Canada 2-0 El Salvador
June 24 – Fresh from emerging from a Concacaf-imposed timeout, Canadian head coach Jesse Marsch returned to the technical area at Shell Energy Stadium in Houston, knowing any more misbehaviour would send him back to the naughty room. He needn’t have worried as their opponents El Salvador simply imploded in a red mist.
By David Gold
December 29 – FC Sion are continuing their ongoing battle with FIFA after world football’s governing body threatened to expel the Swiss Football Association and all its teams from international competition unless the club are punished for breaching a transfer ban.
By David Gold
December29 – Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister, Borys Kolesnikov (pictured), has said that the cultural events and programme which will be held during the European Championships next summer will likely be revealed in March.
By David Gold
December 29 – UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino (pictured) has refused to rule out the possibility that Turkish clubs could be banned from European competition if found guilty of involvement in the match fixing scandal that has rocked the country.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 29 – Jack Warner (pictured left), the former FIFA vice-president who walked away from football rather than face a potentially damning probe into his role in the infamous cash-for-votes scandal, stepped up his attempts at revenge today by claiming he was awarded FIFA World Cup television rights for as little as $1 (£0.65/€0.77) in return for helping Sepp Blatter gain the Presidency of world football’s ruling body.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 28 – UEFA President Michel Platini has made a veiled attack on his critics in a mixed New Year message to European football’s various stakeholders.
By David Gold
December 28 – Three Serie A games were targeted by a betting ring which sought to manipulate the results of football matches according to former Piacenza defender Carlo Gervasoni (pictured).
By David Gold
December 28 – The youth teams of some of the world’s top teams, including European champions Barcelona, Juventus and Paris St Germain will be travelling to Doha next week for the first edition of the under 17s Al-Kass International Cup.
By David Gold
December 28 – Michael O’Neill has been confirmed as the new Northern Ireland manager following his heroics with Shamrock Rovers this season.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 28 – FIFA has been ordered by a Swiss court to release documents that could pave the way to finally naming high-ranking officials who allegedly took millions of dollars in kickbacks from World Cup broadcast deals.
By David Gold
December 28 – Barcelona President Sandro Rosell wants UEFA to reform agents’ fees and says that players should themselves cover such costs.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 28 – Professional footballers from across the world have started coming forward to give evidence of match-fixing as part of a new information-gathering crackdown instigated by the FIFA head of security, Chris Eaton.
By David Gold
December 27 – Olympique Lyonnais President, Jean-Michel Aulas, wants the club’s new stadium to host the opening game of the 2016 European Championships in France.
By David Gold
December27 – The Football League has announced The Prostate Cancer Charity as its official charity partner for 2012-2013.
By David Gold
December 27 – More than 30,000 tickets to the 2014 FIFA World Cup will be given to disabled fans, the legendary former Brazil forwards Romário and Ronaldo have announced.
By David Gold
December 27 – Gabon has completed construction of two new stadiums in Libreville and Franceville for the 2012 African Cup of Nations, which gets underway on January 21, a Gabonese member of the Organising Committee told insideworldfootball.