By Mark Baber
October 22 – Comments by Michael Bolingbroke, CEO of Inter, on the future relationship of the club with Pirelli have ignited speculation as to whether the 20 year partnership may be possibly be coming to an end.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 22 – The head of Russia’s 2018 World Cup organizing committee insists that football in his country is not institutionally racist but admits that widely publicised episodes of abuse by fans, combined with instances of hooliganism, were doing nothing to enhance the country’s image.
October 22 – FIFA inspectors say they are happy with Russia’s early preparations for the 2018 World Cup – in contrast to the concerns over delays that enveloped Brazil ahead of last summer’s tournament.
October 22 – UEFA’s decision to slap a three-game behind-closed-door home ban on CSKA Moscow for a series of misdemeanours has been criticized by the captain of Manchester City whose fans were also excluded from last night’s 2-2 Champions League draw.
By David Owen
October 21 – Michel Platini, the UEFA President, has used a keynote speech to European Union (EU) Sports Ministers in Rome to launch a scathing attack on the practice of third-party ownership (TPO).
October 21 – UEFA president Michel Platini says it’s only fair that a German player wins this year’s FIFA World Player award because of the country’s World Cup success.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 21 – Yet another Asian country has become embroiled in corruption allegations as the fallout from the Mohamed bin Hammam era continues. Nepal’s football association (ANFA) is implementing “corrective measures”, say FIFA, amid claims by some of its own senior officials regarding embezzlement of funds.
By Mark Baber
October 21 – The executive committee of the 123-year old Mohammedan Sporting Club, a Kolkota club with a glorious history, made the decision on Saturday to disband their football team for an indefinite period after failing to find a sponsor and being unable to pay salaries to players and coaching staff for the last 3 – 4 months.
“Connectivity will be an enabler. Transparency for better government, education, and health.” Bill Gates
Eighteen months and 430 pages have gone into Michael Garcia’s report for the FIFA ethics committee into the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding, and there have been acres more pages of newsprint produced on the back of it. It was the highest-profile measure to emerge from the Independent Governance Committee’s strategic review of FIFA’s operations.
Well, there will be one on May 29, 2015, and it seems pretty clear who the winner will be.
The bad part is that those who shriek “democracy”, “transparency” and shout for competing candidates, do nothing about it.
Enter football’s new old friend Greg Dyke. It is one thing to decry Blatter’s way of leading world football. And it is similarly easy to jump on the bandwagon but remain an onlooker.
October 21 – UEFA have fined Galatasaray €50,000 and ordered the Turkish club pay costs for the trouble caused by their fans in the Champions League clash at Arsenal on October 1.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 21 – Brazilian police have detained six people following the death of a 21-year-old Palmeiras fan that has heaped more shame on the domestic game – the fourth fatality involving rival supporters this year.
October 21 – Indian football, which has just launched its much-touted Super League in an attempt to bolster interest, has suffered an untimely blow with a fatal tragedy as a result of a goal celebration in a state-level league game that went tragically wrong.
October 21 – Ukraine’s domestic champions have once again become an unwitting victim of the military conflict in the country after Shakhtar Donetsk’s state-of-the-art Donbass Arena suffered further damage from shelling despite a ceasefire agreed between the government and Russian-backed separatists.
By Paul Nicholson
October 20 – In response to allegations and evidence that he promised confidentiality to those interviewed in his investigation of the bidding process for 2018 and 2022, FIFA’s chief ethics investigator, Michael Garcia, has told German news magazine Der Spiegel that the wording is merely a “standard statement”.