By Paul Nicholson
October 22 – FIFA chief medical officer Jiri Dvorak has announced an extension of the Football for Health programme in the CONCACAF region with three new pilot initiatives to be undertaken in countries from the three language groups in the region – English, Spanish and French. The markets have still to be chosen.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 23- Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who retired in the summer after 27 years at the club, has revealed he was asked twice to become manager of England – but refused both times.
October 23- Two more cases of racism at Europa League games have drawn the wrath of Uefa who have punished both Cypriot club Apoel Nicosia and Croatia’s HNK Rijeka.
October 23- FIFA has imposed worldwide bans on three more El Salvador national team players in an ongoing match-fixing investigation, bringing the total to 19.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 23- The under-17 World Cup, the largest football event of its kind to be staged in the Gulf, may be progressing satisfactorily on the field but off it an inopportune dispute has broken out over the issue of over-age players — generated by the host nation.
By David Owen
October 23 – In their World Cup play-off next month, or even if they make it all the way to Brazil for their first appearance in the finals proper, the footballers of Iceland may find that they have an unexpected pocket of support around the cheese and prosciutto town of Parma in northern Italy.
By Paul Nicholson in Grand Cayman
October 23 – Canadian FA president Victor Montagliani has pledged to put on the best ever women’s World Cup in 2015 which, he says, will be a “game changer” for the sport in his country.
By Paul Nicholson in Grand Cayman
October 22 – CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb has called on his federations to maximise their potential and drive the region into a new era by taking opportunities for development into their own hands.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 22- Amos Adamu, the discredited former Nigerian powerbroker banned for three years by Fifa, has served his time but says he is in no hurry to get back into football.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 22- Ricardo Teixeira, until last year one of the most powerful men in world football, appears to have lost his bid to be granted residency in the tiny tax haven of Andorra.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 22- Embattled Fifa executive committee member Worawi Makudi insists he retained the presidency of Thai football perfectly legally despite last week’s election success suddenly being plunged into fresh chaos.
October 21 – A four-day FIFA Development Seminar in Grand Cayman was kicked off by FIFA President Joseph Blatter, CONCACAF President and FIFA Vice-President Jeffrey Webb and FIFA Secretary General Jérôme Valcke in Grand Cayman yesterday.
By Paul Nicholson
October 22 – At the Gala Dinner for the opening of the CONCACAF Sport Summit in Grand Cayman, it was announced by Dr. Djibril Diallo, senior adviser to the Executive Director of UNAIDS, that confederation president Jeffrey Webb has been awarded the 2013 UNAIDS ‘Protect the Goal’ Special Award for the Diaspora.
By Paul Nicholson in Grand Cayman
October 22 – The landmark CONCACAF Sport Summit, titled ‘Transformation through partnership’ opened here Monday night with a powerful, at times hilarious, address by former political prisoner Tokyo Sexwale, who spent 15 years imprisoned alongside Nelson Mandela on South Africa’s Robben Island.
“With the glamour and opportunity also comes responsibility.” Michel Platini
Those were the words with which UEFA’s president introduced its interim club-licensing benchmarking report. It is a study that makes for fascinating reading and, to a certain extent, Europe’s top clubs have demonstrated they recognise the Platini creed.
Despite the ongoing economic crisis that has seized the global financial system since 2008, club revenues grew almost 7% year on year between 2011 and 2012,