By Andrew Warshaw
June 13 – Spain-Czech Republic: Spain are not quite the unstoppable force they were four years ago. Witness them being eliminated from the last World Cup at the first hurdle. But the defending champions still have a fearsome look about them as they try to clinch a third consecutive European title, having already made history by retaining it.
June 3 – Barcelona and Argentina superstar Lionel Messi, on trial for alleged tax fraud in Spain, has told a court he had no involvement in the management of his financial affairs.
June 3 – Another of the football officials indicted by the US Justice Department in the football corruption investigation has lost his battle against extradition from his home country to the US. A Peruvian court has ruled against former federation boss Manuel Burga’s request to remain in the country.
June 2 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) at a meeting of its Governance Reform Task Force has taken steps to implement a new and more detailed whistleblower policy, a first for a football confederation outside the area of match-fixing.
June 2 – A leading anti-corruption expert who was part of the original team commissioned by FIFA to recommend specific reform proposals has become Group CEO of the Qatar-based International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS).
By Paul Nicholson
May 27 – Details are slowly emerging that as many as 16 bank accounts were held by FIFA officials at Swiss private bank Julius Baer, with at least four of them held by officials indicted by the US Department of Justice in its investigation into FIFA corruption and money laundering.
By Paul Nicholson
May 24 – Liverpool will play FC Barcelona at London’s Wembley Stadium the weekend before the start of the 2016/17 season on August 6, as part of the International Champions Cup (ICC) that is being played mainly in the US but also in four European cities – Dublin, Glasgow, London and Stockholm.
May 24 – Efforts to crack down on match-fixing in Italy have been stepped up with the arrest in Naples of 10 people who, according to the authorities, conspired to alter the results of two matches in Serie B in 2014.
May 23 – The International Centre for Sport Security Europe (ICSS Europe) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the US Department of Health and Human Services Partners to promote healthy sport across the globe. The US.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 20 – Sepp Blatter’s support for the United States’ 2022 World Cup bid has been largely ignored and should face more scrutiny, according to the head of Qatar’s much-maligned winning bid.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 20 – The career of Wolfgang Niersbach (pictured), for so long the rising star of German football administration who was touted as a potential leader of UEFA, has suffered a potentially fatal blow with FIFA’s ethics committee recommending a two-year ban and a SFr30,000 fine be imposed on him following an investigation of Germany’s 2006 World Cup bid.
May 17 – Italian national coach and incoming Chelsea manager Antonio Conte says he feels “stronger” after being cleared of any wrongdoing in a match-fixing scandal.
May 17 – The fledgling Sport Integrity Global Alliance (SIGA) has signed its second country and the first in North America to its membership.
By Mark Baber
May 6 – Money laundering prosecutors in Paraguay have handed over 10,000 documents seized from CONMEBOL’s headquarters in Asuncion to US prosecutors investigating corruption within football.
May 3 – The CIES Football Observatory has released more details of its ranking of the best players in the Big 5 European leagues for this season. Dortmund’s Mats Hummels leads the list of best centrebacks while Atlético Madrid’s Filipe Luís tops the full back table.