November 11 – Russia’s government has announced a further RUB 4 billion (£55 million) increase in budget for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The new funds are earmarked for infrastructure and utilities projects.
November 10 – Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) has donated $500,000 to the Kakuma project in Kenya.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 7 – Angry European clubs claim their case for staging the 2022 World Cup in May has not been sufficiently publicised by FIFA and insist that a winter tournament in Qatar is by no means a fait accompli.
November 6 – Asia’s top Olympic official has stepped into the debate over a winter World Cup in 2022, ruling out the idea of the winter Olympics the same year being shifted from its traditional February time slot.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 6 – The international players’ union FIFPro have re-iterated their warning that players could boycott the 2022 World Cup if it is held in summer even though that is now becoming increasingly unlikely.
November 6 – The International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS), an international focussed on sport safety, security and integrity, has been named as a sponsor of the World Football Forum being held in Moscow next week.
Argentina will not be bidding for the centenary World Cup in 2030, opening the door to Chile or even inaugural hosts Uruguay.
The 2030 tournament seems almost certain to go back to South America for the first time since this year’s World Cup in Brazil.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 3 – Almost four years after awarding Qatar the 2022 World Cup, FIFA appears to have edged ever-closer to an unprecedented decision to break with tradition and stage the tournament in winter because of the fearsome Gulf mid-summer heat.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 3 – As football’s stakeholders gather at FIFA headquarters today for the latest meeting to determine exactly when to stage the 2022 World Cup, FIFA’s leading medical expert has insisted once again that the Qatar tournament must not be staged in the middle of the Gulf summer.
October 31 – The Russia 2018 World Cup will be held at 12 stadiums across 11 cities. In keeping with World Cup tradidition a series of posters have been designed to promote the World Cup and refelct the culture and traditions of the country’s football. Pictured here is a gallery of the posters from the 11 cities: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Saransk, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Yekaterinburg, Samara, Sochi and Rostov-on-Don.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 31 – FIFA have been forced to apologise for a politically embarrassing gaffe after a video launching the logo for the 2018 World Cup in Russia displayed the disputed Crimean peninsula as being part of Russian territory.
October 30 – Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko will give the welcome address to World Football Forum gathering in Moscow, November 13. Organiser have now released their programme for the event which ends with a VIP reception at the Inter-Continental Hotel.
October 29 – The official launch of the 2018 FIFA World Cup logo took place last night in Russia at a televised ceremony that enlisted the help of an international space station crew and saw the emblem projected on to the historic Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.
October 29 – A senior FIFA figure has questioned Brazil’s reasons for staging this year’s World Cup, suggesting legacy and social change was a less important factor than trying to win a sixth world crown.
October 29 – Russian President Vladimir Putin, under continual pressure from critics to allow everyone at the 2018 World Cup to move and act freely, says measures will be “effective but not intrusive”.