FIFA keep control of Ghana in run-up to election of Nyantakyi replacement
October 8 – FIFA has extended the term of the Normalisation Committee that oversees Ghanaian football.
FIFA
FIFA’s corruption catch-up programme bans El Salvadorian Vasquez for life
October 8 – Former El Salvador FA boss Reynaldo Vasquez is the latest high-profile official to be banned for life by FIFA.
Not their Best moment. FIFA under continued fire for Messi vote count
October 7 – The suspicion that FIFA rigged the vote for its Best Awards to ensure superstar Lionel Messi won for a sixth time refuses to go away, with Sudanese coach Zdravko Lugaroszic re-iterating that he didn’t vote for the Argentine despite FIFA listing him as having done so.
No baccy, booze stays, so do Big Macs and Coke. FIFA’s idea of a health kick
October 7 – FIFA and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have signed a four-year memorandum of understanding to promote a healthy lifestyle and ensure tobacco-free environments at football stadiums.
Opportunity knocks for Wenger and FIFA
October 7 – Former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has confirmed that he is considering a technical role at world federation Fifa though he has not ruled out returning to a management job after resigning at Arsenal in 2018.
Another day another FIFA $ thief. Equatorial Guinea’s Edjang banned
October 4 – FIFA’s drip-drip series of sanctions of former senior officials has snared another scalp with ex-Equatorial Guinea FA president Domingo Mituy Edjang banned for four years for having “misappropriated FIFA funds”.
FIFA ban former Conmebol boss Figuredo for life
October 3 – Uruguayan Eugenio Figueredo, one of the so-called original ‘Zurich Seven’, is the latest former football official to be banned for life for bribery as FIFA continues to tidy up its paperwork around its corrupt officials indicted in the US Department of Justice investigation.
FIFA gives life ban to former Concacaf boss Sanz
October 2 – Just like his infamous predecessor Chuck Blazer, Enrique Sanz, former general secretary Concacaf, has been banned for life for his involvement in the FifaGate scandal.
FIFA orders Cardiff to pay Nantes €6m as first instalment for Sala
October 1 – Cardiff City have been ordered by FIFA to pay the first instalment of €6 million to Nantes for £15 million striker Emiliano Sala who died in January when the light aircraft carrying him to Cardiff two days after he signed crashed into the sea before he could play a single game.
As the IAAF stumbles in Qatar, FIFA names its Club World Cup stadia for December
October 1 – FIFA has revealed the Education City Stadium as the venue for the final of this year’s Club World Cup in Qatar. The stadium will also host matches during the 2022 World Cup.
It’s getting messy. FIFA defend integrity of Best Awards voting
September 30 – FIFA has been forced on to the offensive to protect its integrity following adverse reaction to the voting process at last week’s Best Awards ceremony in Milan when Lionel Messi surprisingly won the prize for the sixth time.
Best practice. Salah’s lost Egyptian votes rejected over ‘unsigned’ ballot forms
September 27 – FIFA have responded to the Egyptian FA’s (EFA) request for an explanation over the missing votes for their Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah at this week’s Best FIFA Men’s Player award saying the voting forms were not properly signed.
FIFA cuts agent transfer commissions and restricts club loan deals
September 26 – FIFA has announced a series of measures to restrict fees paid to players’ agents and the number of overseas loans that can be made as part of an initiative to regulate the transfer market.
Leo bests Ronnie, Rapinoe bests the lot with inequality speech at FIFA Awards
September 24 – Same old, nothing new. Lionel Messi, with almost weary predictability, won the top men’s player prize at the Best FIFA Football Awards in Milan on Monday as Juventus’ Cristiano Ronaldo and Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk, the two other short-listed nominees, missed out – the former staying away from the glittering but stuttering ceremony that somehow managed to lurch on to national broadcaster TV screens last night.
Infantino threatens Iran saying FIFA will no longer wait for women to allowed in stadia
By Andrew Warshaw
September 23 – Gianni Infantino says FIFA “cannot wait any more” for women to be allowed into Iranian stadiums to watch men’s matches and that he has been “assured” the authorities will relent when the country hosts its next international match.