By Pete Wilson 2 December 2010 Russia won the right to stage the 2018 World Cup today after a Fifa Executive Committee vote sent England crashing out in the first round. Qatar then landed the right to host the 2022 event after four rounds of voting, having led every round. The result means Fifa will […]

By Nick Harris in Zurich 2 December 2010 With only Russia still left to make their 2018 World Cup bid presentation, England remain favourites to win the right to host the event, with their odds coming in slightly after a slick presentation here featuring David Beckham, PM David Cameron and Prince William. All the presentations […]

* THE SPORTS LAWYER is actually a posse of Britain’s brightest lawyers, from the Sport & Media team at UK law firm, Thomas Eggar, who will be contributing features, analysis and insight on a regular basis on the key sports law issues. In TSL’s latest column, Andrew Nixon and Thomas Barnard discuss Wayne Rooney, Article […]

By Nick Harris 21 October 2010 Snooker’s most charismatic player Ronnie O’Sullivan is expected to be the star attraction when the sport breaks fresh ground next year with a tournament in Brazil, announced today. The Brazilian Masters will feature the world’s top 12 players plus four wild cards, and will run from 14 to 17 […]

By Nick Harris 19 October 2010 Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed first-hand that Wayne Rooney has told the club he wants to quit, and that he has known since August, and that Rooney has reiterated his position since. In an interview with MUTV, Ferguson said talks about a contract extension had begun before the World […]

By Nick Harris 18 October 2010 Wayne Rooney could put pressure on Manchester United to sell him by invoking Article 17 of Fifa’s transfer laws and unilaterally quitting his contract next summer. The so-called ‘Webster ruling’ allowed Scotland’s Andy Webster to quit Hearts for Wigan in 2006, a decision ratified by the Court for Arbitration […]

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 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 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 […]