By Mark Baber
June 23 – Macau police claim to have smashed two illegal gambling rings, arresting 26 people in separate hotel raids and seizing cash and other evidence. The raids uncovered evidence of HK$5 billion in illegal bets on World Cup football matches in a week – including a single HK$40 million (£3 million) bet on one World Cup match.
By Paul Nicholson
June 23 – Human rights group Nonviolence International has released the full report written in conjunction with the Palestinian FA into the abuses and disruption by Israeli authorities of footballers and football in the Palestinian occupied territories.
By Mark Baber
June 18 – Chinese beer industry, and particularly Tsingtao Brewery and Anheuser-Busch InBev owned Harbin Beer are using World Cup to boost market share, especially amongst the younger demographic.
By Mark Baber
June 16 – China’s blooming sports lottery, which debuted in 2009, is expecting a big boost from the World Cup with revenues estimated to increase by US$13.5 billion-$16.2 billion over the coming month.
By Mark Baber
June 11 – Thailand’s Supreme Administrative Court, this morning, ruled in favour of RS Plc, a pay tv broadcast rights holder for the tournament, in a legal dispute with the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC).
By Andrew Warshaw in Sao Paulo
June 10 – The youngest and most reformist member of FIFA’s inner sanctum, Prince Ali bin Hussein of Jordan (pictured right), was dramatically shunted out of office as Asia’s FIFA vice-president today when the region took what could prove a totally misguided decision to merge his position with that of AFC President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa (pictured left) in 2015, thereby giving the Bahraini total control of an organisation he only inherited a year ago.
By Mark Baber
June 6 – The AIFF, which turned down the appeals of four clubs against being barred from next season’s I-League, has come under attack for failing to meet its own criteria.
By Mark Baber
June 6 – Hangzhou-based e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd announced Thursday that it is taking a 50% stake in Guangzhou Evergrande for 1.2 billion yuan ($192 million). The valuation of $284 million would put Evergrande into 20th place in the latest (2013) Forbes List of the World’s Most Valuable Clubs.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 8 – Asia’s top Olympic official has waded into the latest corruption claims over Qatar’s 2022 World Cup bid by blasting the allegations as being “racist” towards Arabs in general.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 4 – The Australian football federation (FFA) has denied any wrongdoing in its failed bid for the 2022 World Cup, insisting it broke no FIFA rules.
By Mark Baber
June 2 – Palestine’s national football team won their first ever international trophy on Friday – lifting the Asia Challenge Cup in the Maldives after defeating the Philippines 1-0. The win secures a place in next year’s AFC Asia Cup to be held in Australia and underlines the urgency of FIFA efforts to ensure an accommodation is reached between Israel and Palestine in order to allow Palestinian football to be played,
By Andrew Warshaw
May 29 – FIFA President Sepp Blatter has given the clearest indication yet that he will not support Palestinian calls for sanctions against Israel at next month’s FIFA Congress in Brazil. Blatter has made finding a compromise between two political foes one of his main priorities and has just completed his latest mediation visit to the region.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 27 – Corruption in Asian football has spread to the Maldives islands, with the Asian Football Confederation warning the local federation risked being suspended for unilaterally launching an investigation into alleged misconduct in selling AFC Challenge Cup tickets.
By Mark Baber
May 21 – City Football Group (CFG), owners of Manchester City, Melbourne Heart and New York City Football Club have taken a minority stake (believed to be 20%) and formed a partnership with the Nissan-owned Yokohama F Marinos, one of Japan’s leading sides.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 21 – The lifting of the ban on Muslim women footballers wearing the hijab has been welcomed by organisers of the 2016 under-17 Womens World Cup in Jordan, a tournament viewed as potential breakthrough it terms of breaking down social barriers.