By Andrew Warshaw
July 4 – Afghanistan women’s coach Kelly Lindsey, one of those who blew the lid on sexual abuse by the country’s federation chief and others, has blasted FIFA president Gianni Infantino, accusing him of not doing nearly far enough to stamp out the scourge.
July 4 – FIFA has held the first meeting of its Professional Women’s Football Task Force which aims to bring together women’s football stakeholders to influence decisions on the growth of the women’s professional game.
By David Owen
July 1 – International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach has dropped a strong hint that the doors of sport’s most prestigious club might finally be opened to FIFA boss Gianni Infantino.
June 27 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s participation in the ‘Peace to Prosperity’ workshop in Bahrain have raised plenty of eyebrows in the Middle East with his own personal history being that of aggressor rather than peacemaker.
In one picture, a cut-away from an Al Jazeera broadcast on Twitter, you see him sitting next to a UK war criminal has-been in Manama, where a laughably androgynous Kushner delivers a ludicrous proposal for Mid-East Peace. [THIS “Pax Americana” risks to be a still-birth similar to Infantino’s neo-colonial football proposal to “Save Africa” (from itself, I take it?). What Kushner and other far-right bozos are planning to do to the Palestinians (if the rest of the world lets them),
June 26 – Refereeing at the Women’s World Cup has been under severe scrutiny with VAR and other interventions wrecking the natural rhythm of the game, but FIFA’s head of referees Pierluigi Collina has shrugged off the storm of criticism, saying that the tournament is not “an experiment” for new rules using the VAR.
June 24 – Amid widespread condemnation, a new rule that states goalkeepers at the Women’s World Cup must be cautioned for stepping off their goal line at penalties has been suspended.
By Paul Nicholson
June 20 – The corruption-riddled, ungoverned FIFA-fiefdom that Africa has become has now impacted on the offices of the president of FIFA, Gianni Infantino. In an act of demagoguery that may come to define his leadership, and in order to protect his own powerbase, FIFA has stepped in to take charge of Africa.
By Andrew Warshaw
A new rule agreed by football’s lawmakers in the spring which gained little publicity at the time has suddenly burst into controversy within days of taking effect and threatens to cause widespread consternation across the game.
June 20 – More detail is emerging of the 15-hour interview of Michel Platini by France’s Central Office for Combating Corruption and Financial and Tax Crimes (OCLCIFF).
June 19 – Former UEFA chief Michel Platini was released in the early hours of Wednesday after having been questioned by French anti-corruption authorities over the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.
June 18 – The Swiss investigation into FIFA corruption looks to be collapsing following a ruling by the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona which declared Federal Prosecutor Michael Lauber’s secret meetings with FIFA president Gianni Infantino give the appearance of bias.
June 18 – Ukraine won a maiden U-20 word title after rallying from a goal down to defeat South Korea 3-1 in Poland. Korea’s Kangin Lee won the tournament’s golden ball as best player.
June 14 – Zvonimir Boban, Gianni Infantino’s personal adviser and a member of the FIFA president’s closely guarded inner circle, has quit after just two years to return to AC Milan as the club’s chief football officer.
June 13 – Are the US authorities edging closer to snaring the man they want more than anyone else among the powerbrokers snared in the $200 million FIFAGate corruption scandal?