By Mark Baber
October 14 – The Indian Super League held an extravagant Bollywood/footballing extravaganza on Sunday to open the long-awaited start of the new competition which aims to awaken the “sleeping giant” of Indian football. Amidst all the hype, voices of caution advised of the difficulties involved in building fan bases from scratch, in a cricket obsessed country and warned of the historical precedent of similar ventures in the USA.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 13 – Asian football has chosen the first week of May next year for its eagerly anticipated presidential election, ending months of uncertainty about a firm date.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 8 – The head of Asian football and one of FIFA’s most powerful administrators, Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al-Khalifa, was conspicuous by his absence as the Leaders Sport Business Summit, attended by a raft of the game’s movers and shakers, opened today.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 6 – Arguably the most powerful official in Asian sport says he will not allow opponents in the media to railroad Qatar’s right to stage the 2022 World Cup.
October 3 – The Asian Football Confederation is looking into reports of possible match-fixing at the Asian Games.
By Mark Baber
September 26 – At a meeting at the FIFA headquarters in Zurich, Chinese Football Association Vice Chairman and Secretary-General Zhang Jian (pictured) and FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke have signed a technical cooperation agreement aimed at improving the technical level of Chinese football coaches, referees, and managers, improving the national team at all levels of achievement, and promoting the development of youth and women’s soccer.
September 25 – The 2014 World Cup in Brazil reported a doping-free championship, but the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has had to step in with a suspension following a positive test at the Asian games currently taking place in Incheon, South Korea.
By Mark Baber
September 18- Palestine, Iraq, South and North Korea and Indonesia men’s teams have all won both their opening matches at the Asian Games guaranteeing places in the round of 16 (bar a miracle in Iraq’s case) and, organisers hope, ensuring better ticket sales.
By David Owen
September 17 – Sony Corporation, the Japanese consumer electronics group that is one of six FIFA top-tier sponsors, has announced that it will pay no dividend for its current financial year, for the first time since its shares were listed in 1958, the year of Brazil’s first World Cup victory.
By Mark Baber
September 12 – China has finished top of the Asian Games medal table every year since 1990, and in the last edition in Guangzhou picked up 199 gold medals – three times as many as runners up South Korea, but Asia’s most populous country remains a rank outsider in the football.
By Andrew Warshaw in Manchester
September 11 – Three months after discovering that he will lose his position as Asia’s FIFA vice-president, Prince Ali bin Hussein of Jordan has come out fighting by announcing that he will stand for election as a member of FIFA’s executive committee next year.
By Mark Baber
September 10 – The men’s and women’s Indian national teams for the Asian Games have finally been given the go-ahead to participate in the tournament, bringing to an end a nail-biting few days as Indian officials decided which sports would be cut from India’s contingent.
September 9 – India’s national men’s and women’s football teams, preparing for the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, are stranded in a training camp in Shanghai, with the chances of them getting to the tournament diminishing by the hour as the Indian government dilly-dallies.
By Mark Baber
September 8 – Myanmar won the third edition of the Peace Cup, defeating hosts Philippines with a 3-2 win in the final on Saturday, whilst Palestine, whose participation is a victory in itself, defeated Chinese Taipei 7-3 to take the bronze medal.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 3 – Although he is mainly known in football politics for being Asia’s FIFA vice-president and one of the game’s renowned modernists, Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein is also head of Jordanian football and in an attempt to boost his country’s profile has turned to one of England’s most familiar faces to be its next national coach.