Entertainment

• Tuesday, January 12th 2016 - 07:10 UTC

  Messi undisputed king of the 'beautiful game': fifth Ballon d'Or

  

  Lionel Messi reclaimed the FIFA Ballon d'Or award for the world player of the year on Monday, after watching his great rival Cristiano Ronaldo walk off with the prize for the previous two years. The Argentine Barcelona forward finished ahead of Ronaldo and Brazil forward Neymar as he scooped the award for a record fifth time overall, having previously won it four years in a row from 2009 to 2012.

• Saturday, January 9th 2016 - 07:34 UTC

  Platini drops out of FIFA presidential race; Infantino and Ebrahim Al Khalifa, leading candidates

  

  Suspended UEFA chief Michel Platini has withdrawn from the FIFA presidential race as he fights to clear his name following an eight-year ban. Platini was banned by FIFA's ethics judge in December over a “disloyal” $2 million payment he received from Sepp Blatter in 2011. It virtually ended his dreams of succeeding Blatter at the helm of FIFA in the Feb. 26 election.

• Friday, January 8th 2016 - 11:06 UTC

  Argentina and Uruguay will bid to jointly host 2030 World Cup

  

  Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez and Argentine counterpart Mauricio Macri agreed on Thursday that their countries will present a joint bid to host the World Cup in 2030, a century after Uruguay was the site of the first tournament.

• Wednesday, January 6th 2016 - 12:10 UTC

  FIFA recommends nine-year ban from football for secretary general Valcke

  

  FIFA investigators have recommended a nine-year ban from football for suspended secretary general Jerome Valcke for seven alleged ethics violations. Suspended in September over allegations linking him to a 2014 World Cup ticketing scam, Valcke’s provisional 90-day suspension expires on Tuesday.

• Thursday, December 31st 2015 - 08:22 UTC

  Switzerland hands bank documents from FIFA corruption to US prosecutors

  

  Swiss authorities have handed over the first round of bank documents seized in their FIFA corruption investigation to U.S. prosecutors on Wednesday. The Federal Office of Justice in Switzerland says the documents relate to “bank accounts allegedly used for bribes connected with the grant of marketing rights to soccer tournaments in Latin America and the USA.”

• Tuesday, December 15th 2015 - 07:27 UTC

  FIFA signs first sponsorship deal (since corruption scandal) with China's Alibaba Group

  

  FIFA has signed its first sponsorship deal since the corruption scandal engulfed world football's governing body. The eight-year agreement with Chinese company Alibaba Group, the world’s largest online and mobile commerce company, is for the Club World Cup spanning 2015 through 2022.

• Saturday, December 12th 2015 - 04:09 UTC

  Infantino will lead UEFA's Euro 2016 draw in Paris; Platini's 90 day ban stands

  

  Michel Platini cannot take part in UEFA’s Euro 2016 draw in Paris on Saturday after losing his appeal against a 90-day FIFA ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The decision Friday means he also won’t be able to participate in the UEFA Executive Committee meeting before the draw.

• Thursday, December 10th 2015 - 12:01 UTC

  Brazilian congress joins FIFA investigation; CBF former head will give evidence next week

  

  A former head of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) who was indicted in the United States last week in an investigation into corruption in FIFA and the business of soccer, has agreed to give evidence to Brazil's Congress, Senator Romario said on Wednesday.

• Friday, December 4th 2015 - 07:49 UTC

  Uruguay's former football chief Bauza, only Conmebol member not indicted

  

  Of the ten presidents from South America's football confederation, Conmebol, during the period under investigation by the FBI, only two had not been indicted until Thursday: Uruguay's Sebastian Bauza and Ecuador's Luis Chriboga. However US Attorney General Loretta Lynch included Chriboga in the latest list of allegedly 16 indictments.

• Friday, December 4th 2015 - 07:29 UTC

  FIFA corruption: new round of arrests of South American football officials

  

  Sixteen more top football officials were charged in a dramatic widening of the FIFA corruption scandal on Thursday, as US prosecutors vowed to leave no stone unturned in their quest to root out graft. Several senior FIFA officials from the past or present were named in a 92-count US Justice Department indictment which came after a series of dawn raids at a luxury hotel in Zurich hosting FIFA officials.