March 3 – Fans will need special identity cards to attend the 2018 World Cup and this summer’s Confederation Cup in Russia in a move to combat hooliganism which reared its ugly head at Euro 2016 – with Russia in the thick of it.
February 24 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino has spoken of the need for Qatar to leave a lasting legacy when it stages the 2022 World Cup, almost certainly the last with 32 finalists.
February 22 – The 40,000-seat stadium to be built in the Al Thumama district of Doha, Qatar, for the 2022 World Cup, will have as its main contractor a joint venture between Qatari construction firm AlJaber Engineer and Turkey’s Tekfen Construction.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 17 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino says he has no fears about fan violence at the World Cup in Russia next year despite chilling threats against English supporters made in a television documentary.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 10 – The man leading Qatar’s 2022 World Cup organisation has issued another strong defence of his country’s right to host the tournament pledging it will act as a unifying force at a time when global divisiveness is very much in vogue.
February 8 – Qatar’s World Cup organisers are splashing out a staggering $500 million every week on major infrastructure projects, the country’s finance minister has admitted.
By Paul Nicholson
February 7 – Russia has increased its government spending on the 2018 World Cup by 19.1 billion rubles ($325 million) according to documents published on a government website. Total spend on the World Cup is now going to hit $10.8 billion.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 2 – With his country under global scrutiny because of the ongoing doping scandal, Alexei Sorokin, the public face of the 2018 World Cup, has come out fighting and taken a swipe at Russia’s mounting number of critics.
January 20 – A British worker has lost his life working on Khalifa International Stadium in Qatar which will host the group matches and a quarter final at the 2022 World Cup.
By Paul Nicholson
January 11 – The Institute of National Anti-Doping Organisations (iNADO) statement calling for a ban on all Russian participation and hosting of international sporting events – which would include the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and 2018 World Cup – has been described as “strange” and “beyond the scope of their activities” by Russian minister of sport Pavel Kolobkov (pictured).
By Andrew Warshaw
January 5 – Russia’s staging of the 2018 World Cup has been placed under fresh scrutiny following reports that a Moscow-based non-governmental think tank specialising in monitoring racism and extremism has been blacklisted by the authorities.
December 13 – Qatari authorities say they have finally abolished the antiquated ‘kafala’ system tying foreign workers to their employers and which has caused so much conflict amid preparations for the 2022 World Cup.
Let’s be clear: the McLaren Investigation Report, the second part of which was unveiled in London last week, poses no threat to Russia’s World Cup.
By Paul Nicholson
November 30 – Qatar’s showpiece Lusail Stadium for the 2022 World Cup will be built as a Qatar-China joint venture between the China Railway Construction Corp. Ltd. and Qatari contractor HBK Contracting Co. The stadium is scheduled for completion in 2020 and will host the opening match and World Cup Final in 2022.
November 16 – Widely criticised over the treatment of migrant workers employed on construction sites, organisers of the World 2022 in Qatar have given the green light for its stadiums to be inspected by officials of the Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI), a global federation of some 300 trade unions in the building industry that has a combined membership of more than 12 million workers.