Do I think Qatar was awarded the World Cup fairly? I don’t know for sure. But nor do you.
If you happen not to have read any opinion on Qatar 2022 this week let me help you out with an example, from my country.
“It’s a scorchingly hot Islamic desert hellhole which routinely employs slave labour and has the kind of respect for human rights you might expect from, say, Darth Vader.”
By Mark Baber
March 20 – Pressure from politicians, who wish to use football as a political lever to punish Russia, is putting football authorities’ political independence to the test in the wake of the toppling of Ukraine’s President and government, and the accession of Crimea and Sevastopol to the Russian Federation.
By Alexander Krassimirov
March 20 – Bulgaria’s Levski Sofia, which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, is switching its kit sponsor from Germanys Puma to Spain’s Joma for the start of its centenary season.
By Richard van Poortvliet
March 20 – Despite their excellent 2-1 win at Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday, Zenit St Petersburg are likely to be in hot water with UEFA once again, following the behaviour of their fans in the second leg of their Champions League Round of 16 tie in Germany.
By Richard van Poortvliet
March 20 – Legally or illegally, the biggest country in the world has just got a little bigger, with Crimea set to become part of the Russian Federation. While a lot has been made of the political ramifications, spare a thought for two football clubs from the peninsula, who ply their trade in the Ukrainian Premier League.
March 20 – FIFA is being urged by Amnesty International not to downplay the mistreatment of construction workers’ on Qatar’s 2022 World Cup sites when football’s world governing body hears an update on the issue at its executive committee meeting today and tomorrow.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 20 – The international players’ union FIFPro has again called on FIFA to reform the international transfer system which, it says, is failing the game and badly need to be addressed.
March 20 – Australian-born Croatian international Josip Simunic will definitely miss the World Cup after losing his appeal against a 10-match ban imposed by FIFA for discriminatory behaviour.
March 19 – The takeover of iconic English club Leeds United by controversial Italian entrepreneur Massimo Cellino has still not been approved with fans now braced for a period of uncertainty.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 19 – A key meeting of FIFA’s executive committee (exco) opens on Thursday with the latest on Brazil’s troubled World Cup preparations high on the agenda along with the thorny issues of Israeli-Palestine relations and workers’ rights in Qatar.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
March 19 – With Widzew Lodz eyeing a new stadium, the municipal authorities of Lodz have launched a tender to build a new sports facility which is designed to revamp the troubled Polish football club and boost match attendance.
March 19 – Two English players have had life bans extended worldwide by FIFA for fixing matches in Australia’s second-tier Victorian Premier League.
What began as a peaceful protest against one deeply corrupt President’s reign – no, I don’t mean some weird country in tropical climes, but rather Ukraine’s Yanukovich – rapidly degenerated into snipers murdering friend and foe alike and paid thugs creating havoc on Kiev’s Maidan Square. What followed were scenes that are reminiscent of a revolution, and subsequently bore the hallmark of a well orchestrated coup d’état.
The phone conversation between one Victoria Nuland,
By Andrew Warshaw and Paul Nicholson
March 19 – Disgraced former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner has dismissed the latest corruption allegations against him as “foolishness” and says there is a “witch hunt” against 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar.
