The Arab region squandered the chance to help elect their first FIFA president because their two candidates failed to cooperate, leaving the door open for Swiss Gianni Infantino to triumph on Friday, Arab soccer chiefs and pundits said.
Two top sponsors of FIFA and its World Cup tournaments on Friday ratcheted up pressure on the global football body for major reforms as a corruption scandal casts a lengthening shadow over the sport.
The thousands of Barcelona and Juventus fans streaming into Berlin's Olympic Stadium for the Champions League final later on Saturday were confident the showpiece would knock the FIFA scandal off the front pages and out of people's minds.
Stephen Constantine has first hand knowledge of how difficult it is to wake up India from its soccer slumber but the Englishman insists he can make a difference at his second attempt or he would not have accepted the offer.
Tshering Dorji scored the only goal of the match in the 84th minute for the small Himalayan nation, ranked last of the 209 teams in FIFA's rankings, against Sri Lanka.
Jose Mourinho felt ashamed by racist fans who pushed a black passenger off a metro train in Paris and he hopes the victim will accept an invitation to watch a game at Stamford Bridge to prove such behaviour was not a reflection of the real Chelsea.
Qatar said on Wednesday there was no way it would be stripped of the right to host the World Cup despite the corruption scandal surrounding FIFA, dismissing a 'bashing campaign' of criticism of its 2022 bid as anti-Arab prejudice.
Less than a week after FIFA set up a task force to look into when the 2022 World Cup finals in Qatar can be held, English FA chairman Greg Dyke said it will never take place in the searing heat of the Middle East summer.
The favourites to win next year's World Cup in Russia were given navigable paths to the last 16 with the coaches of Germany, Brazil, Argentina and Spain having reason to feel reasonably optimistic after Friday's draw.
'I am dismayed and will not accept that my integrity is being doubted by certain areas of the media, especially given that UEFA has already disclosed in detail all facts regarding these contracts'
Asian football said it was looking forward to working with new FIFA President Gianni Infantino, despite the region's two candidates losing out to the Swiss in Friday's election, and called for unity to help push the reform process forward.
From a bloodied face of Spanish club Atletico's Madrid's Mario Mandzukic, to Australia's ICC World Cup triumph, Sania Mirza's fabulous run and more scintillating moments are frozen in time in this beautiful photo-feature.
Leading sponsors of football's world governing body have demanded independent oversight of FIFA's reform process in an open letter published on Tuesday ahead of a key meeting to finalise proposed reforms at the scandal-plagued organisation.
Football legend Pele has termed Argentine forward Lionel Messi as the "best in last 10 years", but also spoke highly of his fellow Brazilian Neymar and Portugal's Ronaldo.
India will host the FIFA Under-17 World Cup football in 2017 with the world governing body awarding the right to host the prestigious tournament to the country in its executive committee meeting in Salvador da Bahia in Brazil.
As results prove every week, nothing can be taken for granted in soccer and despite long odds, FIFA could next year have its first French president since Jules Rimet with Jerome Champagne planning to succeed Sepp Blatter.
Former FIFA presidential candidate Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan is concerned about the pace of reform in world soccer's governing body and says new president Gianni Infantino has "no time to lose" in bringing transparency to the organisation.
Lionel Messi reclaimed the FIFA Ballon d'Or award for the world player of the year on Monday from his great rival Cristiano Ronaldo who had walked off with the award for the previous two years.
Nearly $1 million in funds from soccer's global governing body FIFA may have gone missing from Guatemala's soccer federation last year, according to sources and an internal audit seen by Reuters.
He was arrested by Swiss authorities for trespassing at the event in July 2015 but later released.
A report by the World Anti-Doping Agency on Monday is set to deepen an athletics scandal that, according to one of the document's authors, eclipses even the alleged corruption at football's governing body FIFA.
"It is clear that there was a slush fund for the German World Cup bid," Zwanziger told Der Spiegel magazine, which first reported the allegations last week.
After a week of public arguments about Premier League players, who earn an average salary of 240,000 a month, refusing to take a pay cut while top clubs use public money to pay their furloughed non-playing staff, there is little doubt that the game -- and its players -- have suffered a serious blow to their image. There is no question that many footballers do help out good causes generously, just as most clubs are engaged with effective community programmes all-year round.
The public are growing tired of hearing about allegations of wrongdoing against Qatar's winning 2022 World Cup bid, according to organisers, with the Gulf state more interested in improving worker's rights than publishing Michael Garcia's report.
England was criticised by a FIFA ethics report on Thursday for over-indulging former powerbroker Jack Warner in its attempt to win the right to host the 2018 World Cup.
The jury is still out on whether the Indian Super League (ISL) can wake the world's second most populous nation from its football slumber but the first week of the eight-team competition has at least made people sit up and take notice.
Lionel Messi reclaimed the FIFA Ballon d'Or award for the world player of the year on Monday from his great rival Cristiano Ronaldo who had walked off with the award for the previous two years.
UEFA president Michel Platini has repeated his call for the "triple punishment" of red card, penalty and suspension to be dropped following two controversial dismissals in the Champions League this week.
Esther Staubli is set to become the first female referee to officiate a match at the ongoing FIFA Under-17 World Cup 2017.
Former India football captain Bhaichung Bhutia said on Tuesday that a merger of the newly floated Indian Super League (ISL) and the long-running I-League is neither going to happen nor is it advisable.
Delhi Dynamos unveiled Brazilian World Cup winner Roberto its marquee manager-cum-player for the second season of the Indian Super League. Manu Shankar/Rediff.com reports
Crisis-hit world football governing body FIFA faces one of the most important days in its 112-year history when it elects a new leader on Friday hoping to usher in a fresh era after decades of tawdry controversy.
Football legend Pele described the FIFA corruption scandal as a "shame", but made it clear that the reputation of the game was not tarnished.
India's new soccer league with its cast of celebrity owners, experienced foreign managers and a sprinkling of high-profile players will kick off on Sunday, igniting hopes of waking the country from its football slumber.
Former Newcastle United striker Michael Chopra is ready to surrender his British passport to represent the country of his origin, India, and realise his dream of playing senior-level international soccer.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
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.
Footballers who take part in match-manipulation risk losing their careers if caught but those who induce the players and set up the fix do so at almost no risk to themselves, according to FIFA's head of security Ralf Mutschke.
Rafael Nadal is recovering satisfactorily from appendicitis and will continue a course of antibiotics in a bid to be fit for the remainder of the 2014 season, the World No 2's spokesman said on Thursday.
Russia could be banned from international athletics, including the 2016 Olympic Games, after an anti-doping commission report on Monday alleged widespread corruption and collusion that added up to a state-sponsored drugs culture in a sporting superpower.
