By Andrew Warshaw
January 23 – FIFA veteran Walter Gagg (pictured), the man leading a consortium to save two-time Swiss champions Neuchâtel Xamax from extinction, has hit out at the “crazy” behaviour of the club’s Chechen owner Bulat Chagaev and has promised to re-launch Xamax in the lower leagues.
By David Gold
January 22 – Canada, Costa Rica, Mexico and the United States are all in the semi-finals of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) Olympic football women’s qualifiers, with all four winning their first two games of the competition with relative ease at BC Place in Vancouver.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 22 – Brazil’s preparations for staging the 2014 World Cup have been further undermined by a seemingly off-the-cuff remark from FIFA President Sepp Blatter that 2018 hosts Russia are already making better progress.
By David Gold
January 21 – Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (pictured) has indicated that supporters with tickets to matches for the 2018 World Cup will be able to travel across the country for free, and also confirmed that they will not need to obtain visas.
By David Gold
January 21 – Team GB men’s football coach Stuart Pearce (pictured) has spoken of his sadness that Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales do not want their players to be a part of his squad for the Olympic Games in London this summer.
By Duncan Mackay
January 21 – Turkey is concentrating its efforts on successfully bidding for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics, the country’s Sports Minister Suat Kılıç (pictured) has revealed following reports that they were also planning to launch a campaign to host football’s European Championships that year.
The amount of muck poured on this competition reminds me of the words Kelvin MacKenzie said to John Major after he had taken Britain out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM). As MacKenzie recounted to the Leveson inquiry on the press, as the hapless Prime Minister rang to ask the then Sun editor how he would treat the news, he replied, “Prime Minister, I have a bucket of shit by my desk and I am about to pour it on you.”
By David Gold
January 20 – Dignitaries from the world of football and politics, including the FIFA President, Sepp Blatter, and Russia’s Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, have gathered in St Petersburg to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Russian Football Union (RFU).
By Andrew Warshaw
January 20 – Liverpool have responded to a claim from the adidas chief executive, Herbert Hainer, that the club priced themselves out of a new kit deal by saying they could soon be worth £300 million ($464 million/€359 million).
By David Gold
January 20 – Four goals from Christine Sinclair helped Canada to an easy 6-0 win over Haiti in the opening game of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) women’s London 2012 Olympic football qualifiers at BC Place in Vancouver.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 20 – Former Asian football chief Mohamed Bin Hammam’s (pictured) attempt to clear his name after being banned for life for bribery by FIFA’s Ethics Committee reaches the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Monday (January 23) in a related case against his own Confederation.
By David Gold
January 19 – Chris Coleman has been unveiled as the successor to the late Gary Speed as Wales manager at what he described as “the most difficult press conference I am ever likely to do,” though Greek club Larissa claim he is still under contract to them.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 19 – Beer must be freely on sale inside stadiums at the 2014 World Cup, FIFA general secretary Jérôme Valcke reiterated today.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 19 – Horace Burrell (pictured), the Jamaican Football Federation (JFF) President suspended by FIFA’s Ethics Committee over the cash-for-votes scandal, has refused to explain exactly why he was sanctioned.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 19 – David Beckham says captaining Team GB at the London 2012 Olympics would be a “special” way of giving something back to his country after a distinguished career.