December 18 – David Beckham’s plans to move into club ownership in the US have taken a significant step forward after local Miami officials unanimously approved efforts to find a suitable stadium location in the city.
December 16 – CONCACAF have announced the winners of their inaugural Confederation awards across six categories. Mexico’s Oribe Peralta and Alex Morgan (pictured) of the United States were named the first-ever CONCACAF Male and Female Players of the Year.
November 28 – CONCACAF has opened voting for its inaugural confederation awards that will be presented in December 2013. The new awards will honour the top performers from across the confederation in another initiative designed to open up the regional governing body to its membership and football fans across the region.
November 19 – NYCFC, the new New York City MLS franchise scheduled to start play in the 2015 season, is increasing its marketing presence and trading on the group’s assets with a new video featuring Manchester City players in New York.
November 15 – Former US national team player Mia Hamm became the first woman to be inducted into the World Football Hall of Fame in Pachuca, Mexico. Hamm played 275 times for the US over a 17-year career, scoring 158 goals – more than any other international players, male or female.
By Paul Nicholson
November 12 – Sonia Bien-Aime has been appointed to the executive committee of CONCACAF. Bien-Aime is also one of three women on FIFA’s Executive Committee, having been co-opted to the top table of world football at the FIFA Congress in Mauritius earlier this year.
By Paul Nicholson in Grand Cayman
October 22 – CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb has called on his federations to maximise their potential and drive the region into a new era by taking opportunities for development into their own hands.
October 21 – A four-day FIFA Development Seminar in Grand Cayman was kicked off by FIFA President Joseph Blatter, CONCACAF President and FIFA Vice-President Jeffrey Webb and FIFA Secretary General Jérôme Valcke in Grand Cayman yesterday.
By Paul Nicholson
October 22 – At the Gala Dinner for the opening of the CONCACAF Sport Summit in Grand Cayman, it was announced by Dr. Djibril Diallo, senior adviser to the Executive Director of UNAIDS, that confederation president Jeffrey Webb has been awarded the 2013 UNAIDS ‘Protect the Goal’ Special Award for the Diaspora.
By Paul Nicholson in Grand Cayman
October 22 – The landmark CONCACAF Sport Summit, titled ‘Transformation through partnership’ opened here Monday night with a powerful, at times hilarious, address by former political prisoner Tokyo Sexwale, who spent 15 years imprisoned alongside Nelson Mandela on South Africa’s Robben Island.
By Paul Nicholson
October 20 – CONCACAF has moved against the scourge of match-fixing by appointing a new full time executive to lead the fight regionally. Dr. Laila Mintas will take up the new position of Director of Sports Integrity on November 15 with a brief to design and implement processes that will prevent and investigate match-fixing issues in the region.
October 16 – The landmark CONCACAF summit in the Cayman Islands next week (October 21-22) will kick off with an address by South African freedom fighter and football supporter Tokyo Sexwale (pictured) at a dinner hosted by president Jeffrey Webb.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 23 – In one of the most alarming match-fixing scandals of recent months, El Salvador has temporarily suspended 22 players, drawing an immediate response from its governing confederation, CONCACAF, which said it was “deeply saddened” by the allegations.
August 2 – Wells Fargo has become the exclusive retail banking and commercial lending sponsor of MLS following a deal struck with MLS commercial rights agency Soccer United Marketing (SUM).
By Andrew Warshaw
August 1 – Former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner, who quit football over the infamous 2011 cash-for-votes scandal during Sepp Blatter’s re-election campaign, has staged a political comeback after winning back his parliamentary seat in his native Trinidad and Tobago.