By Andrew Warshaw, Chief Correspondent
March 5 – Rocked by corruption and controversy, Chinese football has gone for the boldest of coups in an effort to enhance its battered image on and off the field: signing up David Beckham.
By Paul Nicholson and Andrew Warshaw
March 4 – One of the three west Asian candidates seeking to replace Mohamed bin Hammam and run football in the entire Continent until 2015 has urged his two rivals to step aside to avoid a potentially damaging split.
As the Asian Football Confederation announced a four-man race for the presidency on May 2, Yousuf al Serkel (pictured), of United Arab Emirates, said he is to ask the two other regional candidates bidding against him to stand down. Read more …
By Andrew Warshaw, Chief Correspondent
March 1 – FIFA vice president Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein (pictured) has summoned three of the candidates hoping to run Asian football to a summit in Jordan next week to make sure they have a proper agenda and are not just playing politics.
By Andrew Warshaw, Chief Correspondent
March 1 – The race to lead Asian football into a new era of unity and stability has suffered a dramatic blow amid reports that China’s Zhang Jilong (pictured), who has been in charge on an temporary basis for almost two years, has decided not contest the presidential election in early May.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 1 – The Asian Football Confederation, stung by non-stop allegations of match-fixing, says the latest episode affecting a number of Lebanese players did not involve any of that country’s World Cup fixtures.
By Mark Baber
February 27 – The authorities in Uzbekistan have adopted new rules for fans behaviour in football matches which include an end to shouting and chants.
February 26 – FIFA has issued another stern signal that match-fixing will be harshly punished by extending worldwide the February 18 bans on 58 players and officials handed out by the Chinese Football Association.
By Andrew Warshaw, Chief Correspondent
February 26 – The race to replace Mohamed bin Hammam to run the game in Asia and become one of the most powerful figures in world football has taken a remarkable new twist with the announcement that Worawi Makudi of Thailand has thrown his hat into the ring.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 21 – The battle to succeed Mohamed bin Hammam as head of Asian football has taken a surprising twist with Saudi Arabia’s Hafez Al Medlej (pictured left) almost certainly putting his name forward along with the anticipated contenders.
By Mark Baber
February 21 – Youssef Suleiman, a player from the Homs-based al-Wathbah club, was killed by a mortar attack on the Tishreen Sports Complex in Damascus on Wednesday.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 21 – The two rival football federations in Indonesia have agreed to merge to avoid stringent FIFA sanctions that would wreck the country’s entire international status.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 20 – The acting head of Asian football says stakeholders throughout the entire Continent must work together to eliminate the “cancer” of match-fixing which has its roots in illegal Asian gambling dens.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 19 – In a damaging blow to the image of football in China, which has been spending like crazy to acquire top players towards the end of their careers, Shanghai Shenhua have been stripped of their 2003 league title and fined £103,000 as part of on ongoing investigation into a match fixing scandal.
February 14 – Tourism is being given a massive facelift in Qatar as the country continues to build its infrastructure ahead of the 2022 World Cup.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
February 11 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has selected May 2 for the date of its highly anticipated extraordinary Congress that will elect a new leader in succession to Mohamed bin Hammam and herald what officials hope will be the start of a new era of trust and credibility.