By Mark Baber
March 22 – The legal action brought by 15 year old Louis Cooper over restrictions placed on fans has been dropped after agreement with West Yorkshire police on a new set of conditions which improve fans’ access to the Huddersfield Town v Hull City football match on 30 March 2013.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 22 – Kevin-Prince Boateng, the Italian-based footballer who made headlines by famously taking his AC Milan teammates off the pitch in protest at racism, has described it a “dangerous disease” with no easy cure.
The Rio Ferdinand saga has once again raised the hoary old question of club versus country, always a potent question in international football, particularly the English game. Over the years this has generated much heat, except in the case of Ferdinand this old story has taken a very modern, and it must be said, fascinating twist.
In the classic battles between club and country the story often went as follows. A player would be called up to play for England.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 21 – Greg Dyke, a former BBC director general known for his direct and passionate views, will be the new chairman of the English Football Association in succession to David Bernstein who steps down in July. His appointment is still subject to approval from the full FA council.
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.