By Andrew Warshaw
February 25 – A landmark fan protest over what have been described as draconian ticket and travel restrictions is being stepped up amid a legal storm and a promise by police chiefs to discuss the issue further.
By Mark Baber
February 22 – The Copa Centenario, the proposed CONCACAF/CONMEBOL celebration tournament for the 100th birthday of South America’s confederation, is awaiting FIFA’s approval, but already plans are being put in place.
February 22 – Munich has become the first city to apply to the German Football Federation (DFB) to be Germany’s host city for the 2020 European Championship.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 22 – Barcelona are trying to organise a symbolic peace match against a joint Israeli-Palestinian team to try and heal the wounds between two sides and promote the Middle East peace process.
February 22 – German club Schalke are reported to have officially appealed against Didier Drogba’s inclusion in the Galatasaray team when the clubs drew 1-1 in the Champions League this week.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 22 – The future of Portsmouth football club, which has been in administration for a year with debts of about £60m, looks set to be finally settled – but maybe not for another two months.
February 22 – The prospects for the return of a CIS regional league look more remote after the Ukranian FA distanced itself from the Russian club proposal.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 22 – A two-day conference on match-fixing at which the dangers facing Asian football were starkly underlined have resulted in the Asian Football Confederation setting up a task force to try and clamp down on arguably the most serious crisis facing the game.
The timing is quite striking.
On July 3, Bob Diamond resigned as chief executive of Barclays, in the midst of a political firestorm touched off by a £290 million fine meted out to the bank by UK and US authorities.
On July 12, it extended until May 2016 its sponsorship of the English Premier League.
By the end of August (with Chelsea three points clear at the top of the table),
By Andrew Warshaw
February 21 – The battle to succeed Mohamed bin Hammam as head of Asian football has taken a surprising twist with Saudi Arabia’s Hafez Al Medlej (pictured left) almost certainly putting his name forward along with the anticipated contenders.
February 21 – Brazilian customs announced Wednesday that they had seized 200,000 counterfeit Chinese balls which were being smuggled into the country.
By Mark Baber
February 21 – Youssef Suleiman, a player from the Homs-based al-Wathbah club, was killed by a mortar attack on the Tishreen Sports Complex in Damascus on Wednesday.
It has been a move so sharp, opportunistic and clinical any of the great strikers would have been proud of it.
Sepp Blatter moving into the space ahead of UEFA and putting himself and FIFA at the forefront of the fight against racism.
A set of apparently tough proposals from FIFA’s Strategic Committee are to be put in front of the Executive Committee late in March, and conceivably ratified by FIFA Congress in May.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 21 – The two rival football federations in Indonesia have agreed to merge to avoid stringent FIFA sanctions that would wreck the country’s entire international status.
