By Samindra Kunti
January 28 – Nasser Al-Khater, the executive director of communications and marketing at the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee repeated his confidence that Qatar will host a good World Cup in 2022, whether it is in the winter or summer. He also rebuffed all criticism aimed at the Emirate, saying it is time to move on.
January 25 – Just seven months after hosting four World Cup matches, Cuiaba’s Arena Pantanal stadium, is being closed for “emergency repairs”.
By Paul Nicholson
January 22 – A comparison of stadium build costs for five of the Russian stadia for 2018, against the cost of football stadiums across Europe, has found that the Russian stadia are coming in at a comparatively equal cost and half the price of London’s Wembley Stadium on a cost per seat basis.
January 20 – MATCH Services, FIFA’s accommodation partner for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, has had all charges that it was leveraging “abusive” prices in the hotel market with tickets for matches dismissed by CADE, Brazil’s anti-competition authority.
January 19 – A senior Qatari government minister has hit back at protests over the mistreatment of migrant workers in his country, saying global pressure on the Gulf state to improve conditions is simply “a dirty game” to discredit the 2022 World Cup hosts.
By Paul Nicholson
January 14 – Russian 2018 World Cup focus is increasingly turning to budgets and costs as the national economy falters under the pressure of declining energy prices and Western sanctions. But the government’s commitment to deliver seems undiminished despite the financial hardships.
January 12 – Russia’s sports minister Vitaliy Mutko has slammed his national football federation over their financial difficulties, their failure to pay coach Fabio Capello for six months and their attitude of waiting for the government to come and bail them out and fix their problems.
By David Owen
January 9 – Details of recipients of a $70 million pot earmarked by FIFA for clubs whose players took part in last year’s World Cup in Brazil have been disclosed, with Germany’s Bayern Munich emerging as comfortably the biggest beneficiary.
December 23 – FIFA has set the dates for the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia and the 2018 World Cup. The governing body has agreed that some World cup qualification matches can begin as early as next March.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 22 – The prospect of the first ever winter World Cup being staged in 2022 has been taken a significant step forward by FIFA – much to the annoyance of Europe’s clubs and leagues.
By Paul Nicholson
December 19 – Russian stadium build for the 2018 World Cup is progressing but not without public assurances from president Vladimir Putin and his officials that money is being well spent and carefully monitored.
By Paul Nicholson
December 17 – Russia has swiftly dismissed any discussion that the crashing value of the Ruble could in turn lead to a withdrawal from hosting the 2018 FIFA World Cup on economic grounds.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 16 – Europe’s clubs and leagues have devised a last-ditch strategy for keeping the Qatar 2022 World Cup close to the tournament’s traditional summer time slot in order to avoid an unpredecented and controversial switch to winter.
December 12 – Volgograd’s new football stadium for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, being built on the site of the old Central Stadium, will be completed in November 2017, according to local government officials.
By Paul Nicholson
December 10 – Russia is progressing with its 2018 infrastructure build and it is an impressive organisational machine to observe in this respect; Brazil could do well to take notes as it now prepares for the Rio 2016 Olympics. But where Russia and Brazil do appear to have commonalities is when it comes to not paying those working in the game.