By Andrew Warshaw
October 19 – Having failed with two attempts to land the FIFA presidency, Jordan’s Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein had decided he has had enough of being involved at the top end of football’s often bitter and divisive political bureaucracy in order to concentrate on trying to use the game as a tool for social development to help deprived communities.
October 19 – The US has the opportunity to install a “best in class” integrity framework around betting regulation and match-fixing following the PASPA ruling that opened up the online gambling market across the country.
October 18 – Spanish prosecutors are reported to have set a February trial date for former Barcelona strongman Sandro Rosell who is accused of money laundering related to television rights and sponsorship of the Brazilian national football team.
October 18 – A SIGA Special Session in New York highlighted the increasing importance of good governance to world sport’s major sponsors who sent a clear message that if they are to spend big dollars they should be seen by rights holders as stakeholders and not just cash cows.
October 17 – Turkish prosecutors have charged Barcelona midfielder Arda Turan over a brawl with a well-known Turkish pop singer and have called for a jail sentence of 12 years.
October 17 – The German magazine which broke the story of a rape allegation made against Cristiano Ronaldo says it stands by its report despite the player’s lawyers describing the claims as “complete fabrication.”
By Andrew Warshaw
October 16 – Two ex-presidents of the German FA, Wolfgang Niersbach (pictured left) and Theo Zwanziger (pictured right), plus former general secretary Horst Schmidt have won a landmark legal case after a Frankfurt court rejected tax evasion charges against them saying there was insufficient evidence of wrongdoing.
October 16 – The European Parliament is to host a high-level session in Brussels tonight to tackle the growing problem of child trafficking in sport, primarily focusing on football.
October 11 – Cristiano Ronaldo’s lawyer has issues a firm rebuke of the rape accusations against the Portuguese player, saying the documents backing up Kathryn Mayorga’s claims have been “completely fabricated”.
October 10 – The English FA’s controversial proposed sale of Wembley Stadium for £600 million to Fulham’s American owner Shahid Khan could be scuppered amid emerging allegations of “systemic corruption” at the club.
October 9 – FIFA, rarely praised on integrity issues and often the butt of fierce government criticism, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Council of Europe with an initial focus on the protection of children from sexual exploitation, the fight against match-fixing and to “co-ordinate their efforts for the preparation of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar on the safety, security and services aspects of football matches.”
By Samindra Kunti
October 5 – US sportswear behemoth Nike and gaming giant EA Sports have expressed their concern over the rape allegations against Cristiano Ronaldo, but his club Juventus have come out in defense of the superstar. On Thursday, the Portugal captain was dropped from the Portugal roster for the October fixtures with Poland and Scotland.
October 4 – A Croatian court on Wednesday cleared against Croatia international and FIFA’s world player if the year Luka Modric of giving false testimony in a criminal trial.
October 4 – Cristiano Ronaldo has issued a firm denial of the sexual assault allegations made against him by Kathryn Mayorga, an American woman, with whom Ronaldo went out in 2009 in Las Vegas.
October 3 – Former Romanian striker Adrian Mutu has been ordered to pay Chelsea £15.2 million after losing an appeal at the European Court of Human Rights, a landmark sum as the highest compensation figure ever set by FIFA in such cases. It is also an important judgement for the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), endorsing its position as sport’s independent judicial process.