November 26 – The reggae beat is pounding out through Jamaican football at the moment. At their home tournament the Reggae Boyz triumphed in the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Cup with a penalty shoot-out win over long-time rivals Trinidad and Tobago earlier this month. In January, the Jamaicans kick off the CONCACAF football year with the hosting of the U20 Championships.
November 26 – Football Association of Ireland chief executive John Delaney (pictured) has apologised after a video of him singing an Irish Republican song in a Dublin bar was broadcast on Youtube. Delaney was part of a group singing a song about Northern Irish man Joe McDonnell who was one of the IRA hunger strikers who died in 1981.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 26 – FIFA vice-president Prince Ali bin Al-Hussein insists he has not yet decided whether to take on Sepp Blatter for the presidency next year as speculation intensifies that the reform-minded Jordanian could contest the election in May.
By Alexander Krassimirov
November 26 – Sports betting company Efbet has continued its sponosrship expansion into the top tier of Bulgarian football with the addition of Levski Sofia to its portfolio. Efbet now has a sponsorship lock on almost all the leading teams in the Bulgarian championship – CSKA Sofia, Lokomotiv Sofia, Slavia, Lokomotiv Plovdiv and Botev Plovdiv.
Next year’s women’s World Cup in Canada will definitely feel a bit artificial. Only the turf though. The football itself will be embraced like never before. You sense the next level is about to be reached for the women’s game – and the evidence was on the real turf of one of the World’s great football stadiums, Wembley.
By Ricardo Setyon
November 24 – They came, they saw, they conquered. And now they can die in peace. Corinthians fans now have their own special resting place – perhaps ironically for a club that has suffered the rollercoaster of life’s highs and lows.
By Mark Baber
November 25 – Following the All India Football Federation (AIFF) organised I-League meeting in Delhi on Monday, it was announced that the start of the I-League will be on January 17 and that a new AIFF U-15 tournament for I-League clubs will be set up. However, there was no mention of the on-going High Court dispute over the “relegation” of the Churchill Brothers – the reason that no fixtures,
November 25 – As they await further developments in the ongoing saga over the investigation into the World Cup bidding process, 2022 hosts Qatar are pressing ahead with developing their infrastructure. Organisers have now unveiled the design for the renovation of the Khalifa International Stadium, the third venue formally proposed for the finals in the Gulf state.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 25 – Sony Corporation will not be renewing its top-tier $280 million FIFA sponsorship which ends December 31, according to Japanese reports. After the loss of Emirates Airlines as a sponsor last month FIFA had said that it was in “ongoing talks with Sony” over renewal of their eight year deal. Now it seems those talks have ended.
November 25 – Top-flight games in Greece will resume this weekend after the Hellenic Football Federation (EPO) announced it was lifting the suspension imposed in the wake of a leading official being violently attacked.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
November 25 – The municipal council of Freiburg has approved the project to build a new stadium for SC Freiburg. The cost is estimated to be about €70 million.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 25 – FIFA President Sepp Blatter has condemned an apparent Israeli raid on the headquarters of the Palestinian FA after a resurgence of unrest between the two sides, according to Palestinian reports.
The FIFA ethics-committee investigation into alleged corruption in the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups has created a general-media storm seldom experienced before for any sports-politics story. It has generated headlines on the front pages, back pages and many pages between for newspapers across the readership spectrum and in many nations around the world.
By David Owen
November 24 – Qatar, controversial winner of the race to stage the 2022 World Cup, has become the seventh contributor to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)’s embryonic fund for new anti-doping research, carrying it to within touching distance of its $20m target.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 24 – The chief executive of Germany’s Bundesliga is the latest high-profile figure to enter the debate over Fifa’s handling of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup anti-corruption investigation, saying coordinated action was needed from Europe to reform world football’s governing body.