June 6 – A leading hacker group is preparing a cyber-attack on corporate sponsors of the World Cup in Brazil to protest the lavish spending on the World Cup, according to sources close to the group.
June 5 – While preparations for the high-profile main event move into their final few days, football with a more grassroots appeal is playing a key role on the sidelines of the World Cup.
By Mark Baber
June 3 – Official World Cup sponsor Hyundai, who recently extended their deal with FIFA up to 2022 is rolling out advertising campaigns focused largely on brand-loyalty and the passion of fans for football and their cars. So far it has avoided of the major faux-pas of recent campaigns.
By Ben Nicholson
May 26 – Brazilian female footballer, and five times FIFA World Player of the Year, Marta Vieira da Silva, will open the Football for Equality Plaza in Rio de Janeiro on June 4. The plaza will boast a multimedia exhibition that tells the history of female football in Brazil.
By Tom Parsons
May 23 – Social media platforms are already buzzing about what could be one of the greatest World Cup’s of all time. Players and fans alike are sharing news, views and opinions on Brazil 2014 with just 21 days until it begins.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 20 – FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke has arrived in Brazil for the final time to oversee the run-up to the start of the World Cup, saying he expects “busy days ahead” to make sure everything is ready on time. Valcke arrived 24 hours after Brazil held the last two test events at its delayed stadiums, notably at the Sao Paulo venue that will host the opening game, and will visit all 12 host cities one last time “to see that the finishing touches”
By David Owen
May 19 – German giants Bayern Munich are the club providing most players to the provisional 2014 World Cup squad lists circulated by FIFA last week. The Bundesliga champions have 18 players on FIFA’s release list, two more than Manchester United, who were comfortably the most heavily-represented Premier League club, despite their difficult 2013-14 season.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 16- Just a month before the start of the World Cup, some of the most co-ordinated street protests of recent months have swept through Brazilian cities, once again targeting the huge cost of the tournament.
By David Owen
May 13 – World Cup tourist spending in Brazil in June and July may exceed $3 billion, the Brazilian Government has forecast. In the latest of a series of announcements that appear designed, in part, to convince ordinary Brazilians that staging sports mega-events is a good investment for South America’s biggest country, the Ministry of Tourism unveiled research findings suggesting that foreign tourists would spend nearly $2,500 each, excluding airfares,
By David Owen
May 12 – With just a month to go before the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the Brazilian Government has launched its largest mobilisation of armed forces, using 30,000 military personnel to patrol its entire 17,000-kilometre national border, one of the world’s longest.
May 8 – Brazil’s attempt to win the World Cup on home soil will be handed to those who have given the country back its pride under coach Luiz Felipe Scolari. In other words, no big surprises.
May 1 – Thousands of fans could struggle to use the internet at half of the stadiums during this summer’s World Cup, a top government official has admitted, the latest headache in a sea of worry as Brazil readies for the world’s biggest sporting event.
By David Owen
April 29 – FIFA will run up $250,000 in extra costs as a result of having to send samples from this summer’s World Cup across the Atlantic for analysis, the chairman of the body’s Medical Committee has acknowledged, as he set out plans for the most extensive anti-doping controls ever at international football’s flagship tournament.
April 25 – Sepp Blatter is downplaying security concerns at the World Cup despite more street protests in Rio de Janeiro and, earlier this month, a surge in violent crime in Salvador.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 23 – On his latest four-day inspection visit to Brazil’s World Cup host cities, an anxious FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke has made it abundantly clear yet again that time is running out to complete the necessary construction work – not least at the Sao Paolo venue where the tournament begins.