By Andrew Warshaw
January 23 – Harry Redknapp (pictured), the most successful English club manager of recent years and the man favoured to succeed Fabio Capello as England boss after Euro 2012, appeared in court today to face accusations of tax evasion.
By David Gold
January 23 – Poland and Ukraine have been urged by UEFA President Michel Platini (pictured right) and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to ease visa restrictions for Russian fans due to attend this summer’s Euro 2012 tournament.
By David Gold
January 20 – The Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, is attempting to save the Russian Premier League outfit Tom Tomsk from bankruptcy.
By David Gold
January 23 – Top African stars competing in this month’s African Cup of Nations, including Barcelona’s Seydou Keita (pictured) and Newcastle’s Demba Ba, have joined forces with Oxfam to call for an end to hunger across the continent.
By David Gold
January 23 – Ghana’s Government has bought the broadcasting rights to the African Nations Cup, as the competition began in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon this weekend.
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.