By David Gold
November 26 – Brazil’s controversial football chief Ricardo Teixeira (pictured) has launched a veiled attack on Sepp Blatter by declaring that “racism is not resolved with a handshake”, echoing the words the embattled FIFA President used in an interview last week, as the country launched an anti-racism drive.
By David Gold
November 25 – Dutch giants Ajax will choose between two of the most influential men in the club’s history, Louis van Gaal (pictured) and Johan Cruyff, at a shareholders meeting on December 12, in order to end the internal civil war between the two men’s respective supporters.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 25 – Too many footballers are risking their long-term careers by having painkilling injections before matches, FIFA’s medical chief warned today.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 25 – FIFA’s medical chief, Jirí Dvorák (pictured), has called on anti-doping authorities not to take too hard a line against clenbuterol and to be more understanding about how and why the substance gets into the body.
By David Gold
November 24 – Zhang Jilong (pictured right), the acting President of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), has claimed that it is “business as normal” after a controversial year for the organisation.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 24 – A Swiss anti-corruption expert has emerged as the key player in FIFA President Sepp Blatter’s quest to rid the organisation of sleaze and scandal.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 23 – A European arrest warrant has been issued by Lithuanian prosecutors for the Russian owner of troubled English Championship club Portsmouth.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 23 – FIFA’s youngest Executive Committee member, Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan, has been mandated by his Confederation to press for women footballers being allowed to wear the hijab, the Islamic headscarf.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 23 – Danny Jordaan, organiser of last year’s World Cup in South Africa, is targeting the Presidency of the Council of Southern African Football Associations (COSAFA) as he bids to re-enter football administration after a year out of the limelight.
By David Gold
November 22 – FIFA President Sepp Blatter (pictured) believes that the American Major League Soccer (MLS) calendar should be aligned with the main European leagues, so that the domestic season is played from autumn to spring.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 23 – FIFA President Sepp Blatter today attempted to close the book on the recent racism in football row, insisting he was not a racist and was determined to move forward with his oft-stated policy of zero tolerance.
By David Gold
November 22 – Former Ajax legends Johan Cruyff (pictured) and Edgar Davids, now both members of the club’s Supervisory Board, have played down a race row which emerged this week, but doubts persist over the former’s future at the Dutch champions.
By David Gold
November 22 – French President Nicolas Sarkozy (pictured left) held a secret meeting with Qatar’s Crown Prince Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani (right) in which he encouraged the gulf state to invest in French football and purchase the then financially troubled Paris St Germain, it has been claimed.
By David Gold
November 21 – Zhang Jilong (pictured), the acting President of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), has claimed that Indian football is making progress, at a meeting of an Ad Hoc Committee created to improve the state of the game in the country.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 21 – Britain’s FIFA vice-president insisted today that Sepp Blatter (pictured right) is not a racist and said he was “pleased” with Blatter’s attempt to rectify the situation following the outrage that accompanied his statement that racist incidents on the field should be settled with a handshake.