By Andrew Warshaw
May 30 – The grand-daughter of former FIFA president Joao Havelange has stepped into the war of words over Brazil’s World Cup preparations with the most extraordinary intervention to date, telling protestors angry at the tournament’s massive budget to get over it because some money had already been “spent” or “stolen” or “robbed.”
May 28 – Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has fired back at criticism voiced by Ronaldo, one of the country’s footballing icons, over preparations for the World Cup in the latest spat to undermine the tournament.
By Ben Nicholson
May 26 – Brazilian female footballer, and five times FIFA World Player of the Year, Marta Vieira da Silva, will open the Football for Equality Plaza in Rio de Janeiro on June 4. The plaza will boast a multimedia exhibition that tells the history of female football in Brazil.
By Tom Parsons
May 23 – Social media platforms are already buzzing about what could be one of the greatest World Cup’s of all time. Players and fans alike are sharing news, views and opinions on Brazil 2014 with just 21 days until it begins.
May 23 – Mexico’s World Cup squad have decided to avoid eating beef during their preparations for fear of testing positive for the banned drug clenbuterol.
May 22- All professional footballers in England will be banned from betting on football matches from next season following a string of damaging incidents that have rocked the domestic game.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 22 – A vital final test event at the troubled stadium that is hosting the opening game of the World Cup has been postponed for three days, raising fresh concerns that the Sao Paulo venue will be far from ready for the June 12 kickoff.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 22 – FIFA is holding firm on kickoff times for the World Cup despite being threatened with legal action by Brazil’s athletes’ union (Fenapaf) which is calling for two-minute water breaks at the midway point of each half.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 21 – Brazilian legend Pele says the delays that have plagued the World Cup in his country have been “a disgrace” as FIFA called for a further test event at the stadium that is hosting the opening game. Sao Paulo’s Itaquerao, Cuiaba’s Arena Pantanal and Curitiba’s Arena da Baixada are all unfinished despite the tournament starting in less than a month, and Pele is dismayed.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 20 – FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke has arrived in Brazil for the final time to oversee the run-up to the start of the World Cup, saying he expects “busy days ahead” to make sure everything is ready on time. Valcke arrived 24 hours after Brazil held the last two test events at its delayed stadiums, notably at the Sao Paulo venue that will host the opening game, and will visit all 12 host cities one last time “to see that the finishing touches”
May 20 – Qatar’s 2022 World Cup organisers have announced the second phase of construction at Al Wakrah, the first of the proposed venues to stage the finals. Last week the Qataris announced sweeping changes to their own labour laws though there was still criticism from pressure groups that they hadn’t gone far enough.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 19- United States soccer chief Sunil Gulati admits the game has some way to go at professional level to reach the levels of established domestic sports like American football and baseball – and, for that matter, to match the interest in football overseas.
By David Owen
May 19 – German giants Bayern Munich are the club providing most players to the provisional 2014 World Cup squad lists circulated by FIFA last week. The Bundesliga champions have 18 players on FIFA’s release list, two more than Manchester United, who were comfortably the most heavily-represented Premier League club, despite their difficult 2013-14 season.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 16- Just a month before the start of the World Cup, some of the most co-ordinated street protests of recent months have swept through Brazilian cities, once again targeting the huge cost of the tournament.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 14 – Qatar authorities have made the most forceful pledge to date that they will scrap part of the country’s medieval kafala employment system that has caused so much outrage directed at the 2022 World Cup hosts – but stopped short of abolishing it completely.