June 15 – FIFA has defended another attack on its record of protecting construction workers building the 2018 World Cup stadia in Russia, saying that a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report is mis-representative of the situation.
By Mark Baber
June 15 – Heather Rabbatts, the FA’s first female non-executive Director and Board member, announced that she is stepping down after over five years at The Football Association.
June 14 – Long time Czech league sponsor Grambinus is to pull out of its deals with the Czech football Association (FAČR), including its title sponsorship of the country’s top league, saying that the corruption scandals that have hit the presidency of the federation are now impacting on their brand image.
By Samindra Kunti
June 12 – German broadcaster ARD has aired a documentary revealing possible connections between a doping doctor and Brazilian elite football. Former star Roberto Carlos, who is among those accused, has denied all allegations.
June 1 – Manchester City could become the latest club to be hit with a transfer ban when the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS) rules on July 3 over City’s signing of teenager Benjamin Garre from Argentine side Velez Sarsfield.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 1 – Atletico Madrid have reacted furiously after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) threw out their last-ditch appeal against a transfer ban imposed by FIFA for signing non-Spanish players under the age of 18, saying the verdict will cause “irreparable damage”.
May 26 – Once one of the most influential figures in European football, playing a prominent role in the European Club Association and representing the body on various UEFA and FIFA committees, Sandro Rosell faces a grim future after a Spanish judge ordered prison without bail for the former Barcelona boss.
May 26 – Having already snared one of the two best players in world football in Lionel Messi, the Spanish tax evasion scandal could be about to involve the other after prosecutors revealed they are considering whether Cristiano Ronaldo should face charges over allegations that he defrauded the authorities of €15 million between 2011 and 2014.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 25 – Ten months after Lionel Messi and his father were given 21-month suspended jail sentences for tax fraud relating to the player’s image rights, Spain’s Supreme Court has confirmed both the sentence and the €2 million fine imposed on Barcelona’s Argentine superstar.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 25 – Costas Takkas, close associate of disgraced ex-CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb and like Webb one of the original ‘Zurich Seven’ arrested two years ago in that infamous hotel swoop that plunged FIFA into unprecedented crisis, has changed his plea to guilty to money laundering conspiracy as his trial gets closer.
May 25 – In a move that will certainly not endear him to the majority of fans – other than those of Chelsea perhaps – former England captain John Terry says he “could not care less” about the furore over his contrived substitution against Sunderland in last weekend’s final Premier League programme of the season.
May 24 – Has Ricardo Teixeira, once one of world football’s biggest power brokers who had a seat on the FIFA executive committee and headed the local organising committee of the 2014 Brazil World Cup, struck some kind of deal with the US authorities?
May 24 – French police investigating suspected tax fraud have raided the headquarters of Paris Saint-Germain and the homes of the club’s Argentine stars Angel Di Maria and Javier Pastore as well as Nantes forward Emiliano Sala.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 23 – In a major development apparently linked to the ongoing United States probe into football-related corruption, former Barcelona president Sandro Rosell has been arrested, along with his wife, as part of a money laundering investigation.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 21 – Germany’s FIFA Council member Reinhard Grindel has re-iterated his opposition to the removal of FIFA ethics chiefs Cornel Borbely and Hans-Joachim Eckert saying the surprise move should have been handled more transparently.