By Mark Baber
August 28 – The inaugural edition of Australia’s FFA Cup has run into controversy as Football Federation Australia insist that no live streaming of games is allowed, even though only two games in the Round of 16 will be broadcast live on Fox Sports.
August 27 – Cricket-crazy India may be one of the great untapped football markets but the vast country could be at risk of losing government funding before they head to next month’s Asian Games following the recent demoralising defeat to arch-rivals Pakistan.
August 25 – Marcello Lippi, Italy’s 2006 World Cup-winning coach now in charge of China’s Guangzhou Evergrande, has been suspended for one game for confronting the referee during an AFC Champions League match.
By Mark Baber
August 21 – Melbourne Knights have referred the Australian Football Federation’s (FFA) National Club Identity Policy to the Australian Human Rights commission after they were prevented from displaying three of their four kit sponsors for an FFA Cup match against Olympic FC.
August 21 – Despite the ongoing military crisis in Gaza, Palestinian football has managed to achieve its highest ever world ranking by surging to 85th.
By Mark Baber
August 20 – The All India Football Federation (AIFF) have announced that Jammu and Kashmir will host the Federation Cup in August 2015, whilst the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) announced the names of the international players who will be playing in the new league.
By Mark Baber
August 18 – India defeated Pakistan 1-0 on Sunday in the first match between the two Asian neighbours for nine years. All sporting ties between India and Pakistan were suspended following the 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai, with little contact since then other than a one-day cricket series in 2012.
August 14 – The Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI) is the latest Asian federation to turn to betting monitoring tools to battle the threat of match-fixing in its leagues. Earlier this week the Football Association of Thailand announced it had signed up to use Sportradar’s Fraud Detection System (FDS).
By Mark Baber
August 14 – Palestinian football was never going to escape unscathed from the latest war in Gaza, which has cost the lives of more than 1,900 Palestinians and 66 Israelis, destroying much of Gaza’s infrastructure. However, the killing of local football legend and coach Ahed Zaqqut, suggests the damage to the Palestinian football community may be more than just collateral.
By David Owen
August 13 – The Japan Football Association (JFA) has signed a memorandum of understanding with its Iranian counterpart, the Football Federation of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRIFF), as part of what appears to be an ongoing diplomatic offensive in the Asian region.
August 11 – Thailand’s Premier League has brought in betting fraud monitoring service Sportrader to track betting patterns and monitor any suspicious activity for the 2014 season.
August 11 – The Asian Football Confederation has handed out two-year bans to two players for doping offenses.
August 8 – Abu Dhabi club Al Ain has launched a season ticket initiative for fans in its new Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium, one of the few clubs in the region to have such a scheme. But what is most notable about the initiative is that females and families across the region are being encouraged to participate.
August 1 – The Asian Football Confederation has extended the domestic ban on nine Vietnamese players to confederation level for their role in the country’s match-fixing scandal. The chairman of the AFC Disciplinary Committee took the move following a request from Vietnam’s own national federation.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 30 – Asian football is stepping up its collective effort to tackle match-fixing by distributing a detailed booklet to member federations throughout the Continent highlighting the dangers of being drawn into manipulation.