June 4 – Brazilian superstar Neymar Jr’s management company, NR Sports, has agreed an image rights deal with the newly established Doyen Group until 2017 following the player’s move from Santos to Barcelona.
June 4 – South Africa, host of the 2010 World Cup and the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, have seemingly got the bug for hosting big football events.
June 4 – Libya will stage its first competitive home international in over two years on Friday amid boosted security measures. Despite still being embroiled in violence following the 2011 uprising, the country had its ban lifted by FIFA in April and will play the Democratic Republic of Congo in a World Cup qualifier in the capital Tripoli.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
June 4 – One year after becoming CONCACAF president amid the most turbulent period in its history, Jeffrey Webb says the confederation has already started to clean up its act and regain confidence after being brought to its knees by scandal and in-fighting.
June 3 – France’s FC Nantes and Ismael Bangoura will have to pay Dubai’s Al Nasr Sports Club €4.5 million after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rejected their appeal and upheld a FIFA sanction from November of last year.
June 3 – Dubai’s Emirates Airline expects to be signing its next big football sponsorship with a club outside Europe, according to Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the airline’s chairman and chief executive.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent, in Mauritius
June 3 – Mark Pieth, the Swiss governance advisor whose strongly-worded intervention at last week’s FIFA congress put a spanner in the works of Sepp Blatter’s reform measures, has taken another swipe at the FIFA president, this time accusing both him and UEFA boss Michel Platini of jointly “hijacking” the entire process in Mauritius for political gain.
June 3 – Optus, Australia’s second biggest telecommunications company, has made a strategic decision to withdraw from major sports sponsorships and will not be renewing sponsorship and digital content rights deals with Football Federation Australia (FFA).
By Mark Baber
June 3 – Leading English women’s team Doncaster Belles are appealing the decision to place them in FA Women’s Super League 2 (FA WSL 2) from next season, amidst a growing storm of protest over the allocation of licences in the FA Women’s Super League.
By Paul Nicholson
June 3 – England football icon David Beckham’s love affair with the US continues. He was back in America this weekend visiting Miami and discussing the opportunity for an MLS expansion team in South Florida.
By Gareth Messenger
June 3 – Atletico Madrid director Clemente Villaverde and CEO of Numancia, Victor Manuel Martin, have been elected as the first and second vice presidents, respectively, of Spain’s Liga de Fútbol Profesional (LFP) for two year terms.
By Andrew Warshaw in Mauritius
May 31 – The issue of workers’ rights in Qatar, which has plagued the Gulf state and FIFA ever since the award of the 2022 World Cup, flared up in Mauritius today when a group of activists were arrested while staging a peaceful protest close to where the FIFA Congress was taking place.
By Gareth Messenger
May 31 – Portugal’s Sporting CP will be the beneficiary of more than €3.5million from the sale of Joao Moutinho from Porto to French side Monaco for €25 million.
By Mark Baber
May 31 – With news the Brazil-England game might be cancelled, due to problems with the Maracana stadium, Bayern fans hadn’t abandoned all hope, even as Dante (pictured) departed for Brazil. However, the news soon came that the Brazil-England friendly was back on and they would certainly be without their central defender for Saturday’s DFB Pokal final. The incident has reignited the club vs country debate.
May 31 – Paris St-Germain’s Brazilian sporting director Leonardo has been given a nine-month suspension for pushing a referee, the worst possible timing for the club who are trying to hold on to their manager Carlo Ancelotti as they push towards becoming an established member of Europe’s elite.