By David Gold
February 20 – Bebeto has joined fellow former Brazilian goalscoring great Ronaldo and embattled football chief Ricardo Teixeira on the 2014 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee.
By David Gold
February 20 – Clive Palmer, the chairman of Australian team Gold Coast United, has been condemned for an outspoken tirade in which he admitted not liking football and refused to guarantee the future of his “insignificant” club.
By Andrew Warshaw in Doha
February 18 – Qatar’s preparations for the 2022 World Cup took a significant step forward when organisers announced leading global management firm CH2M HILL as a key strategic partner.
By Andrew Warshaw in Doha
February 19 – Qatar’s determination to be taken seriously as a football nation has resulted in the appointment of a fourth national coach in just over a year as 55-year-old Brazilian Paulo Autuori became the latest figure to try and take the tiny Gulf state to its first ever World Cup.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 19 – The future of corruption-tainted FIFA powerbroker Ricardo Teixeira appears ever more uncertain after the Brazilian Football Federation (CBF) announced he was to remain in his post as its President despite widespread reports that he was about to step down under mounting pressure.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 17 – Former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner (pictured) is taking legal action over what he claims is “completely unacceptable defamation and libel” reporting over his alleged wrongdoing in the Haiti earthquake fund dispute.
Administrators being called into Glasgow Rangers is more than yet another football club living way beyond its means. This is one of those seminal moments when you feel the world has changed and may not be the same again. It illustrates the perils of football commercialism and how dangerous it can be.
No, it is not quite football’s equivalent of the fall of the Berlin Wall; to suggest that would be going a touch too far.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 17 – Chris Eaton (pictured), the former Interpol crime-buster whose blueprint to weed out match fixing and other forms of football corruption was hailed as a major breakthrough, is leaving his post as FIFA’s head of security to join the world’s first non-profit-making organisation specialising in safety and security across all sports.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 17 – Manchester City have protested to UEFA over alleged racist abuse aimed at their players during last night’s 2-1 Europa League victory at FC Porto.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 16 – Steve Lawrence (pictured), the architect who who wrote the original masterplan for the London Olympics and Paralympics, has identified himself as the mystery figure behind the anonymous complaint to the European Union Commission which scuppered West Ham United’s hopes of moving to the Olympic Stadium after the Games.
By David Gold
February 20 – Leyton Orient chairman Barry Hearn has claimed that the London 2012 Olympic Stadium “is not fit for football.”
By Andrew Warshaw
February 16 – The reign of corruption-tainted Brazilian powerbroker Ricardo Teixeira looks set to end after months of growing pressure.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 16 – Funds donated for the Haiti earthquake fund, but which never arrived, were paid into a bank account controlled by former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner (pictured), according to the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF).
By David Gold
February 16 – Regional powers Australia and Japan have been pitted together in the qualifying round of the inaugural Under-22 Asian Cup following the draw at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) House in Kuala Lumpur.
By David Gold
February 16 – Bakcell, one of Azerbaijan’s leading mobile phone providers, has been confirmed as the third company so far committed to support the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup, being held later this year from September 22 to October 13.