By Duncan Mackay in Moscow
April 17 – The Turkish Football Federation (TFF) confirmed today that it had submitted a bid to UEFA to host football’s 2020 European Championship, leaving a fresh question mark over Istanbul’s bid to stage the Olympics and Paralympics in the same year.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 17 – The head of the union representing professional footballers has warned that the 2012 European Championships will be remembered for all the wrong reasons.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 17 – Bolton Wanderers midfielder Fabrice Muamba has paid tribute to the medical staff who kept him alive after he was pronounced clinically dead for 78 minutes when collapsing with a cardiac arrest in a cup game at Tottenham Hotspur.
By David Gold
April 17 – Jürgen Müller, FIFA’s head of the 2014, 2018 and 2022 World Cups, has expressed his satisfaction at what he described as “full commitment from all candidate host cities visited so far” during an inspection tour of Russia.
By David Gold
April 17 – International pop superstar Jennifer Lopez will perform at the Opening Ceremony of this year’s FIFA under-17 Women’s World Cup in Azerbaijan, FIFA have announced.
By David Gold
April 16 – Fox Soccer has renewed its media rights deal with Australia’s Hyundai A-League for three seasons, a boost to the embattled Football Federation Australia (FFA).
By David Gold
April 16 – Santos is celebrating its 100th anniversary with a series of commemorative matches between players of past and present, including the legendary Pelé.
By David Gold
April 16 – The doors of the revamped Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro, which will host the final of the 2014 World Cup as well as the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 2016 Rio Olympic and Paralympics, have been opened to the public.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 16 – FIFA President Sepp Blatter says he cried at learning of the tragic death of 25-year-old Italian midfielder Piermario Morosini during a Serie B match at the weekend.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 16 – The final phase of testing for goal-line technology will begin by the end of April, according to FIFA, following yet another blatant and ultimately decisive injustice on the field of play.
An era may be about to end in French football.
As I write this, AJ Auxerre sit 20th and last in Ligue 1, the French First Division.
There is still time for them to save themselves, but they are three points adrift, six points from safety and the days are getting longer.
By David Gold
April 15 – Livorno midfielder Piermario Morosini (pictured) has died after suffering a cardiac arrest during a Serie B game with Pescara.
By David Gold
April 15 – The France-based International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism (LICRA) has demanded an immediate inquiry into allegations that racist abuse was aimed at Lyon striker Bafétimbi Gomis during a cup tie in Corsica.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 13 – Barcelona’s international French defender Éric Abidal, who had a lengthy liver transplant on Tuesday (April 10), is recovering well from the operation according to the club.
By David Gold
April 14 – The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has cancelled a friendly match, scheduled originally for Tuesday (April 17), with Iran after the Islamic Republic’s hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited an island which both countries believe they own.