By Paul Nicholson
March 22 – Following on from the report by law firm Freshfields into the German 2006 World Cup bid process, FIFA has opened its own investigation into six individuals over potential vote buying and failure to report a breach of the FIFA ethics code.
March 22 – The promise of the east has lured the might of Manchester United to make their 2016 pre-season tour to China for two games this summer.
By David Owen
March 22 – FIFA appears to have suffered a substantial fall in the revenue it receives from the Club World Cup. Notes contained in the governing body’s recently-published financial and governance report for 2015 state that revenue received from the competition last year reached only $20.45 million, a near halving from the $40 million recorded in both 2013 and 2014.
By Mark Baber
March 22 – As China’s Wanda steps in as one of FIFA’s top-level sponsors, its chairman Wang Jianlin says two more Chinese companies will sign up as FIFA partners this year.
By Samindra Kunti
March 22 – Next week’s friendly international Belgium – Portugal at Brussels’s King Baudouin Stadium may be cancelled after the Belgian capital was hit by terrorist attacks.
By Paul Nicholson
March 23 – Daily fantasy sports operators FanDuel and DraftKings have stopped paid games in the New York market. The companies are in a battle with the state’s attorney general over whether the games are illegal gambling.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 22 – Pressure is mounting on Danny Jordaan, the public face of the 2010 South Africa World Cup and head of his country’s FA, to explain how much he knew about FIFA’s belief that bribes were paid to secure the tournament.
March 22 – Manchester City have signed a regional partnership with Chinese firm SoccerWorld to provide better access to facilities and coaches for young Chinese footballers. The agreement is part of the City Football Group’s (CFG) wider ambition to expand its business in China.
March 22 – Scandal-hit Volkswagen has agreed to extend its sponsorship of the German national cup for six years until 2022.
March 22 – Organisers of the 2022 Qatar World Cup are considering the option of housing fans under the stars in Bedouin-style super-tents.
March 22 – FIFA has extended four-year bans to apply worldwide for two Algerian players who tested positive for cocaine. And a third player who was found to have taken the stimulant methylhexaneamine has also had his four-year ban extended globally.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 21 – Of all the upcoming fixtures in this week’s international programme, few will have the same resonance as Sierra Leone ‘s symbolic friendly with Malawi, the first on home soil since the west African country was officially declared free of Ebola.
By Samindra Kunti
March 21 – Brazil and Barcelona player Neymar has been convicted of tax fraud and ordered to pay €45.9 million in fines and back-taxes.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 21 – FIFA and UEFA have joined forces to warn Greece to reinstate the national cup competition, scrapped by the government earlier this month because of crowd trouble, or risk being thrown out of international football.
March 21 – While Barcelona teammate Neymar is contemplating his €45.9 million fine for tax evasion in Brazil, Lionel Messi – no stranger to multiple tax fraud allegations himself – was signing on another sponsorship deal, this time with Chinese telecoms firm Huawei.