An acceptance of hooliganism is growing and fuelling both right wing extremism and corruption, warned a trio of academic researchers at Play The Game 2011. In Argentina, clubs pay fans not to cause trouble whilst in Germany hooligans are central to organising right-wing extremists.

A few days before Play the Game starts in Cologne, Play the Game’s International Director, Jens Sejer Andersen, gave his opinion on how corruption in sport could be fought when on September 28th he was invited to speak at a hearing held by the Sports Committee of the German Parliament, Der Bundestag.

Senior FIFA Vice President Julio Grondona's bid for a ninth term as Argentina Football Association president is being challenged by Fernando Raffaini, head of the football club Velez Sarsfield.

That FIFA has governance problems is now generally recognized, but what are the prospects for reforms, asks Roger Pielke in this analysis based on the paper 'How Can FIFA be Held Accountable?', which will be presented at Play the Game 2011 in Cologne in October.

Why spend time and money on attending Play the Game conferences in person? A journalist and an academic explain why they are coming back for their fifth Play the Game conference.

Corruption in various forms is right now on top of the international sports agenda. Some of world football’s most experienced officials will address the challenge at Play the Game 2011.

A social responsibility platform for football clubs called Responsiball has ranked European top division football clubs according to their social responsibility revealing huge growth potential in this area.

The chairman of the European Club Association (ECA), Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, threatens a ‘revolution’ if corruption-problems in FIFA are not addressed and if clubs and other football stakeholders do not get more influence in the decision-making process.