By David Gold
January 4 – Liverpool have decided not to appeal the eight match ban handed out to Luis Suárez for racially abusing Manchester United’s Patrice Evra, but the Uruguayan could now be set to make his comeback at Old Trafford of all places.
By David Gold
January 4 – Gabon’s football team is capable of following in the footsteps of the Nigerian and Cameroonian teams that won gold at the Olympic Games in 1996 and 2000 respectively, and claim glory in London later this year, says a leading sports official in the country.
By David Gold
January 4 – Supporters of Turkish champions Fenerbahçe, who have been heavily implicated in the country’s match fixing scandal, have called on the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) not to alter a rule which could relegate the club.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 4 – Wales will play Costa Rica in a memorial match for former manager Gary Speed who tragically took his own life in November at the age of 42.
By David Gold
January 4 – Eli Guttman (pictured) has been announced as the new Israeli national team coach, replacing Frenchman Luis Fernández, who left after a disappointing Euro 2012 qualifying campaign.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 3 – The future of David Beckham (pictured) was back on hold today as reports said the former England captain would not be extending his distinguished career by joining Qatar-backed French club Paris St Germain.
By David Owen
January 3 – It should be perfectly possible to stage a World Cup in Qatar in summer, a top executive at a leading temperature control company has told insideworldfootball.
By David Gold
January 3 – Swaziland have withdrawn from qualifiers for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations ahead of this month’s first round tie with Seychelles, and now risk being thrown out of the 2015 tournament.
By David Gold
January 3 – A quartet of Celtic’s women’s team have been approached to play for Team GB at the London 2012 Olympic Games next year.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 3 – The build up to the eagerly awaited decision in March whether, finally, to introduce goal-line technology is gathering pace with UEFA President Michel Platini, its fiercest high-profile opponent, again rubbishing the idea.
Like other writers, I spent the first two hours of 2012 engrossed not in a bottle of Veuve Cliquot, but the intricacies of the famous October 15 altercation between footballers Luís Suárez and Patrice Evra.
And a right riveting read the 115 pages of findings drawn up by the Independent Regulatory Commission that imposed an eight-match ban – subject to appeal – on Suárez, the Liverpool striker, turned out to be.
It aroused in me all manner of reactions –
By Andrew Warshaw
January 2 – Ted Howard (pictured centre) has officially been named the new acting general secretary of CONCACAF, the FIFA Confederation covering North and Central America and the Caribbean – as revealed exclusively two weeks ago by Insideworldfootball.
By David Gold
January 2 – The troubled Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) could face sanctions from FIFA if they fail to retake control of the game in the country, after a group called the Indonesian Football Saviour Committee (KPSI) claimed to have taken over their duties.
By David Gold
January 1- The English Football Association report following the investigation that Liverpool forward Luis Suarez racially abused Manchester United’s Patrice Evra has accused the Uruguayan of giving “unreliable” evidence.
By David Gold
January 1 – FIFA has suspended the Angolan referee Heldér Martins, the country’s Football Federation (FAF) have confirmed.