December 8 – After much on/off deliberation, the site for the new stadium in Kaliningrad for the Russia 2018 World Cup will be on the Oktrabrskij Island, rather than on the site of the existing stadium.
By Tim Röhn
December 8 – When the rulers of world football travel in the week before Christmas to the Moroccan royal city of Marrakesh for the Club World Cup, there will be more than usual to discuss during the pre-Christmas sessions.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 8 – In another contentious shake-up within its hierarchy, Asian football looks set to scrap its automatic female vice-presidency, held by Australia’s Moya Dodd, a move that is bound to lay the region open to accusations of gender discrimination just when it has been making all manner of noises about inclusion and reform.
December 8 – FIFA is to plough the $1.5 million generated from 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil commercial public viewing fees back into its Football for Hope social development programme.
December 8 – FIFA says it has “no indications” that football is implicated in the alleged systematic doping culture in Russian sport.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
December 5 – In a bid to boost its position in the European football market, French sports apparel maker Le Coq Sportif is reportedly planning to become the kit supplier of French club AS Saint-Etienne and Italy’s ACF Fiorentina.
By Mark Baber
December 5 – The day after members of the Nigerian Football Federation Electoral Appeals Committee (NFF) broke ranks with their own chairmen to issue “decisions” purportedly upholding the legitimacy of the disputed September 30 elections which produced the current Amaju Pinnick-led (pictured) executive, the committee chairman, Okechukwu Ajunwa, has ruled that those same elections are nullified and Amaju Pinnick should cease to parade himself as NFF president.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 5 – UEFA has formally outlined how its new Nations League competition – being brought in to replace meaningless friendlies and featuring promotion and relegation – will work.
By Paul Nicholson and Andrew Warshaw
December 5 – With the final preparations taking place for the draw for Women’s World Cup Canada 2015, to be held in Ottawa tomorrow, the lawyer representing the group of players campaigning for matches to be switched from artificial turf to natural grass has accused FIFA secretary-general Jerome Valcke of reneging on a pledge to discuss the issue with the players.
December 5 – Argentine football has been stunned by another shocking fatal tragedy after a player was brutally attacked. Franco Nieto (pictured), captain of regional club Tiro Federal was struck on the head following a third-tier match against rivals Chacarita Juniors in the town of Aimogasta, in north-west Argentina.
December 5 – Having backed away from goal-line technology because of the costs involved, Germany’s Bundesliga has decided the time is right to implement its introduction to settle contentious decisions over whether the ball has crossed the line.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 5 – Clearly exasperated that months of talks failed to achieve the hoped-for breakthrough, UEFA have taken the ultimate step of banning clubs in the annexed Crimea region of Ukraine from playing in any Russian-organised football competitions.
By David Owen
December 5 – Any last flickering prospect of a re-run of the race for the 2022 Winter Olympics, in a move that could conceivably have sparked the emergence of a southern hemisphere candidate and freed up the January-February time-slot for the FIFA World Cup, has been snuffed out by the announcement of a lucrative new TV deal by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
December 5 – With the European transfer window opening January 1, the CIES Football Observatory has updated its online calculator that gives a transfer value to players in the ‘Big-5’ European leagues; England’s Premier League, France’s Ligue 1, Germany’s Bundesliga, Italy’s Serie A and Spain’s Primera.
By David Owen
December 4 – A halving in the number of football staff employed by the club has helped Manchester City to report much-reduced annual losses and added to the growing impression that 2013-14 will bring a marked improvement in Premier League club finances.