of CONCACAF and head of FIFA’s anti-discrimination Task Force, was a guest speaker at Tuesday night’s star-studded 20th anniversary of Britain’s Kick It Out movement and called for collective solidarity and inclusion.