Kiwis crushed by Olympic disqualification but open legal action
July 14 – New Zealand are to take legal action after their men’s team were controversially thrown out of Olympic football qualifying for fielding an ineligible player.
Olympics
FIFA’s Olympic payments set to stagnate
By David Owen
April 26 – FIFA is probably going to have to make do with the same size of financial contribution from the Olympic Movement in 2017-20 as it is getting in the present four-year cycle, culminating with the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
GB Olympic flame of hope dies as plug pulled on Rio
By David Owen
April 1 – The all too brief experiment with fielding men’s and women’s Great Britain Olympic football teams is over. Barely a few weeks after signalling its desire to continue sending teams to the Olympics, the Football Association (FA) has been obliged to backtrack and to formally withdraw its proposal.
FIFA backs down in rumble over jungle city of Manaus hosting Olympic football
By David Owen
March 17 – FIFA has backed down over the inclusion of the Amazonian city of Manaus on the list of venues for the Rio 2016 Olympic football tournaments.
US to host qualifiers for Rio 2016 Olympic football tournament
February 16 – The US will host the 2016 Olympic qualifying competition for the CONCACAF region this October 1-13. Eight teams will battle for two automatic qualification spots and a play-off against Colombia for a further entry to the Rio 2016 games.
Rumble in the jungle: FIFA and Rio 2016 differ over use of Manaus for Olympic matches
By David Owen
February 12 – FIFA and the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Organising Committee are at odds over whether the Amazonian city of Manaus would make a suitable venue for next year’s Olympic football tournament.
Seven-a-side football dropped from Tokyo 2020 Paralympics
February 2 – The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Governing Board has given the boot to the seven-a-side football discipline for the 2022 Paralympic Games in Tokyo, but five-a-side football is staying in.
Neymar hopes to fire Brazil to first-ever Olympic football gold
By David Owen
January 28 – Brazil’s brightest current football star Neymar has said he hopes to help his country win its first men’s Olympic football gold medal at South America’s first Olympic Games next year in Rio de Janeiro.
Blatter, the ‘team player’, opts to go down without a fight
By David Owen in Monte Carlo
December 9 – FIFA President Sepp Blatter on Monday went along with the Agenda 2020 recommendation that will force him to retire from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the end of 2016, telling Insideworldfootball he was a “team player”.
$550m China TV deal signals 2022 Winter Olympics will hold its January slot
By David Owen
December 5 – Any last flickering prospect of a re-run of the race for the 2022 Winter Olympics, in a move that could conceivably have sparked the emergence of a southern hemisphere candidate and freed up the January-February time-slot for the FIFA World Cup, has been snuffed out by the announcement of a lucrative new TV deal by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
IOC proposals bring good news for Hayatou – but not Blatter
By David Owen
November 19 – There was potentially good news for one senior FIFA figure in a strategic roadmap for the future of the Olympic Movement unveiled with a flourish in the Olympic capital of Lausanne on Tuesday. But not so, apparently, for another.
IOC clears Park to collect his London 2012 Bronze medal
February 13 – Park Jong-woo, the South Korean Olympic team footballer, will be able to receive his Bronze medal from the 2012 Olympic Games after an International Olympic Committee Disciplinary Commission ruled in his favour.
IOC open investigation into South Korean footballer after political protest
By Duncan Mackay at the Palace Hotel in Lausanne
December 7 – A Disciplinary Commission has been set-up by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) which could see South Korean footballer Park Jong-woo denied the bronze medal he won at London 2012 for his political protest.
Namibia women’s footballers to represent Africa at 2014 Youth Olympics
By Duncan Mackay
November 20 – Namibia’s women’s football team have been put forward to represent Africa at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing.
FIFA Disciplinary Committee to review whether Park should receive London 2012 bronze medal
By Duncan Mackay
November 20 – FIFA will today revisit the long running case of South Korea’s Park Jong-woo and whether he should receive his Olympic bronze medal following his political protest which sparked a diplomatic row with Japan at London 2012.