By Andrew Warshaw
June 2 – Australia’s decision to reject a recommendation from the Asian Football Confederation to support Sepp Blatter in last week’s FIFA presidential election has intensified fears that the country may be sent back to Oceania.
By Mark Baber
May 26 – A month after first becoming a sponsor of Barcelona, Saudi based Fitness Time has been chosen as the official partner of FC Barcelona in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates under a partnership agreement which will see Barcelona establish seven football academies for the Fitness Time in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
May 25 – Former Uruguay international Fabian Estoyanoff, now playing in Saudi Arabia, has been banned for six matches by the Asian Football Confederation for assaulting a South Korean opponent following an AFC Champions League game earlier this month.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 25 – As the behind-the-scenes diplomacy to halt Palestine’s call for Israel to be suspended from FIFA enters its final phase, the head of the Palestine Football Association has provided FIFA with a timely example of why his controversial proposal remains on the table at the forthcoming FIFA Congress.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 22 – The Asian Football Confederation, rocked by allegations of a cover-up within its own ranks which is currently being investigated, appears to have cancelled a gathering of its national associations on the eve of next week’s FIFA congress in Zurich.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 20 – Sepp Blatter remains optimistic, after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that he can find a solution to the Palestinian bid to ban Israel from world football that threatens to overshadow his re-election bid at next week’s FIFA Congress in Zurich.
May 19 – A Malaysian supporters group is calling for a boycott of two lucrative close-season games against Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur, saying the fixtures are fruitless and serve no other purpose than to fill the coffers of the national federation.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 18 – As Sepp Blatter engages in a final piece of shuttle diplomacy in an attempt to stop Palestine officially calling for Israel’s suspension from world football, the Palestinians have sent their proposed resolution to all 208 other FIFA members to counter what they claim are “distorted” allegations regarding the reasons behind the proposal.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 13 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC), whose leader insisted only two weeks ago was entering a new era of transparency and unity, has been plunged into fresh crisis after its number two official was suspended pending an internal investigation into reports he asked for incriminatory evidence against him to be removed.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 11 – China and India may be arguably the world’s two biggest untapped footballing markets but unless they solve the problem of match-fixing and betting fraud they will never catch up.
May 5 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS) have signed a partnership agreement to strengthen safety and security in Asian football.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 4 – The high-ranking Asian official at the centre of the latest cover-up allegations to rock the region has not only re-iterated that he is innocent of any wrongdoing but that the dark days of his organisation’s corruption-tainted past are over.
By Andrew Warshaw at the Dead Sea, Jordan
May 4 – Back in his comfort zone after being made to feel more than a little marginalised by his own confederation which clearly views his bid for the FIFA presidency as a unwanted distraction, Jordan’s Prince Ali bin al-Hussein pulled no punches about the need for greater democracy among his colleagues when he opened the Soccerex Asian forum here today.
By Andrew Warshaw in Manama, Bahrain
April 30 – Asia’s most influential sports official, Kuwait’s Sheikh Ahmad al Fahad Al Sabah, extended his burgeoning power base by joining FIFA’s inner sanctum today but the anticipated move into world football was not without controversy.
By Andrew Warshaw in Manama, Bahrain
April 30 – There was no standing ovation and no prolonged clapping, rather warm and respectful applause. But that might have been because the FIFA president was preaching to the converted. In his final appearance before regional bodies ahead of next month’s presidential election, Sepp Blatter produced an uncharacteristically low-key address to the 47-nation Asian Football Confederation congress today, in contrast to some of the vibrant language delivered elsewhere on his travels over the past few weeks.