By Mark Baber
December 24 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has re-worked the qualification requirements for the 2013 Asian Champions League Group Stage resulting in the UAE losing a spot as Saudi Arabia and Iran each gain one.
By Duncan Mackay
December 23 – Dave Beeche (pictured), who organised the ITU World Triathlon Series Grand Final in Auckland earlier this year, has been named chief executive for the 2015 FIFA Under-20 World Cup, which New Zealand is staging.
By Duncan Mackay
December 23 – Hesterine de Reus has been appointed as the new head coach of Australia’s women’s football team to replace Tom Sermanni, who has left to take over the United States women’s team.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 22 – In one of their strictest sanctions since pledging to crack down on clubs who don’t comply with financial rules, UEFA have slapped a one-season European ban on high-flying Spanish club Malaga because of unpaid bills.
By Mark Baber
December 21 – The Bundesgerichthof (German Federal Court of Justice) yesterday ordered a partial retrial for Ante Sapina (left with an unsuspecting Lionel Messi) and Marijo Cvrtak who were found guilty of deception and sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison in May 2011.
By Mark Baber
December 21 – PSG, owned by the Qatar Investment Authority, has reportedly agreed a deal with the Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) worth between €150 million and €200 million a season.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 21 – Asia’s Fifa vice-president Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein (pictured) has called for an end to disunity in the region and has urged the various factions to bury their differences and set the Asian Football Confederation on a new path of reconciliation.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 21 – Interpol has been drafted in to help with the investigation into the match-fixing scandal that has sent shock waves through South African football.
So what has Qatar in common with South Africa? On the face of it you would think this is an absurd, Christmas quiz, question. But it is not.
In footballing terms they have a lot in common. The common factor is both countries are pioneers for the world’s most popular game, staging the World Cup in their part of the world for the first time. And both countries have had the need to convince the world they are worthy of having this honour.
By Mark Baber
December 21 – BT Sport, which surprisingly landed £738m of rights for Premier League football this summer, has named Sunset+Vine, part of the Tinopolis Group, as production company for their 38 live Premier League games for the next three seasons.
By Mark Baber
December 19 – Spanish club Deportivo de La Coruña are in imminent danger of entering administration.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 20 – An anti-corruption panel advising FIFA has called on the Council of Europe to push for “urgent” reform at football’s world governing body after suggesting its own efforts to bring about change were being blocked.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 20 – In a major victory for the families of the 96 fans killed in the 1989 Hillsborough stadium disaster – Britain’s worst ever sporting tragedy – the country’s High Court has quashed the original inquest verdicts due to a “profound and almost palpable” sense of injustice.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 20 – Messages of support are flooding in from around the world after Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova stepped down temporarily because of a cancer recurrence.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 20 – Italian club Napoli are up in arms for being hit with a two-point deduction after becoming the latest Italian club sanctioned for alleged match-fixing.