June 14 – Group D debuts. Rooney hasn’t scored for 594 minutes in World Cup football, Diego Forlan scored 3 of Uruguay’s last 5, Itay have scored in last 14 of their World Cup games, Costa Rica have lost their last 4 games at the World Cup.
June 14 – Group C’s vital stats. Colombia’s keeper is the oldest player in Brazil, Greece kept eight clean sheets in qualifying, Japan have qualified for the last five World Cups and Ivory Coast the last three.
By Mark Baber
June 13 – California-based Google is taking the World Cup very seriously, with a world cup theme for the opening day, football-specific content and a trends page which helps understand what fans are searching for on the web and even, the company claims, the mood of each nation.
By Andrew Warshaw in Sao Paulo
June 12 – World Cup, what World Cup? Usually on the eve of the biggest sporting spectacle on the planet, colourful bunting is everywhere to be seen, flags fly proudly, there are welcoming smiles and horns blast away patriotically.
By Mark Baber
June 9- Cameroon’s squad is departing for Brazil 12 hours later than scheduled, after settling a dispute over World Cup pay with their Federation which had to borrow money to be able to meet the players’ demands. Meanwhile, in Spain, there is uproar as the players are offered $720,000 each if they win the World Cup.
By Andrew Warshaw in Sao Paulo
June 9- World Cup sponsors have called on FIFA to deal thoroughly with corruption claims as a second swathe of allegations over Qatar’s conduct in securing the 2022 tournament was published by Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper, overshadowing this week’s big kick-off.
June 9 – Chinese company Yingli, winner of the NetEase ‘Best Sports Marketing Award’ for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, will be bringing solar energy to the world stage again, powering the Arena Pernambuco and Maracanã Stadium in Brazil.
June 6 – A leading hacker group is preparing a cyber-attack on corporate sponsors of the World Cup in Brazil to protest the lavish spending on the World Cup, according to sources close to the group.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 5 – In a robust and passionate defence of his moral conduct as UEFA president, Michel Platini has denounced what he claims is a deliberate campaign to discredit him and says that despite all the allegations over Qatar staging the 2022 World Cup, the decision was the right one for football.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 5 – Despite the stadium delays, overspending and widespread adverse publicity about crime and poverty, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has come out fighting ahead of the World Cup which kicks off in a week.
June 5 – While preparations for the high-profile main event move into their final few days, football with a more grassroots appeal is playing a key role on the sidelines of the World Cup.
By Mark Baber
June 3 – Official World Cup sponsor Hyundai, who recently extended their deal with FIFA up to 2022 is rolling out advertising campaigns focused largely on brand-loyalty and the passion of fans for football and their cars. So far it has avoided of the major faux-pas of recent campaigns.
By Andrew Warshaw and Paul Nicholson
June 1 – Qatar’s 2022 World Cup organisers have been quick to respond to the explosive allegations of corruption published by English newspaper the Sunday Times, saying that the bid committee broke no rules and that Mohamed bin Hammam was not part of the bid team. FIFA’s chief investigator Michael Garcia is meeting Qatar 2022 bid officials today as part of his on-going investigation of the conduct of all the bidding member associations.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 1 – FIFA vice-president Jim Boyce says the most explosive allegations to date linked to Qatar being awarded the 2022 World Cup must be added to the investigation into the entire bidding process being conducted by FIFA’s corruption buster, Michael Garcia.
May 30 – Brazil’s third largest city, Belo Horizonte – the venue where England were famously beaten by the United States in 1950 – have unveiled plans for its free 21,000-capacity fan fest throughout the World Cup.