By Duncan Mackay at the Main Press Centre on the Olympic Park in London
August 30 – G4S has ruled out bidding for the security contracts at the Rio 2016 Olympics and Paralympics following the fiasco at London 2012, which it confirmed will cost the company £50 million ($78 million/€64 million).
By Andrew Warshaw
August 29 – Six months being after told he would not be welcome any longer because of a highly publicised rift, FIFA secretary-general Jérôme Valcke is once again back in Brazil on another visit to 2014 World Cup venues having seemingly patched up his differences with the tournament organisers.
By David Gold
August 24 – Brazilian Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo has insisted that there is “no secret” to staging a major sports event and that the country is prepared for the challenges ahead.
By David Gold
August 23 – Russian Railways have responded to reports that the Government could shelve plans to finance high-speed rail links for the 2018 FIFA World Cup by questioning how else large numbers of people will be transported during the tournament.
By David Gold
August 23 – Brazil 2014 has announced that it has opened the recruitment process for the FIFA World Cup volunteer programme.
By David Gold
August 23 – Barcelona’s Dani Alves has revealed he will be a FIFA World Cup ambassador for his home state of Bahia.
By David Gold
August 18 – Franz Beckenbauer, who won the World Cup with Germany as both a player and manager, is to help Kaliningrad’s bid to host matches at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
By Duncan Mackay
August 16 – Pelé’s profile, already skyhigh thanks to his position as the world’s best-ever footballer, is set to rocket even higher after he signed a deal that will see him become the face of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil and the 2016 Olympics and Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro.
By David Gold
August 15 – Adidas is asking football fans across the world to vote for the name of the ball that will be used during the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 8 – FIFA’s former head of security has dramatically claimed that Greece’s 2010 World Cup game against Nigeria might have been fixed and is under investigation.
By David Gold
July 31 – Brazil has unveiled its security plan for the 2014 FIFA World Cup host cities, with R1.17 billion (£370 million/$578 million/€472 million) to be invested in keeping the competition safe.
By David Gold
July 17 – FIFA and Brazil’s largest public television network, Globo, has confirmed that there will be free access to small public gatherings showing matches during the World Cup in 2014.
By David Gold
July 16 – The Confederation of Brazilian Football (CBF), FIFA and the Organising Committee for Brazil 2014 have joined together to launch a Football for Health programme.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 11 – Former England manager Fabio Capello and ex-Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola are among 13 candidates being touted as the new Russia national team coach as the country looks ahead to the 2018 World Cup.
By David Gold
July 6 – Russia 2018 has been learning from Ukraine and Poland’s ultimately successful hosting of this year’s UEFA European Championship.