By Andrew Warshaw
April 5 – Leading Egyptian club Zamalek have been fined for allowing fans into their stadium to watch a league game, defying security orders that all matches be played in empty stadiums, a stipulation put in place in order for football to resume following last year’s Port Said disaster.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 1 – FIFA have written to the South African government warning them against a judicial inquiry into the country’s recent match-fixing scandal, insisting the matter must be handled by the football authorities. Government interference in football, typically frequent in Africa and Asia, is banned by FIFA who have not been afraid to issue to warnings and sanctions.
By Mark Baber
March 28 – In the football equivalent of the ‘church and state’ governance debates, the Nigerian Senate has demanded an overhaul of football in the country – despite the Super Eagles winning the Africa Cup of Nations earlier this year – but is wary of becoming too involved in running the game.
By Mark Baber
March 25 – The Nigeria Football Federation has issued another condemnation of ambush marketing, claiming it is violating the rights of its main official sponsors who include Diageo-owned Guinness, Adidas, Globacom Communications (which also sponsors Manchester United), Cadbury and Samsung.
By Mark Baber
March 18 – The revelation that the head of the Nigeria Women Professional League (NPWL) has been actively discriminating against suspected lesbian footballers has unleashed a storm of protest including a petition to FIFA which has so far gathered nearly 50,000 signatures.
March 13 – Tanzania has again been warned by FIFA that it will be suspended if the government interferes in the administration of the sport.
By Paul Nicholson
March 11 – Violence erupted in Egypt again over the weekend and the Egyptian FA headquarters were burned down after fans rioted after the second court ruling following the Port Said disaster in February 2012 handed down sentences to a further 54 people and confirmed the 21 death sentences already passed last month.
By Mark Baber
March 11 – As FIFA seeks clarification over reported remarks by the head of the Nigeria Women Professional League (NWPL), a tape of the controversial interview has been released by Nigeria’s Premium Times and activists have called for a FIFA ban.
By Osasu Obayiuwana in Marrakech, Morocco
March 11 – In what can only be termed as the ultimate comeback, Mali’s Amadou Diakite (pictured), the disgraced former FIFA executive committee member, has returned to the top of continental football administration, winning another four-year term on the executive committee of the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
By Osasu Obayiuwana in Marrakech
March 11 – Issa Hayatou, elected without opposition to a record 7th term as president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), has hit out at critics of his lengthy tenure.
By Osasu Obayiuwana, at the CAF Congress in Marrakech
March 9 – The 35th Ordinary General Assembly of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), to be spread over two days, began on Saturday at the Palais De Congrais in Marrakech, Morocco.
By Osasu Obayiuwana, at the CAF congress in Marrakech, Morocco
March 9 – Backslaps, embraces and hearty chat are always on offer, when the great, the good and the miscreants in African football politics congregate, at least in public.
By Osasu Obayiuwana at the CAF Congress in Marrakech
March 8 – Slim Jdidi, the Tunisian referee at the centre of the controversial 2013 Africa Cup of Nations semi-final between Ghana and Burkina Faso is unlikely to receive further sanctions from the Confederation of African Football (CAF), the continent’s governing body.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 5 – African football’s contentious presidential election was thrown even more sharply into focus today when the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) threw out Jacques Anouma’s (pictured) last-ditch appeal against being barred from taking on the veteran incumbent Issa Hayatou.
March 5 – Egypt has started its league after a year’s suspension following the Port Said disaster where 74 fans were killed, but now the financial burden of sustaining clubs and playing squads looks to be hitting as players at one club are refusing to train.