At a recent meeting no less than 600 people cheered for FIFA vice president Julio Grondona and encouraged him to run for the eighth consecutive reelection as president of the Argentinian Football Association (AFA). The rally went on despite the terrible mess that was the last AFA tournament - clearly the most controversial in the football history of Argentina.

Swimmers, boxers, tri-athletes, rowers and many other athletes from Gibraltar can play their sports internationally. Football players can not. And despite a clear ruling to the contrary from the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the football federation in Gibraltar (GFA) does not expect to gain full membership of UEFA at the UEFA congress in January.

In Kenya political pressure is mounting on Bob Munro, the Canadian-born chairman of Mathare United. A month ago Kenya’s minister of sport Maina Kamanda threatened to deport Munro from Kenya and yesterday Munro was picked up by six immigration officers and two police men who took him to a meeting with the Principal Immigration Officer to discuss his work permit.

In Somalia, the Islamic rulers have decreed that no sports team or individual athlete can leave the country without a letter of permission from the Islamic Courts Union (ICU). This also applies to the national football team that was told by clerics to “defeat Catholic Ethiopia” or not return home from a tournament for East and Central African Football Associations.

Two Argentinian sports journalists have been beaten up by football fans that were angry with one of the journalists after he had accused fans of threatening players in order to harm a rival team. The journalists were only rescued when police opened the doors into the changing rooms at the stadium to allow them an escape.

Iran did not do very well at the recent World Cup in football, so Iran’s government promptly decided to fire the football federation’s president and the entire board and install another president. Now FIFA has responded by banning Iran from international competitions.

One of Sweden’s most well-known football agents has been charged with tax fraud and for breaking the laws concerning proper accounting. Kent Carlzon has several star players on his client list and he is suspected of having intentionally neglected to account for 5,5 million Swedish Crowns in connection with sale of football players.

In Kenya, the Kenya Premier League has reconfirmed its commitment to ensure corruption-free football and continue its league matches. It happens in the face of continued political pressure on the clubs and the attempt to establish another football league under the auspices of the caretaker committee that has replaced the Kenya Football Federation.