By Samindra Kunti
June 9 – Dick Advocaat begins his third reign as Netherlands coach with the mission of taking Oranje to the World Cup in Russia. Holland lie in fourth position in their World Cup qualification group and play Luxembourg on Friday.
May 30 – As the first 2022 World Cup stadium opened its gates for Qatar’s Emir Cup final last week, a pilot sensory room project also kicked off, designed to improve the match-day experience for supporters with cognitive disabilities.
May 26 – A report by Britain’s Guardian newspaper claims FIFA knew about North Korean workers being employed in dire conditions in the construction of a 2018 World Cup site in St Petersburg.
May 23 – Qatar 2022 organising chief Hassan Al Thawadi has been explaining the impact and scale of his country’s World Cup project at the World Economic Forum in Jordan.
By Paul Nicholson
May 18 – Qatar will re-open the Khalifa International Stadium this weekend, the first tournament-ready venue for the first winter World Cup that kicks off 21 November 2022. Khalifa International will host group matches and knock out rounds up to the quarter finals in 2022, but before then it will host the 2017 Emir Cup final, 2017 Gulf Cup and 2019 IAAF World Championships.
By Samindra Kunti
May 17 – Zenit St. Petersburg have been forced to play tonight’s (Wednesday) league match with FC Krasnodar at another ground after the pitch at the Krestovsky stadium was deemed to be too poor for the fixture.
By Paul Nicholson
May 10 – Issues of racism and discrimination have been thrust into the spotlight again with the Sulley Muntari case sadly showing that football has a lot more work to do on the issue. FIFA’s response has been depressingly ambivalent; of the “it’s not nice but what do you expect us to do” variety. So what about Russia, the World Cup and the widely documented issues facing that country as it prepares to welcome the world in 2018.
By Samindra Kunti
April 24 – Saint Petersburg’s 69-000 all-seater Krestovsky Stadium has opened two months before the Confederations Cup, but concerns remain over the venue’s readiness.
April 20 – A US Democrat Senator has urged FIFA to consider stripping Russia as hosts of next year’s World Cup over its alleged complicity in the recent chemical weapons attack in Syria.
April 17 – Amid concerns over disruption at next year’s World Cup, Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a federal law that will toughen penalties for “gross violations” at sporting events by both Russian and visiting fans.
April 7 – Qatar has agreed to heavily slash its budget for hosting the 2022 World Cup and is pressing ahead with eight stadiums, according to organising chief Hassan Al Thawadi.
April 4 – Russia’s chief World Cup figurehead says the subway blast in St Petersburg that killed 11 people should not be used by the country’s critics to call into question next year’s finals or the confederations cup this coming summer.
April 3 – Qatar is taking advice from British security services as it builds towards the 2022 World Cup according to Hassan Al Thawadi, head of the tournament’s organising committee.
March 29 – Brazil have become the first team to qualify for next year’s World Cup after the five-times champions beat Paraguay 3-0 for their eighth successive win in the South American qualifying competition.
March 23 – The International Labour Organisation, one of the United Nations’ most highly regarded agencies, has decided to continue monitoring Qatar for human rights violations until November despite the Gulf state, organisers of the 2022 World Cup, insisting progress is being made.