Belgians launch probe into players betting on their own matches
October 4 – The Belgian FA has launched an inquiry into allegations that several players in the country’s top league bet on their own matches.
Integrity
CAF ensures future African presidency will come from its ExCo family only
By Andrew Warshaw
September 30 – Issa Hayatou (pictured), the all-powerful, old-school and often controversial ruler of African football who was in temporary charge of FIFA until the election of Gianni Infantino, has won another significant victory in his bid to retain control of the region he has run for the last 28 years.
Turkeys voting for Christmas? Agent body calls for tough global regulation
September 29 – The Association of Football Agents has called for a total reform of the current system in order to tighten it up and make it “globally enforceable” following the revelations in Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper that have rocked the English game.
Football loves a ‘bung’. Is the sky-rocketing transfer market fixed for the few?
By Paul Nicholson
September 28 – The CIES Football Observatory has dug deeper into its transfer spend data of big-5 league clubs to examine where the money is being spent and how far down the football chain it is reaching. The answer is that probably not as far as clubs and leagues would like to pretend.
LMA ‘concerned’ over manager pay-off claims and vows to do the right thing
September 28 – English football’s League Managers Association (LMA) has been quick to react to sensational newspaper claims that a raft of its members have been guilty of taking bungs.
Allardyce quits as English professional game shatters national reputation
By Andrew Warshaw
September 28 – The good news is that he left with a 100% record. The bad news is that it comprised one solitary game in a reign that lasted just 67 days, the shortest in history.
England in crisis as Allardyce stung by undercover reporters
September 27 – England’s new manager Sam Allardyce has been caught up in a newspaper sting which threatens his position just weeks into the job and which could potentially plunge the reputation of the national team, desperate to get back on an even keel following the debacle Euro 2016, back into crisis.
A question of compliance. Did FIFA’s new audit chief Vesel fail eligibility rules?
By Andrew Warshaw
September 23 – Doubts have been raised over whether FIFA’s new audit and compliance chief Tomaz Vesel is eligible for the job and whether FIFA president Gianni Infantino may have worked behind the scenes to manoeuvre the Slovenian into the role vacated in May by Domenico Scala.
UEFA exco to rule on controversial Platini pay-off proposal
By Andrew Warshaw
September 22 – New UEFA boss Aleksander Ceferin, in the job for a matter of days, has unwittingly been dragged into a dispute over whether his predecessor Michel Platini is to receive a special financial handout despite his presidential term being cut short by his FIFA ban.
Eckert calls for more criminal prosecution of sports’ money thieves
By Andrew Warshaw
September 19 – Hans-Joachim Eckert, FIFA’s chief ethics judge whose sanctions have ended the careers of a spate of high-ranking powerbrokers including Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini, says he never realised how many cases he would have to handle when he first took on the job.
Carrard says money is the root of sport evil and one country one vote doesn’t work
September 19 – Francois Carrard (pictured), the former Olympic supremo who led the team that drafted FIFA’s much-trumpeted governance proposals, says international sport is now “in crisis and must reform itself.”
EPFL demands better governance and plans Zurich seminar for October
September 19 – The European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL), furious at the lack of consultancy by UEFA over recent changes in the qualification rules for European club competitions, has called for global standards on good governance.
UEFA rules out Welsh female candidate for FIFA Council for being British
By Andrew Warshaw in Athens
September 13 – It may have gone unnoticed as something of a sideshow but there is a second vote taking place here Wednesday alongside the UEFA presidential election, one that involves a single candidate but also a healthy dose of controversy and questionable tactics on the part of UEFA.
What ban? Platini cleared to address UEFA’s elective Congress
By Andrew Warshaw
September 12 – In a staggering ruling that will only serve to undermine its credibility and fuel accusations of double standards, FIFA’s ethics committee today gave Michel Platini permission to make a farewell speech at Wednesday’s election to replace him as UEFA president.
Webb eventually banned but investigations continue into the wider web
By Andrew Warshaw
September 9 – It will hardly come as a surprise since he was not planning on making a comeback. The question is, why did it take so long? The life ban imposed last week on former FIFA vice-president and CONCACAF boss Jeffrey Webb, the toughest possible FIFA sanction, was the final damaging blow to the Cayman Islands banker who was once held up a bastion of fair play and touted as a possible president of world football’s governing body.