Fifa

Fifa secretary general Jerome Valcke has warned that Brazil’s 12 host cities for the 2014 World Cup have “no choice” over the organisation of Fan Fests for this summer’s national team football tournament.

Spanish Liga football club Barcelona will be able to strengthen its squad during the summer transfer window after Fifa elected to suspend a ban it had imposed on the Catalan giant.

Fifa secretary general Jerome Valcke has stated Sao Paulo’s Arena Corinthians will be ready for the opening game of the 2014 World Cup, but added that organisers “don’t have a single minute to lose” to complete preparations.

Qatar 2022 has elected to reduce its stadium development commitment for the Fifa World Cup from 12 to eight, according to the Bloomberg news agency.

The AUF, football’s governing body in Uruguay, has insisted that its national team’s participation in the 2014 Fifa World Cup in Brazil is not under threat despite the national association being suspended by Conmebol, the sport’s governing body in Latin America.

Barcelona has confirmed it will appeal against sanctions imposed by Fifa after football’s global governing body found the Spanish Liga club guilty of breaching regulations surrounding the international transfers and registrations of players under the age of 18.

Fifa Executive Committee member Michel D’Hooghe insists there will be no reopening of the bidding process for the 2022 World Cup, suggesting that concern within the UK media over how Qatar won the right to host the event is viewed as a case of “sour grapes” by world football’s governing body.

Japan Football Association president Kuniya Daini has said that the country could host the 2022 Fifa World Cup, if the tournament is moved from Qatar.

Fifa secretary general Jerome Valcke has conceded that world football’s governing body will need to rethink its approach to overseeing preparations for future World Cups following its experience with Brazil’s staging of this year’s tournament.

A growing number of Chinese-built football stadia have popped up across Africa over the last decade, as a result of strong diplomatic and trade relations between the two regions. But are they just simply a new breed of white elephants? Elisha Chauhan investigates.

Uefa president Michel Platini has claimed that he is the only person capable of defeating Fifa president Sepp Blatter in an election for the top job at football’s global governing body.

Fifa’s efforts to instigate reform through its Independent Ethics Commission last week came within hours of being dealt a crippling blow from within world football’s governing body, according to the Reuters news agency.

Jose Fortunati, Mayor of Brazilian city Porto Alegre, has warned that the Beira Rio stadium could be withdrawn as a host venue for the 2014 Fifa World Cup if arrangements to finance temporary structures are not concluded this week.

Fifa announced today (Friday) that it generated a financial surplus of $72m (€52m) for the 2013 financial year to increase its cash reserves to $1.432bn.

The Qatar 2022 World Cup organising committee has insisted that its successful bid to host the international football showpiece did not contravene regulations set out by Fifa, the sport’s world governing body, after new allegations emerged in a UK newspaper.

An announcement regarding the staging of the 2022 Fifa World Cup in Qatar will not be made before the start of next year, according to Asian Football Confederation president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa.