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.
November 24 -Croatia’s so-called “Eternal derby” between Hajduk Split and arch-rivals Dinamo Zagreb was scrapped at the weekend after dozens of blacklisted Hadjuk fans were barred – and their players, remarkably, protested in sympathy.
November 24 – The president of French League 2 club Nimes has quit following allegations of matchfixing in the latest scandal to rock French football. Jean-Marc Conrad, who has led the ‘Crocodiles’ since April, is under formal investigation along with Caen chairman Jean-Francois Fortin and four others on suspicion of fixing the result of a fixture between their clubs.
Another incident of racism has struck at the heart of Chilean domestic football, this time prompting the referee to take the players off.
O’Higgins, who won Chile’s Apertura league championship last year, already face sanctions after fans made racist chants and gestures towards San Marcos de Arica’s Venezuelan striker Emilio Renteria during a first division match.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 24 – The man who ran the 2010 World Cup in South Africa says 2018 hosts Russia must crack down harder on racism to show the world it is taking the issue seriously.
The Russians are coming under increasing pressure to tackle discrimination properly following a spate of recent incidents both domestically and in Europe, mainly at club level.
By Ricardo Setyon
November 23 – Just four months after the biggest football event on earth took place in Brazil, the country has lurched into a new crisis with as many as 50% of current professional players and officials unpaid. Estimates say that the wage crisis has hit up to 90% of the professional clubs in the country.
I read that Sepp Blatter is furious about the International Olympic Committee (IOC)’s reluctance to allow him to remain a member beyond its mandatory retirement age of 80. This raises the following question: if true, is he furious enough to exercise his nuclear option by allowing the 2022 World Cup to clash with the 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, to the considerable detriment of the latter?