June 6 – Former Guatemalan FA general secretary Hector Trujillo, arrested in the US while on a Disney cruise ship with his family in Florida, has pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in the Brooklyn federal court, New York. Trujillo was arrested in the US Department of Justice probe into corruption in football.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 5 – FIFA’s controversial decision to replace its ethics and governance chiefs has burst back into the public arena, with UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin revealing that an official letter has been sent by his organisation to world football’s governing body complaining about the lack of communication over the decision-making process.
June 2 – Football’s lawmaking body wants to keep the use of video replays to a minimum if they become standard practise for deciding contentious refereeing decisions.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 1 – In his first public comment on the issue, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin says the 2030 World Cup should go to Europe and that China should not be allowed to jump the queue and must abide by current regional hosting rules.
May 30 – FIFA is keeping faith with its much-troubled world football museum in Zurich despite a swathe of redundancies at the loss-making venue.
By Samindra Kunti
May 30 – Six-time champions Argentina suffered a shock group stage exit from the U20 World Cup in South Korea. Favourites France marched undefeated into the round of 16, with both Venezuela and Zambia impressing in the group games.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 25 – Costas Takkas, close associate of disgraced ex-CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb and like Webb one of the original ‘Zurich Seven’ arrested two years ago in that infamous hotel swoop that plunged FIFA into unprecedented crisis, has changed his plea to guilty to money laundering conspiracy as his trial gets closer.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 24 – In the latest twist to one of the most contentious issues at the FIFA Congress earlier this month, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin is reported to have played a crucial role in thwarting a Palestinian vote against Israel. Sources close to Ceferin insisted to Insideworldfootball he did not influence the decision on Palestine and that it was a unanimous agreement among Council members not to allow a vote as there were not adequate enough reports for a decision to be taken at that time.
May 23 – Alexey Sorokin, the public face of next year’s World Cup in Russia, seems almost certain to be nominated for a place on the FIFA Council in place of the barred Vitaly Mutko in order to ensure his country retains a powerful voice at FIFA’s top table.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 21 – Morocco has not ruled out bidding for the 2026 World Cup with a fellow African nation – or two – now that it has been made clear that Europe will not be allowed to bid.
By Samindra Kunti
May 21 – Venezuela won the opening match at the FIFA U20 World Cup in South Korea with a 2-0 victory over Germany. England got their campaign underway with a 3-0 win against Argentina.
By Paul Nicholson
May 19 – David Chung, president of the Oceania Football Confederation as well as the Papua New Guinea FA, is facing a revolution in his home country where a rival faction has established its own federation, is playing its own matches and has more members than the FIFA-recognised federation Chung leads.
May 19 – Zhang Jian, China’s newly elected FIFA council member, says a World Cup bid from his country will come “sooner or later” but has declined to specify when.
By Samindra Kunti
May 19 – This Saturday the FIFA U20 World Cup kicks off with Germany and Venezuela playing the opening match in Daejeon, South Korea, thought the tournament favourites are a two other teams from Europe and South America – France and Uruguay.
May 19 – The Under-20 World Cup, which runs from this Saturday to June 11 in six South Korean cities, will be the first FIFA youth tournament to employ video assistant referees but the world governing body’s head of refereeing has cautioned against its over-use.