By Keira Daley 1 June 2010 West Ham United’s South African striker, Benni McCarthy, his country’s all-time leading goal scorer with 31 goals for Bafana Bafana from 79 senior caps, has surprisingly been left out of the host nation’s 23-man squad for the World Cup. The 32-year-old forward spent much of the run-in to West […]

26 May 2010 Tim Howard of Everton, Brad Guzan of Aston Villa and Marcus Hahnemann of Wolverhampton Wanderers are the three goalkeepers named today in the USA’s final 23-man squad for the World Cup. All ply their trade in the English Premier League, and English clubs contribute eight players altogether. The full story is on […]

By Nick Harris 19 May 2010 Goldman Sachs, the global investment bank, and their chief economist Jim O’Neill – the head of the Red Knights group of super-rich fans who want to buy Manchester United – have produced a 70-page report, ‘The World Cup and Economics 2010’, that includes the prediction that this summer’s World […]

7 May 2010 Togo will be allowed to play in future editions of the African Nations Cup following an agreement between the African federation (CAF) and the Togo FA, mediated by the Court for Arbitration in Sport. CAF said Togo warranted a ban because they pulled out of this year’s event after members of their […]

By Nick Harris 19 March 2010 The Ukrainian referee banned from football for life last night for being “in breach of the principles of loyalty and integrity” of Uefa’s rules was part of a hand-picked elite that the European governing body used to pioneer the new, “fairer”, six-person teams of officials at Europa League matches […]

25 February 2010 On David Dein’s first major trip as the “international president” of England’s 2018 World Cup bid, the former Arsenal vice-chairman will be joined by the former Tottenham winger and 1999 Footballer of the Year, David Ginola, as they seek to charm Fifa vice-president Jack Warner into rounding up Concacaf’s three votes for […]

By Ian Herbert 23 February 2010 Top-flight football is truly a world of flat earth news, to coin the journalist Nick Davies’ memorable description of the way the information the mass media delivers has become homogenous and rarely open to question. This week, Fabio Capello has been followed half way around the world to a […]

18 February 2010 David Dein, the influential former vice-chairman of Arsenal and the FA has joined England’s 2018/2022 World Cup bid team with the title “International President” Dein will share with the chairman, David Triesman, a key role in the international promotion of England’s campaign to host the World Cup. His appointment begins immediately and […]

By Nick Harris 7 February 2010 Over two consecutive weekends, a major sports event in Britain has been central to a landmark 3D broadcast. A week ago it was Arsenal’s Premier League match against Manchester United, which became the world’s first sports event to be shown live on television in 3D to the general public. […]

By Nick Harris 4 February 2010 Chelsea have today been cleared of wrongdoing by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) over the 2007 signing of Gaël Kakuta from Lens in France after the clubs reached an unspecified “agreement” over the player’s move. To reach this conclusion and avoid the case dragging on, Chelsea paid an undisclosed […]