By Andrew Warshaw
May 28 – Sepp Blatter suffered the humiliation of pulling out of the Champions League final today as pressure grew on FIFA to call off next week’s Presidential election because of the escalating bribery scandal.
Reform is the cry of the hour for FIFA. But, the question is: where does the reform start? It is not enough to open up FIFA in Zurich.
For real reform, we need to go to the heart of the organisation which extends beyond Zurich around the world. Without a worldwide fundamental structural reform, no amount of changes in Zurich will enable FIFA to come out of the crisis that has engulfed it.
By Duncan Mackay
May 28 – FIFA vice-president Jack Warner has promised a “football tsunami” during the next two days when he is due to appear before the Ethics Committee accused of corruption as the Presidential election threatens to turn into a farce.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 27 – The phenomenal pull of the Champions League was brought into sharp focus today when it was revealed that tomorrow’s glamour final between Manchester United and Barcelona will be the richest on record.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 27 – FIFA presidential candidate Mohamed Bin Hammam today rejected all the evidence against him as “without substance” and has repeated his assertion that the opposing camp are out to smear him.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 27 – Next week’s FIFA Presidential election was plunged into total farce today when Sepp Blatter himself was dragged into the biggest bribery scandal ever to hit the organisation.
By David Gold
May 27 – FIFA has said that a friendly international between Kuwait and Jordan, which was held in the United Arab Emirates at the end of March, is under investigation for alleged match fixing.
By Duncan Mackay
May 27 – FIFA opened ethics proceedings against its own President Sepp Blatter following a request from his election rival Mohamed Bin Hammam, they announced today.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 26 – Manchester City’s Ivory Coast defender Kolo Toure was banned from all football activities for six months today for failing a drugs test that kept him out of the game for much of the season.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 26 – Mohamed Bin Hammam fought back in the increasingly bitter FIFA election battle today by astonishingly calling for Sepp Blatter himself to be investigated as part of the spiralling bribery scandal.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 26 – Startling new revelations emerged today over the chain of events that led to the biggest corruption scandal in the history of FIFA.
Ever since FIFA announced that its Ethics Committee will conduct a hearing this coming Sunday into allegations of bribery supposedly committed by my opponent in the race for FIFA’s presidency, some remarkable, some very concerning, some serious but also some truly asinine comments were made.
To make a point very clear, let me say this: I take no joy in having to observe yet another Ethics Committee hearing and investigation. And I take absolutely no joy in seeing my friends and colleagues of many years dragged before the ethics committee which was convened after the United States ExCo Member Chuck Blazer filed a complaint against my contestant and his own Confederation President.
By Tom Degun
May 25 – London-based international sport business consultancy Vero Communications, founded by Mike Lee (pictured), has announced the launch of their first overseas office in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, which formally opens today under the company name MLA True Communications.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 25 – Mohamed Bin Hammam today hit back after being charged by FIFA with offering bribes for votes, claiming the move was “little more than a tactic” on the the part of the opposing camp loyal to Sepp Blatter.
Can next week’s FIFA Presidential election possibly go ahead on schedule as a result of the latest seismic bombshell to hit football’s world governing body?
The decision by FIFA to investigate claims that Sepp Blatter’s only challenger, Mohamed Bin Hammam, and the organisation’s longest-serving vice-president, Jack Warner, were both caught up in a bribery sensation is by far and away the most damning of all the recent scandals to strike at the heart of the governing body’s hierarchy.