By Nick Harris 27 October 2010 The death of an octopus called Paul in a German aquarium has triggered a global surge in news coverage that underlines the vacuity of celebrity culture, the power of anything football-related to attract coverage, and the relentless march of clever PR. Far from being a simple cephalopod that got […]

By Nick Harris 20 October 2010 Two members of Fifa’s Executive Committee, Amos Adamu of Nigeria and Tahiti’s Reynald Temarii, have been suspended today following alleged deals to sell their 2018 and 2022 Word Cup hosting votes, as exposed by the Sunday Times last weekend. Four other Fifa officials who were implicated in the ST reports – […]

By Nick Harris 19 October 2010 Fifa’s ethics committee, chaired by Switzerland’s Claudio Sulser, will convene on Wednesday for a meeting that will consider whether to sack two Fifa Executive Committe (ExCo) members – Amos Adamu of Nigeria, and Tahiti’s Reynald Temarii  – implicated in alleged deals to sell their 2018 and 2022 Word Cup hosting votes, […]

By Nick Harris 17 October 2010 As a Fifa investigation gets underway into reports in the Sunday Times (subscription, BBC story here) that two Fifa Executive Committee members were apparently prepared to sell their 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosting votes, the scope of the inquiry is likely to move beyond the responses of those ExCo […]

By Pete Wilson 10 October 2010 All 20 managers in the Premier League have delivered messages backing England’s bid to stage to the 2018 World Cup ahead of the forthcoming visit by Fifa’s president Sepp Blatter to No10 Downing Street to meet Prime Minister David Cameron. The 20 managers comprise five Englishmen, four Scots, three […]

By Alex Miller at the Leaders in Football Conference, London 7 October 2010 Mohamed bin Hammam, the Fifa ExCo member from Qatar and one of football’s major political figures, has said today that a lack of clear judging criteria may mean Fifa fails to award the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to the nations with […]

By Alex Miller at the Leaders in Football Conference, London 6 October 2010 England’s 2018 World Cup bid leader insisted today that the bid had recovered from the troubles it faced earlier in the campaign and delivered a confident assessment of the chances of winning the rights to host the tournament. Speaking at the Leaders […]

By Pete Wilson 6 October 2010 England’s bid for the 2018 World Cup steps up a level today with 18 pledges to target groups that could yet influence the choice of hosts for the tournament. In a carefully delivered message aimed at winning support from Fifa Executive Committe members, fans and the international media, the […]

By Nick Harris 26 August 2010 Fifa’s inspection of England’s proposed facilities for the 2018 World Cup ended today in praise, and with reassurance that not seeing a Premier League game and not getting to meet the Prime Minister would not harm England’s chances of staging the event. David Cameron is on holiday, and his […]

By Pete Wilson 19 August 2010 David Beckham has put Fabio Capello’s unilateral ending of his England career behind him to launch the ‘Back the Bid week’, starting today, in support of England’s bid to stage the 2018 World Cup. Fifa’s inspection team arrives in England next week to assess facilities that will be used […]