October 13 – Chinese football authorities have named the “high-level” European and American referees for the four remaining weeks of the Chinese Super League season in a move to boost the standard of officiating.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 12 – He was the FIFA trouble-shooter who was eventually fired himself and fell spectacularly from grace. But now Jerome Valcke, for eight years Sepp Blatter’s right-hand man, has gone public with a vigorous defence of his reputation.
By Samindra Kunti
October 10 – The crisis in the Brazilian women’s game is deepening following an open letter from veteran players to the Brazilian FA (CBF) demanding gender equality and reform in the game.
October 10 – The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has confirmed that it has received Burkino Faso’s appeal challenging FIFA’s decision to replay the South Africa-Senegal World Cup qualifier but that it will not make any imminent decision.
October 9 – Former CONCACAF president Alfredo Hawit has had his sentencing for his role in the FifaGate scandal delayed until March next year.
October 9 – In a first for footballing financial equality, Norway’s male and female players are to receive the same amount for representing their country.
October 9 – In what is probably the most peculiar case of match-fixing to date, four match officials in Malawi have been banned after the fixers went to the authorities for help to get their money back after they didn’t get the result they wanted.
October 5 – FIFA must do more to combat the increasing incidents of homophobic chanting according to European football’s anti-discriminatory body FARE.
September 29 – Another accusation of racial abuse by Russian fans has been made – this time by Liverpool who have made an official complaint to UEFA after claiming one of their youth players was targeted.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 29 – The channel island of Jersey has won a partial victory in its bid to become a UEFA member, in the process giving European football’s governing body another unwanted headache over its admittance policy.
September 28 – The United Arab Emirates’ Football Association (UAEFA) has cancelled their October 10 friendly against Morocco in what is being interpreted locally as a politically-motivated move to pressurise the Moroccan government to back the UAE’s position over the Qatar crisis.
September 28 – A North Korean player on Perugia’s books has been barred from appearing on Italian TV – by the authorities in his own country.
September 28 – The former Russian owner of Swiss club FC Neuchâtel Xamax, Bulat Chagaev, has been handed a suspended jail term in absentia for attempted fraud and a raft of other charges.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 27 – FIFA’s two former ethics chiefs, sacked last May during a purge of senior governance watchdogs, have made a strong appeal before the Council of Europe for the organisation’s supervisory bodies to be “totally independent” of its executive.
September 27 – A special European parliamentary group set up to look into tax evasion in football has been given a worrying overview of the scale of the problem.