By Andrew Warshaw
September 27 – Qatar authorities say they are “appalled” by reports of severe mistreatment of migrant workers that have heaped further pressure on organisers of the 2022 World Cup. The Qatari government has opened an immediate inquiry into the reports.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 26 – The International Trade Union Confederation, which claims to represent 175 million workers worldwide, says the safety of those involved in building Qatar’s infrastructure for the 2022 World Cup is “vastly more serious” than the global emphasis on whether to stage the tournament in summer or winter. Concerns for the welfare of players and spectators have led to FIFA considering moving 2022 from the heat of the Gulf summer,
By Andrew Warshaw
September 20 – The FIFA-appointed expert who first cautioned about the dangers of taking the 2022 World Cup to Qatar has come up with a timetable he says would allow for a winter tournament in January – and would satisfy most stakeholders.
By David Owen
September 4 – The Rio de Janeiro doping control laboratory whose accreditation was revoked last month by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in a hugely embarrassing blow for Brazilian authorities, failed a “blind” quality assessment test, Insideworldfootball understands.
By Andrew Warshaw, in Monaco
August 30 – Michel Platini is again insisting on the Qatar 2022 World Cup being switched to winter – in line with a number of other stakeholders.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 16 – Premier League chief Richard Scudamore is back on the offensive over the 2022 World Cup, this time suggesting it should be moved from Qatar rather than be staged in winter. The Premier League are gradually losing the argument of sticking with a June-July tournament even though switching to winter would break with tradition and should have been thought through properly two and half years ago when the vote took place,
By Mark Baber
August 15 – As Brazil suffered a shock defeat to Switzerland on Wednesday, the country has also been hit with off-pitch woes as the Confederacao Brasileira de Futebol (CBF) has reportedly suffered losses in a bank collapse. At the same time the Brazilian Sports Minister has said work on the World Cup stadiums needs to speed up and it is has been revealed hotel costs for World Cup fans will be double those of Johannesburg in 2010.
By Mark Baber
August 14 – Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law a bill July 29, unanimously passed by the State Duma, banning “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations among minors.” Although homosexuality has been legal in Russia since 1993, the new law has attracted widespread criticism and campaigners, including Stephen Fry, have been attempting to organise a boycott of the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014 to protest the new law, comparing it to Nazi persecution of the Jews.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 17 – Brazil’s controversial World Cup law, which gives FIFA the guarantees it needs to stage the tournament next year but has constantly plagued preparations, has again fallen into the spotlight with the country’s federal prosecutor challenging the legality of the legislation.
By Mark Baber
July 9 – In its first year of operation after being switched from Preston to Manchester, England’s National Football Museum has welcomed 458,000 visitors, smashing the 350,000 target and fully justifying Manchester City Council’s investment in the project.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 9 – Russia’s growing commercial influence in European sport, and football in particular, has been underlined with the announcement that Manchester United have made state-controlled Aeroflot their airline partner.The five-year deal runs until 2018 when Russia stages the World Cup and marks the latest in a string of Russian ownership and sponsorship agreements.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 8 – FIFA wants the centenary World Cup in 2030 to be jointly staged by Uruguay and Argentina, the countries who met in the final of the inaugural tournament, according to Argentine FA (AFA) president and Fifa senior vice-president Julio Grondona.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 3 – Despite not being needed for any contentious decisions during the Confederations Cup, GoalControl, the German goal-line technology system, looks like being employed at next year’s World Cup as planned.
The camera-based system was the last to throw its name into the hat for both tournaments after the International Football Association Board finally approved GLT last year. It was surprisingly selected ahead of Hawk-Eye and GoalRef,
By Mark Baber
July 2 – In a set-back to Ethiopia’s ambitions to qualify for a World Cup final tournament for the first time, FIFA has overturned Ethiopia’s original 2-1 win against Botswana and awarded a 3-0 victory to Botswana. FIFA has confirmed that the Ethiopian Football Federation (EFF) has been sanctioned for fielding an ineligible player in the preliminary competition match for the 2014 FIFA World Cup between Botswana and Ethiopia played on 8 June 2013.
By Mark Baber
June 28 – Shares in Perform, a leader in the distribution and commercialisation of sports content across digital platforms, have fallen by over 10% after a warning that spending on acquisitions and content would slow profit growth this year.