By David Gold
June 28 – FIFA general secretary Jérôme Valcke has visited Recife in Brazil as he conducts a three-day trip to the 2014 World Cup hosts and has said he is confident that the north eastern city will be ready for the 2013 Confederations Cup.
By Duncan Mackay
June 28 – India is still hoping to launch a bid for the FIFA Under-17 World Cup but admit that they still have to receive Government support for the plan.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 28 – Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko has repeated his stance that the country should ditch the idea of a traditional autumn-spring season and revert back to playing through the summer.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 27 – UEFA will decide tomorrow what action to take against Spain and Russia after yet more charges of racism were meted out at the European Championship finals.
By David Gold
June 27 – When Liverpool take to the field next season, they will do so wearing shirts made in part from coffee grounds, after their new kit was unveiled by Warrior.
By David Gold
June 27 – Frenchman Samir Nasri could be suspended from international football by his own national federation for up to two years following his outburst at a journalist following France’s elimination from the 2012 European Championship.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 27 – The deaths of a group of Iraqi youth footballers in a bomb blast has caused shock and anguish across the region with FIFA vice-president Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein saying he was “appalled” by the explosion.
By David Gold
June 26 – Kim Little and Ifeoma Dieke have turned their backs on Scottish Football Association (SFA) wishes by accepting a call up by Team GB women’s coach Hope Powell for London 2012.
By David Gold
June 26 – Former British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has hailed Sunderland’s new sponsorship deal with not-for-profit organisation Invest in Africa as the best in the club’s history.
Michel Platini once bemoaned to me the extinction of the old-style ‘Number 10’, a position in which he, of course, excelled like few others.
“They have practically done away with le Numéro 10,” he said, sitting in a large office across the street from the Comédie Française.
“There is practically no longer an organiser.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 26 – Restructured Scottish giants Rangers look certain to start life in the lower leagues after six Scottish Premier League (SPL) clubs said they would vote against the 54-time domestic champions being allowed entry into the top flight.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 26 – FIFA’s new head of security Ralf Mutschke admits that match-fixing can never be totally eliminated but says FIFA will never give up the fight to weed out the criminals as the issue continues to seriously undermine the sport both in Europe and globally.
By David Gold
June 26 – The President of the Russian Football Union (RFU), Sergey Fursenko, has quit following his country’s early exit from the 2012 European Championship.
By David Gold
June 26 – New Australian A-League team Western Sydney Wanderers has been officially launched at a media event at the Parramatta Stadium.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 25 – Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko has cited the country’s protracted transition season for their surprise group stage elimination from the 2012 European Championship – and also laid the blame partly at the feet of coach Dick Advocaat (pictured below).