By Andrew Warshaw
November 1 – Tokyo Sexwale, the under-fire South African official who headed FIFA’s doomed Israel-Palestine mediation effort, insists he did exactly what was asked of him and has questioned why his eagerly awaited report was thrown out by FIFA’s all-powerful Council headed by Gianni Infantino.
By Paul Nicholson
November 1 – Costas Takkas (pictured) became the second defendant in the FIFA corruption case to be sentenced in the US, receiving a 15-month jail sentence and being ordered to pay a share of $3 million in restitution to the Caribbean Football Union (CFU).
November 1 – South African Football Association President Danny Jordaan has broken his silence over rape allegations against him, denying the accusations are true.
By Samindra Kunti in New Delhi
November 1 – Just as Indian football was celebrating the successful hosting of the U17 World Cup, controversy has struck with the Delhi High Court issuing an order to “set aside” the election of AIFF president Praful Patel over election irregularities and nominating SY Quraishi as interim administrator to ensure new elections within five months.
November 1 – Hong Kong has been issued a warning by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) after their fans booed the Chinese national anthem during a recent AFC Asian Cup qualifying win over Malaysia.
November 1 – Fears that a government review of the on-line betting and gaming industry could result in dramatic falls advertising and sponsorship revenues for football have been averted with the government leaving this part of the gambling sector alone in a review published yesterday.
By Mark Baber
November 1 – Across the top Europe leagues, club trained players have hit a new low, with only 18.5% of players trained by the club they are currently with, expatriate players are at a new high of 39.7% and the percentage of new signings in each squad has hit a new high of 44.8%.
November 1 – Malaysia has been fined US$30,000 by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) after the national team’s fans described both Singapore and Brunei fans as “dogs” during matches at the South-East Asian (SEA) Games.
November 1 – War-ravaged Somalia is celebrating the prospect of having its own federation premises after having operated in rented offices for over half a century.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 31 – The full extent to which FIFA washed its hands of football’s Israeli-Palestinian impasse by throwing out a detailed report from its chief mediator for the region can today be exposed.
October 31 – Isha Johansen, Africa’s only female football federation president, pleaded not guilty when she appeared in court Monday charged with 10 counts of corruption and abuse of office.
October 31 – Round 10 of Premier League fixtures saw just 9,766 seats unfilled out of 361,131 tickets available. Crystal Palace topped the capacity chart for the third time this season, just beating Manchester United for the top slot.
October 31 – Professional football clubs are under a growing threat from organised crime. Only 25% of clubs in top leagues worldwide produce publically-available financial reports. And only 40% of national associations are financially viable without the help of FIFA, an organisation whose top officials are being chased down by the US Justice Department under their RICO laws that are used to investigate mafia-style crime rings.
October 31 – South Africa’s Justice and Correctional Services Minister Michael Masutha says he cannot act on claims of sexual assault against South African Football Association chief Danny Jordaan unless they are reported officially by the alleged victim.
October 31 – Big is beautiful if you are West Brom, but small is more perfectly formed if you are Man City, Barcelona, Real Madrid or Olympique Lyonnais.