This week, the Swedish Equal Opportunities Ombudsman suggested that Sweden withdraws from the World Cup in football to make a statement against forced prostitution around mega sports events.

Television stations should turn off sounds or colour when a racist incident occurs on the stadium during a football match. This was one of the more colourful suggestions made by a member of the European Parliament, Claude Moraes, at a press conference in Strasbourg this week.

German authorities should set up telephone hotlines, safe houses and legal aid to help the many women expected to be forced into working as prostitutes during the upcoming World Cup in football.

This month the Independent Review of European Football will open with public hearings. A key issue will be who should own clubs: fans or business men.

A cartoon of Iranian soccer players dressed as suicide bombers has caused friction between the Tagesspiegel newspaper in Berlin and Iran. The cartoon was published on 10 February as a comment on preparations for the football World Cup but it has angered Iranians to such a degree that the Iranian embassy in Germany has demanded a written apology and the cartoonist has gone into hiding after receiving several death threats.

UEFA is renewing its efforts to clamp down on the racism that continues to dog the game in Europe. Only last week, the football club AS Roma had to play a home match against Cagliari at a neutral venue without spectators because Roma fans had displayed neo-Nazi banners and anti-semitic slogans at a previous game.

An ordinary news story speculating about the potential purchase of a new player for a local football club, Mjällby AIF, led to death threats against a Swedish radio reporter. The first threat came an hour after the broadcast in December 2005 where an anonymous man informed the reporter that his life would be over if the story meant that the deal fell through.

Attempts to apply pressure on football referees are so rife that it has been necessary for football organisations to appoint neutral inspectors to travel with referees.