Football legend Pele described the FIFA corruption scandal as a "shame", but made it clear that the reputation of the game was not tarnished.
History is not likely to be so kind to the 79-year-old Swiss, who only recently compared himself to a mountain goat that keeps "going and going and going and cannot be stopped." Instead, his name is likely to be associated with the succession of corruption scandals which occurred on his watch.
Almost exactly four years to the day since former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner stood in the lobby of the Baur au Lac hotel and warned FIFA a "football tsunami" was about to hit it, his words have finally came true.
Expenditure on health in India is at a global low of 1.2% of GDP.
The news comes as little surprise as Sepp Blatter had dropped strong hints he would stand again and if he sees out his potential four-year term he will be 83 by the time of the next planned election in 2019.
A European-led boycott of FIFA or the World Cup is unrealistic.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India on Wednesday submitted a list of players, including former greats Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and Sourav Ganguly, and administrators with commercial interest in the Indian Premier League to the Supreme Court, which reserved its order in the alleged betting and spot-fixing scam case.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Aaron Schock, who resigned as US Congressman on Tuesday night following media disclosures of his loose spending habits, met Narendra Modi thrice. These encounters were not free of controversy either.
Despite widespread speculation that FIFA will vote to switch the dates of the 2022 World Cup on Friday, soccer's world governing body will probably delay making a decision and instead set up a task force to analyse the huge implications of moving the tournament from the searing heat of the Middle East summer.
'There is a Jack Warner or two in every Caribbean parliament today.'
'I have seen in action six prime ministers and ten chief ministers, considered stalwarts in their days, and it is the first time, in all my experience, that a prime minister has gone into such great detail, laying down even the standards of cleanliness that should be maintained in all offices,' says B S Raghavan, former chief secretary, West Bengal.
Away from the cricket field, it was a year in which Sania Mirza was unarguably the biggest success story with her staggering 10 titles on the Tour -- two of them Grand Slams.
