By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
March 21 – FIFA President Sepp Blatter today gave his most unequivocal statement to date that the 2022 Qatar World Cup will be staged in summer – as per the terms of the original bid process.
By Mark Baber
21 March – CONCACAF has agreed a new deal with soft drinks manufacturer Dr Pepper Snapple Group (DPS) for 7UP to be the Official Soft Drink of the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup. The sponsorship will almost certainly add fuel to the debate over soccer’s role in public health.
By Mark Baber
March 21 – Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. This year the theme, chosen by the UN Human Rights Office, is racism in sports.
Exclusive: By Osasu Obayiuwana
March 21 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter has told InsideWorldFootball that confronting the growing scourge of racism in the sport is one of the last major challenges confronting his presidency. “I am going to tackle this with all my tenacity, my fighting character,” Blatter said, on the eve of the CAF Congress in Morocco earlier this month.
March 21 – A CIES Football Observatory report, released today, highlights the issues of player hoarding and how this creates and sustains a competitive imbalance in European football.
March 21 – Barry Hearn, chairman of lower-league English club Leyton Orient, says he will give up his fight to move his club to the stadium used for the London 2012 Olympics if he loses a legal challenge into the bidding process.
21 March – UEFA president Michel Platini has hit back at Sepp Blatter’s criticism of his revolutionary plan for a pan-Continental 2020 European Championship, implying his FIFA counterpart has been disrespectful to UEFA’s national federations.
Come next season, will Roberto Mancini still be the manager of the world’s biggest spending football club of recent years?
If Manchester City’s owners in Abu Dhabi decide the time has come to move on from Mancini nobody could accuse them of lacking patience or support.
But is Sheikh Mansour among those now taking the view that while Mancini is undoubtedly a good manager, he’s not proving to be a great one?
During an exchange of correspondence, with a well-known and well-informed personality in refereeing, who’s handled top-level matches in Africa and around the world, including CAF Champions’ League, Cup of Nations and FIFA games, he made a telling statement that left me deeply concerned about how corruption and match-fixing has impacted on the continent.
“It seems an accepted norm in CAF (Confederation of African Football) that people know that bribery exists. But it appears that they cannot or do not want to deal with the matter,”
By Andrew Warshaw in Doha
March 20 – Any time Qatar stages a high-profile sports conference – and there have been a good number in recent months – the increasingly divisive debate over switching the 2022 World Cup to winter invariably springs to prominence. So it was at the Securing Sport 2013 summit in Doha. Except this time, it wasn’t supposed to happen quite like that.
March 20 – FIFA has confirmed the date for the draw for the 2014 World Cup finals as December 6 this year.
By Mark Baber
March 20 – Giorgos Katidis the 20-year old AEK player who made a Nazi salute to fans after scoring on Saturday has now been suspended by his club until the end of the season.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 20 – FIFA President Sepp Blatter has again issued a firm assurance that Brazil will be ready to host the 2014 World Cup. On the eve of one of FIFA’s most far-reaching executive committee meetings, Blatter met Brazil’s sports minister and FIFA’s World Cup organizing committee on Tuesday.
March 20 – Two FIFA films have been shortlisted for the International Visual Communications Associations Awards (IVCA). The 2013 IVCA awards ceremony take place on March 22 in London.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent, in Doha
March 20 – One of the candidates bidding to become president of the Asian Football Confederation has said for the first time that he might pull out of the race.