By Katie Simmonds, Chair, SIGA Women Council
March 8 – Here we go… again! Today we are celebrating International Women’s Day 2025, and it is time to shine a spotlight on our journey to achieving gender equity in sport. Stifle a yawn.
February 14 – The SIGA Summit on Female Leadership in Sport will make its debut in Dubai on April 8. It’s last three editions have been hosted at the Mastercard Tech Hub in Manhattan.
February 13 – Sports integrity group SIGA has launched its SIGAWomen Council, dedicated to promoting gender equity and female leadership in sport.
February 11 – Major League Soccer (MLS) opens its 2025 season on February 22, however, LAFC have already hit the news in controversial fashion as part-owner, Ruben Gnanalingam, was forced to apologise for anti-Israel posts on social media.
January 30 – SIGA is has admitted 11 Portuguese female footballers as mentees into the SIGAWomen Global Mentorship Programme.
January 28 – Speaking at SIGA’s financial integrity forum (FITS) in Lisbon, Portugal, Richard Weber, the former director of the US’s IRSCI (Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation) agency that broke the case that led to the US indictments in 2015 of eventually more than 40 FIFA officials and associates, said that the investigation “is continuing today”.
January 17 – Anti-discrimination group Kick It Out has written a powerful letter to FIFA boss Gianni Infantino asking what action, if any, was being taken over a video posted on social media by Chelsea’s Argentine midfielder Enzo Fernandez last year featuring an alleged “racist and transphobic” chant against French players.
January 16 – The Sport Integrity Global Alliance (SIGA) and SIGA Europe will hold its host its Financial Integrity and Transparency within Sport (FITS) Forum January 27 in Lisbon, Portugal.
December 11 – The game of football continues to evolve with different platforms of the sport becoming more prominent. The latest iteration of the ‘beautiful game’ that is gaining traction is 7-a-side football.
December 5 – Saudi Arabia’s network and influence in global sports and football keeps growing. With the Arab kingdom’s coronation as host of the 2034 World Cup just days away, a new report details a web of Saudi sponsorship deals, but cautions that good governance could suffer as a result.
November 15 – With SIGA’s Sport Integrity Week coming near to its closing in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on the side lines of the Cityscape Global 2024 event, SIGA has unveiled three legends of football as the latest editions to their SIGA Champions roster.
November 13 – Dutch police say they have arrested five more people for their suspected involvement in the attacks on Israeli fans last week which authorities have condemned as antisemitic.
November 11 – Peruvian police have arrested the head of the country’s FA, Agustín Lozano, as part of an investigation into allegations that he abused his position to extort local clubs into surrendering their television rights.
October 14 – The trafficking of young athletes is one of the dark areas of sport with many governing and governments barely recognising the problem.
October 4 – British football’s most respected, resilient and tenacious anti-racism campaigner, the trailblazing Kick It Out founder Lord Herman Ouseley, has died aged 79.