By David Gold
December 5 – Four African teams remain in the hunt for a place at the London 2012 Olympic Games football tournament, with Senegal facing Gabon and Egypt taking on hosts Morocco in the crucial semi-finals.
By David Gold
December 5 – Barcelona’s Lionel Messi (pictured right) is in line for his third successive FIFA Ballon D’Or award after being confirmed on the final three-man shortlist alongside Real Madrid rival Cristiano Ronaldo (centre) and team mate Xavi (left).
By David Gold
December 5 – Qatar is donating $400,000 (£256,000/€300,000) generated in ticket proceeds from the recent friendly game between Brazil and Egypt in Doha, to the victims of famine in Somalia.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 5 – Beleaguered former Asian football chief Mohamed Bin Hammam will have the first of his two appeal hearings on January 23 at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
By Andrew Warshaw
December 6 – FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke (pictured) has fuelled further tension between the world governing body and English football by suggesting that they not always feel welcome in the country.
By Duncan Mackay
December 4 – Joao Havelange, the former controversial President of FIFA, has resigned as a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to avoid being expelled from the organisation he has served for nearly 50 years.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 4 – FIFA Pesident Sepp Blatter has re-opened his feud with English football by saying the country has still not come to terms with losing out on the 2018 World Cup.
By David Gold
December 4 – Sócrates, one of the world’s greatest midfielders and Brazil’s captain at the 1982 World Cup, has died in a São Paulo hospital at the age of 57, casting a shadow over the final weekend of the Brazilian Championship.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 3 – The head of the Ukrainian half of Euro 2012 has revealed for the first time how close the country came to being stripped of hosting rights with Poland.
We may have reached an historic moment with modern, highly paid footballers. They may finally be ready to tell the truth when they move club. The truth is that what motivates them is not the glory of the club they are going to, nor its wonderful supporters, nor even the honours they might win, but how much money the new club will put in their bank account.
I have long believed that the refrain of modern footballers,
By David Gold
December 2 – Nancy will not be hosting games during the 2016 European Championships after the French city was unable to find agree a deal to renovate the Marcel Picot Stadium.
By David Gold
December 2 – Football Federation Australia (FFA) has welcomed and accepted the recommendations of the Smith Review, following the publication of the organisation’s strategic plan earlier this week.
By David Gold
December 2 – Old rivals Germany and the Netherlands will face each other in Group B of the 2012 European Championships, being co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine, following the draw today in Kiev, where the final of next summer’s tournament will take place.
By David Gold
December 2 – UEFA President Michel Platini has said that he would move the Champions League and Europa League to accommodate a winter World Cup being held in Qatar in 2022.
Happy Anniversary? Depends where your allegiances lie. But my, how time flies.
Exactly a year ago today, December 2, we were sitting in the cavernous Messe in Zurich eagerly awaiting the results of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup ballots.
You could almost cut the tension with a knife as one after the other, the candidates gave their final presentations in a bid to get over the line after months of painstaking,