The match-fixing plague dogging football has led to further arrests in China and Turkey and more allegations emerging in Italy and Switzerland in the last week alone.

Michel Platini has welcomed plans by the UK government to introduce radical new legislation aimed at giving football supporters the power to buy into their clubs and take a stake of up to 25%.

FIFA has signed off all 10 venues for this summer’s World Cup even though the venue for the final will not be officially handed over for another month.

FIFA’s suspension of Iraq has been lifted but the Sultanate of Brunei Darussalam has edged closer to being expelled from the world body.

Yesterday Turkish police arrested 46 people believed to have been involved in match-fixing.

‘Carbon-neutral’ seems to be the catchphrase of the year, and the international community is hoping that hosting the world’s largest sporting event will have a positive impact on South Africa’s green energy projects.

After more than 13 years at the helm of Play the Game Jens Sejer Andersen has decided to leave his post as director, but he remains at Play the Game’s disposal for another non- executive position.

The City of Cape Town’s latest housing initiative is to relocate street children and homeless people 30 km away from the city centre. Critics call the plan a ‘clean-up operation’ for the World Cup, while the municipal government defends it as a humane programme that happens to coincide with the tournament.