Al Serkal bites back with letter to FIFA and AFC members
By Andrew Warshaw
May 1 – Any chance of Thursday’s Asian football Presidential election vote being cleanly contested has totally evaporated following an unsavoury 11th-hour spat between the two front-runners, both of whom have thrown verbal grenades in each other’s direction, prompting the intervention of FIFA.
Andrew Warshaw interviews Hassan Al-Thawadi on his bid for FIFA’s executive committee
During the increasingly fractious battle in Kuala Lumpur to become President of Asian football, it has been conveniently overlooked amid the political in-fighting that the position is effectively transitionary and only for 18 months.
Potentially far more significant is the other separate vote for a spot on the FIFA executive committee – the most powerful elite gathering in world football. Not least because it is a four-year term as distinct from just keeping the seat warm for possibly someone else.
Crunch time for Asia as Al-Thawadi makes his case to join FIFA’s top table
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
May 1 – During the increasingly fractious battle in Kuala Lumpur to become President of Asian football, it has been conveniently overlooked amid the political in-fighting that the position is effectively transitionary and only for 18 months.
Is your boyfriend reading this?
By Mark Baber
May 1 – NBA player Jason Collins this week became the first active competitor in a major American professional sport to announce he is gay, shining the spotlight on homophobia in football around the world, as we approach Friday’s 16th anniversary of the tragic suicide of Justin Fashanu (pictured), Britain’s first £1m black footballer and still the only prominent player to come out as gay to date.
Malawi Flames cleared by FIFA to switch qualifiers to the ‘slaughter-house’
By Mark Baber
May 1 – FIFA have given clearance to Malawi to play their two upcoming 2014 World Cup qualifiers, against Namibia and Kenya, at the Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre, following an inspection by Adnan El Guindy on April 21.
Exclusive: Platini calls for Asia to end in-fighting
By John Duerden in Kuala Lumpur
May 1 – UEFA President Michel Platini has called for Asia to put an end to its in-fighting and move forward starting with Thursday’s vote to elect a new president of the Asian Football Confederation.
News analysis: Skullduggery, not unity, is AFC watchword, and now FIFA have entered the fray
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
May 1 – Claims and counter-claims, conspiracy theories bouncing back and forth, all manner of dirty tricks allegations – and even FIFA intervention. Unity, what unity?
Al Medlej pulls out of AFC presidency race
By John Duerden in Kuala Lumpur
May 1 – Outsider Hafiz Al Medlej of Saudi Arabia as expected quit the race to become the next president of the Asian Football Confederation today, just hours after exclusively revealing to InsideWorldFootball that he was on the verge of pulling out of the running.
Sri Lanka’s Fernando handed 8-year ban
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
May 1 – The timing could hardly be worse. On the eve of the vote to clean up its act, Asian football has been rocked by yet another embarrassing scandal after Sri Lanka’s Vernon Manilal Fernando, one of the continent’s most powerful administrators, was kicked out of FIFA for eight years over unspecified unethical wrongdoing.
Third human rights body calls for FIFA to investigate Sheikh Salman
By Paul Nicholson, Editor in chief
May 1 – A third human rights organisation has written to FIFA president Sepp Blatter asking him to refer Asian Football Confederation presidential candidate Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa of Bahrain to FIFA’s ethics committee.
Osasu Obayiuwana: Football, racism and me…
I had initially planned to do a piece on the parlous state of Cameroonian football, after the humiliating failure of the not-so-Indomitable Lions, four-time champions of the continent, to qualify for the last two Africa Cup of Nations tournaments.
But, when a nosey-parker journalist – me, in this case – ends up in the news, rather than being in the preferred position of reporting it, one is left with no choice than to make the proverbial lemonade out of lemons.
Jean Francois Tanda: Could FIFA Museum already be a thing of the past?
FIFA’s media office sent the invitation to media representatives twice. Obviously, the international football federation wanted to make sure that numerous journalists attend the event. On Twitter, FIFA President Joseph “Sepp” Blatter announced a “hugely exciting major project”. Only a few minutes later, he revealed he was talking about the FIFA Museum in Zurich.
The campaign worked well, and in front of numerous cameras and microphones Blatter could tell many journalists about his dream and his gift to the “sports city Zurich”.
FIFA anti-racism taskforce takes shape
By Paul Nicholson
April 30 – The composition of FIFA’s anti-racism taskforce is taking shape and although not yet officially announced, it includes a number of high profile and perhaps unexpected appointments from across a range of football activity.
Court awards Berg £2.5m payout after Blackburn sacking
By Tom Parsons
April 30 – Henning Berg, the former Blackburn manager, has been awarded £2.25m in compensation from the Championship side after winning his claim against the club in court yesterday.