There is growing sentiment that the coronavirus pandemic will see the abrupt termination of this year’s football season. Today Fifa’s chief doctor, Michel d’Hooghe, warned against restarting the interrupted 2019/20 campaign and in France it was announced that the Ligue 1 season would not resume. While d’Hooghe suggested teams and governing bodies focus their attention […]
Fifa
Football sleepwalking towards a drugs scandal
The beautiful game is failing to confront the ugly spectre of doping. It emerged last week that no binding drug tests have taken place in Spanish football by anti-doping authorities for almost a year and yesterday the English FA was forced to handle doping misdemeanours in its own league. Manchester City was charged with failing to provide details of training sessions […]
English and Scottish FA’s poppy stance admirable…but wrong
In the run up to England’s win against Scotland last night, the major talking point was not the history of the tie, but Fifa’s refusal to allow either team to wear a poppy on their shirt or armband. Fifa reminded both nations that its regulations do not permit teams to wear “political, religious or commercial” messages on the […]
Platini knows time is on his side
When a news story breaks that is met with universal condemnation, it takes a brave and often foolish person to go against public opinion. The MPs who were named and shamed yet refused to return the thousands of pounds they incorrectly claimed in expenses are a prime example of such misplaced stubbornness. Another example has recently […]
FA should resist Januzaj temptation
The international tug of war continues between nations eager for Adnan Januzaj to pledge his allegiance in their favour. The 18-year-old is currently available to play for Albania, Belgium, Turkey and Serbia. He could also play for England from 2018 under current Fifa rules that require players to have five years of permanent residency in […]
Competition to host international sporting events has lost all credibility
It is idealistic to believe that politics and sport can ever be separated and the competition to host a major international event will always be fraught with intrigue. But when the months and years leading up to these heralded events spark such widespread anger, the manner in which the bids are selected needs to be […]