June 18 – Former UEFA president and French football legend Michel Platini has been detained for questioning on suspicion of corruption over the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, according to reports.
June 11 – Macau have refused to travel to Sri Lanka to complete their 2022 World Cup qualifier citing concerns over safety in the country.
By Paul Nicholson
June 5 – With all the recent distractions of FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s geo-political game-playing around a 48-team Qatar 2022 World Cup out the way, preliminary qualification begins tomorrow for a good ‘old-fashioned’ 32-team one, with the road to Doha beginning in Mongolia.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 22 – Gianni Infantino’s hopes of expanding the Qatar World Cup to 48 teams have been dealt a crushing blow with FIFA announcing it has ditched the idea – exactly two weeks before it was due to be debated by the organisation’s entire global membership.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 21 – Qatar’s 2022 World Cup organising chief has confirmed that a decision will definitely be made one way or the other at the upcoming FIFA Congress over possible expansion to 48 teams – but won’t say which way it will go.
May 21 – Australian FA (FFA) boss David Gallop has said it will take “many millions of dollars” of government funding to win the hosting rights for the 2023 Women’s World Cup, at the official launch of Australia’s bid for the tournament.
May 17 – Qatar officially opened its latest World Cup 2022 stadium Thursday as it staged a prestigious domestic cup final in the $575 million, 40,000-capacity Al-Wakrah venue.
May 15 – Another milestone in the development of 2022 World Cup infrastructure will be achieved on Thursday when the newly-built 40,000-capacity Al Wakrah Stadium hosts its first competitive game, the domestic Emir Cup final.
April 29 – FIFA has written to human rights groups to hold talks about issues related to a potential expansion of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to 48 teams as Gianni Infantino and the governing body continue their push to find one more regional co-host for the tournament.
April 23 – It always seemed an unlikely, if ground-breaking, prospect, both from a sporting and political standpoint. And now it appears to have reached the end of the road with South Korea’s FA (KFA) dropping neighbours North Korea from possible co-hosting the 2023 Women’s World Cup, apparently due to lack of proper coordination.
April 17 – The draw for the first phase of Asia’s qualifying round for the 2022 World Cup finals was made on Wednesday despite the fact that the continent doesn’t know for sure how many teams will be represented in Qatar.
April 15 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s determination to win his battle to expand the 2022 World Cup beyond Qatar’s borders has taken him to Kuwait in a last-ditch effort to pull in another 16 finalists in three years’ time.
April 15 – African football legend Samuel Eto’o has joined the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) as a Global Ambassador.
April 12 – The chances of FIFA increasing the number of teams at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar from 32 to 48 is around 50-50, Gianni Infantino has admitted.
April 10 – A major spanner has been thrown into the plans of Gianni Infantino to share the 2022 World Cup with Qatar’s neighbours.