By Andrew Warshaw
December 15 – Hassan Al-Thawadi, head of Qatar’s 2022 World Cup organising committee who was the public face of the surprise ballot victory five years ago, says his team has not been contacted by any officials from either the US or Swiss investigations into widespread football corruption and has repeated he does not expect the Gulf state to be stripped of host status.
By Mark Baber
December 10 – Russian president Vladimir Putin called for an overhaul of the current system of administration of Russian football, for a speeding up of work on infrastructure projects for the 2018 World Cup and for the national squad to represent the country with dignity. He made his comments at president’s council for sports and the 2018 World Cup organising committee.
November 25 – Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko says security will be tightened at the 2018 World Cup following the Paris massacre and the growing threat of terrorism generally.
November 24 – Arsenal’s French manager Arsene Wenger has pointed the finger squarely at Uefa in his latest outburst over doping in football.
By Andrew Warshaw in Zurich
November 20 – Alexei Sorokin, the man running the 2018 World Cup in Russia, has spoken out for the first time in public about Sepp Blatter’s remarkable claim of a pre-vote deal that cast growing suspicion on how both the 2018 and 2022 tournaments were won and lost.
By Paul Nicholson
November 19 – The financial crisis that engulfed the Russia’s Football Union (RFU) and saw Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko return as federation president in September, eased slightly with the announcement of gas company Novatek coming on board as a main sponsor. No figure was announced for the deal which will go through until the end of 2018.
By Tom Parsons
November 11- Will you be following the FA Cup this year? Do you take photographs on Instagram? Well , in a tradition-breaking endeavour by the English FA, your photograph could be used on tickets for this season’s showpiece final.
November 11 – Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko may be facing the hardest few days of his sports career internationally over the doping scandal that has rocked athletics and the Olympic movement, bit at home in Russia World Cup 2018 plans are progressing with an emphasis on bringing more participants and fans into the game.
By Tom Parsons
November 6 – Tottenham Hotspur have extended their global reach through Spurs TV broadcast deals which will now see them have their content available to over 300 million people worldwide.
November 6 – Leading FIFA sponsors Adidas have broken their silence over the ongoing corruption scandal by insisting the crisis has not adversely affected its brand.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 4 – Having been kicked from pillar to post by FIFA, metaphorically speaking, Palestine football authorities have now been told once and for all that they will not be able to play a forthcoming World Cup qualifier against Saudi Arabia on home soil.
By David Owen
November 3 – Southampton, the south-coast club that has re-emerged in recent times as an established, stylish and widely-admired Premier League outfit, has posted another highly satisfactory set of financial results.
By Paul Nicholson
November 2 – Russia’s 2018 preparations are ramping up with reports that the redevelopment of the Luzhniki stadium which will host the opening match and the final is ahead of schedule while elsewhere infrastructure projects are gathering pace with the Nizhny Novgorod regional government announcing it has allocated Ruble 1.9 billion for a subway link to its stadium.
By Paul Nicholson
October 23 – Russia’s Ministry of Sports has agreed on the cost of construction for the Kalinigrad stadium, one of the last to start building. According to the Deputy Prime Minister of Kaliningrad region, Russia’s Ministry of Sports has agreed on the cost of construction for the Kalinigrad stadium, one of the last to start building. According to the Deputy Prime Minister of Kaliningrad region, Alexander Rolbinov, the cost should not exceed Ruble18.5 billion ($296 million).,
October 21 – It may not end Russian economic problems when it comes to the ruble to dollar exchange rate, but the Central Bank of Russia is determined to take advantage of the 2018 World Cup in the country and issue commemorative currency.