July 27 – FIFA have confirmed the worldwide extension of the two-year ban imposed on the vice-president of the Equatorial Guinea Football Association, Gustavo Ndong Edu, for match-fixing.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 26 – The career of German football supremo Wolfgang Niersbach (pictured), not so long ago touted as a possible UEFA president in succession to Michel Platini, has been halted firmly in its tracks after he was banned for one year by FIFA’s ethics committee in the first sanction resulting from the investigation into Germany’s 2006 World Cup bid, throwing into question his position on the top tables of both FIFA and UEFA.
By Paul Nicholson
July 22 – Tomorrow the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) will vote in what has become an increasingly politicised vote with the regional governing body CONCACAF and its new president Victor Montagliani having inserted themselves into the election hustings with funding for one of the candidates through an exclusive-invite Trinidad conference, and the leak of CFU financial information to the press in an attempt to discredit the current leadership.
July 15 – Under Armour has moved aggressively in China to protect its brand from Uncle Martian, a low-end Chinese copycat of Under Armour, filing suit in the High People’s Court of Fujing Province.
July 14 – Euro 2016 semi-finalists Wales have moved above England and up to 11th in the FIFA world rankings.
July 14 – Panathinaikos will play their first home game of the new Greek Super League season behind closed doors as punishment for crowd disturbances in a playoff match last season against PAOK Salonica.
July 11 – Within days of the shock custodial sentence handed down to Lionel Messi and his father even though they won’t in all probability actually go to jail, a Spanish court has dismissed a fraud and corruption case against his Barcelona superstar teammate Neymar – and his father too.
By Andrew Warshaw in Paris
July 8 – A former FIFA ticketing partner says he is suing the organisation for $40 million “for business losses” in a dispute over World Cup packages.
July 8 – Seven people suspected of match-fixing – including players, coaches, agents and club presidents – have been arrested in Brazil.
July 7 – The dismissal of the appeal by Klubi Sportiv Skenderbeu to have their Champions League ban lifted by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) could prove to be a landmark decision in the battle against match-fixing.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 6 – FIFA’s appeals committee has cut the suspension of former secretary general Jerome Valcke (pictured) from 12 years to 10 and reduced Asian football powerbroker Chung Mong-joon’s ban from six years to five, though both moves represent only partial success for the two senior officials who served under the Sepp Blatter regime and were determined to clear their names.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 4 – Speculation that the net could be closing in on FIFA president Gianni Infantino has been intriguingly stepped up following the publication of an explosive leaked memo, seemingly on official FIFA letter-headed paper, that accuses Infantino of a series of ethics violations.
The largest corruption threat to football is the one that its administrators frequently seem most reluctant to face aggressively. Match-fixing cannot be swept under the carpet but the anti-match-fixing fight does need more funding and the acceptance of objective benchmarks to evaluate the independence of the governing bodies in the front line.
July 1 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has banned two Thai referees for life for involvement in match-fixing following a meeting of its disciplinary committee.
July 1 – Following the lacklustre first Euro 2016 quarterfinal, this one has all the makings of a mouth-watering affair between the side currently ranked No. 2 in the world and outsiders Wales for whom this is the biggest match since the 1958 World Cup.