By Mark Baber
March 11 – Influential Australian think-tank, the Lowy Institute, has published a new report examining how football diplomacy around the 2015 Asian Cup will provide opportunities for government, business and community groups to strengthen their engagement with Asia.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 11 – A Lebanese referee forced to flee for his life has decided to quit, the latest unsavoury episode to strike at the heart of the sport in the Middle Eastern country.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 8 – One of the candidates bidding to become the next Asian football chief has described as “crazy” Michel Platini’s idea that Qatar share the 2022 World Cup with its neighbours.
Exclusive – By Andrew Warshaw, Chief Correspondent
March 7 – Exclusive: At least one of the three west Asian candidates bidding to replace Mohamed bin Hammam as head of Asian football looks set to drop out of the race in the next month to reduce the chances of handing the Continent’s power base to Thailand’s controversial Makudi Worawi.
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.