By Andrew Warshaw in Zurich
May 29 – Amidst high drama and under pressure from football federations across the world, Palestine withdrew its proposal today to throw Israel out of FIFA – at the eleventh hour.
“How many internal auditors does it take to change a light bulb? None! They’re not allowed to under Health & Safety legislation. Process notes should have been written referring the incident to Facilities.” Old accountancy joke
They are a dry old bunch, auditors. But what they lack in humour, as can be seen from that old accountancy gag, they make up for in money. It might be dull, but as the saying goes,
By Mark Baber
May 29 – Multinational US-based sportswear company Nike is reported to be the company at the centre of the bribery scandal over the Brazil shirt deal with the company claiming it is ‘cooperating with the authorities.’
Allegations over Nike’s 1996 contract with the Brazilian Football Federation (CBF) are long-standing, with major questions over the final destination of the money received.
By Andrew Warshaw and Paul Nicholson in Zurich
May 29 – Sepp Blatter used the most important presidential address of his 17-year reign today by suggesting the brutal scrutiny he and his organisation have come under would not have occurred had Russia and Qatar had not been chosen to stage the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
By Mark Baber
May 29 – Manchester United have denied being linked to Traffic, the sports management form central to the corruption in South America and CONCACAF uncovered in recent days, whose academy they signed a deal with in 2008.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 29 – Insideworldfootball has learned that a last-ditch compromise may have been reached to prevent Palestine’s highly contentious proposal to suspend Israel from world football from being put to the vote at today’s FIFA congress in Zurich. Israel are believed to have proposed a last minute multi-point plan.
By Samindra Kunti and Paul Nicholson
May 29 – The 30th anniversary of the Heysel disaster was remembered at the FIFA Congress today in Zurich by FIFA president Sepp Blatter, sitting two places away from UEFA president Michel Platini, who scored the winning goal on the fateful night that saw 39 Italians killed on the terraces of the Heysel stadium in Brussels, Belgium.
By Andrew Warshaw in Zurich
May 29 – Sepp Blatter looked poised to win a fifth term as FIFA president today – but perhaps not with the landslide victory many have predicted.
By Andrew Warshaw in Zurich
May 28 – The most dramatic election build-up in FIFA history has taken yet another unexpected twist when the head of Brazil’s national federation and a senior FIFA official fled Switzerland a few hours before the ballot.
By Mark Baber
May 29 – As Sam Nyamweya, whose survival as head of the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) is something of a miracle, prepares to vote in the FIFA Presidential election, he faces growing problems at home where letters to and from commercial rights agency MP & Silva are being published in the local press and a mounting campaign to put an end to his controversial reign appears to be gathering steam.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
May 28 – Poland’s copper and silver miner KGHM has sais it plans to put Zaglebie Lubin up for sale following the club’s promotion to the country’s top tier Ekstraklasa.
By Andrew Warshaw in Zurich
May 28 – Britain’s incoming FIFA vice-president David Gill will refuse to take up his new position if Sepp Blatter is re-elected FIFA president on Friday in the latest startling development to envelop world football’s governing body.
By Andrew Warshaw in Zurich
May 28 – A defiant Sepp Blatter opened arguably the most tension-filled congress of his 17 years in charge of FIFA with a rallying cry clearly designed to sway any wavering voters his way after a tumultuous 48 hours in the history or world football’s governing body.
By Mark Baber
May 28 – The match-fixing crisis in Greek football rumbles on with a further six players facing additional charges (making a total of 41 players, managers and referees to date), with the owner of Olympiakos being questioned and the vice-president of the Central Refereeing Committee resigning.
By Paul Nicholson in Zurich
May 28 – CONCACAF have said that they want the election for FIFA president to go ahead tomorrow, and have set up their own Special Committee to manage the affairs of the confederation after the tumultuous events of yesterday that saw their president Jeffrey Webb and Costa Rican president and newly elected FIFA executive member Eduardo Li arrested in their Zurich hotels by Swiss police.