May 11 – Morocco’s rivals to stage the 2026 World Cup have defended the right of four US-governed territories to take part in next month’s vote after the north Africans complained in writing to FIFA about a potential conflict of interest.
May 11 – Outgoing Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger says the introduction of a European super league, resisted for years by football’s authorities, is “inevitable” and says Premier League matches will ultimately be moved to midweek.
May 11 – A report by the CIES Football Observatory provides insights into the global flows of football expatriates, revealing that the labour market of footballers is increasingly internationalised with player flow between countries still on the increase.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 10 – The new voting process to select the 2026 World Cup hosts has led to yet more claims of unfair tactics by underdogs Morocco who have requested FIFA exclude four United States-governed territories from the ballot in June.
By Paul Nicholson
May 10 – The battle against betting related match-fixing needs to be stepped up with stronger regulation and real co-operation between the anti-matchfixing stakeholders, was the overriding message from the first SIGA Expert Summit on Sports Betting, Integrity and Media that closed in Porto, Portugal, this week.
May 10 – With the summer transfer window merry-go-round already starting its first revolutions, the CIES Football Observatory has produced a report on the average transfer values of Big 5 league squads.
May 10 – South African Football Association (SAFA) president Danny Jordaan has been forced to diplomatically backtrack over a previous pledge that his federation would be voting for Morocco to stage the 2026 World Cup.
May 10 – Russia will have its own round of the EA Sports FIFA 18 Global Series with VY Esports having struck a deal to for the Russian Interactive Football Cup to become an official qualifying competition.
May 10 – At last, a FIFA World Cup story that is not about corruption. Sweden’s football fans are being given the opportunity to help national team manager Janne Andersson with his tactics for Russia 2018.
May 10 – In a move that seems likely to be regarded in some circles as a protectionist measure to avoid negative publicity, FIFA has scrapped its daily media briefings at next month’s World Cup, with a need-to-know policy installed instead.
May 10 – Following an almost incessant spate of controversial incidents using VARs in countries where it has been experimented with, FIFA’s Director of Refereeing has shrugged off concerns about the system being a success at the World Cup.
May 9 – FIFA’s president Gianni Infantino is facing mounting opposition to his plan for a revamping of the global football calendar with an expanded Club World Cup and the addition of a Global Nations League. The latest body to speak out against is the World Leagues Forum (WLF).
May 9 – Sepp Blatter, who continues to speak out about the way FIFA has been operating since he was forced to step down before being banned from the game, has urged his old organisation to allow Morocco to take part in the 2026 World Cup ballot.
May 9 – Manchester City Women have become the first team in the Women’s Super League to sign a sleeve sponsor with Asian firm QNET taking the branding position and becoming the official direct selling partner of the women’s team.
May 9 – More than six months after a judge in Paraguay authorised the extradition to the United States of former Conmebol boss Nicolás Leoz, alleged to have been one of the masterminds in the FIFAGate corruption scandal but who has so far managed to escape the clutches of US prosecutors, now appears to be closer than ever to finally being brought to justice.