By Andrew Warshaw
October 29 – Michel d’Hooghe, Belgium’s long-serving FIFA executive committee member, has dismissed Sepp Blatter’s remarkable disclosure of a fixed agreement to hand the 2018 World Cup to Russia, insisting no pre-vote deal took place.
October 29 – England’s Football Association is to consult its lawyers after suspended FIFA president Sepp Blatter’s remarkable disclosure that there was a fixed agreement for the 2018 World Cup to go to Russia even before the vote took place.
By David Owen
October 29 – As the potential cast for next year’s FIFA Presidential election took shape this week, one of those with most influence over its outcome was preparing to welcome 1,000 heavy hitters from the Olympic world to the most powerful political town on the planet.
By Matt Scott
October 29 – Michel Platini has hit back at the suspension that risks ending his ambitions of becoming the next FIFA president.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 29 – David Nakhid, the FIFA presidential outsider whose candidacy for the post has been rejected, says he is writing to the organisation to demand an explanation.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 28 – Despite being currently suspended, FIFA president Sepp Blatter is still making sure his voice is heard, this time assuring Russia that there is no danger of them being stripped of hosting rights for the 2018 World Cup.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 28 – Seven rather than eight contenders are in the running to succeed Sepp Blatter as FIFA president, football’s world governing body officially announced today, the omission being former Trinidad and Tobago international David Nakhid who confirmed his intention to stand on Monday but appears to have failed to receive the required endorsement from five member associations.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 27 – Within hours of officially putting his name forward as a FIFA presidential candidate, Asian football supremo Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa has given his first public reaction to the wave of accusations over his alleged involvement in human rights abuses in his native Bahrain, calling them “damaging” and “nasty lies”.
October 27 – Britain’s anti-fraud organisation is looking into possible money laundering on UK soil related to the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding process that is bedevelling FIFA, its director revealed today.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 27 – The 2006 World Cup slush fund saga has taken an intriguing twist with Franz Beckenbauer, who led Germany’s organising committee, accepting responsibility for the German Football Association’s “mistake” in making a payment of €6.7 million to FIFA towards securing a grant for staging costs – but again denied the money was used in any way to buy votes.
October 27 – One of the fringe candidates in the eight-strong field going for FIFA president, Liberian Football Association president Musa Bility (pictured), has added a touch of early intrigue to the campaign with reports suggesting his five nominations did not only come from within his own west African region.
October 27 – As anticipated, Michel Platini’s appeal against his 90-day suspension has not got off to the best of starts, with the first of many stages in the process thrown out.
October 27 – South Korea’s Chung Mong-Joon has officially pulled out of the race for FIFA presidency as he conceded defeat in the wake of his six-year ban from football as a result of his conduct during the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 26 – Europe have got the back-up FIFA presidential candidate they were desperate for, with UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino opting to do Michel Platini’s bidding despite assuring anyone who would listen only 10 days ago that there was no plan B in the race to succeed Sepp Blatter.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 26 – Seizing his chance now that his own previous preference, Michel Platini, could be ruled out of the running, Asian football supremo Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa has formally entered the race to become FIFA president.