In a surprising press release, the president of the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB), Ruben Acosta, has declared that he plans to retire from his post at the FIVB Congress in Dubai in June. However, long-time critics of Acosta’s regime fear that the announcement is part of a power game and that Acosta has no real plans to give up his position in FIVB.

Wouldn't it be in everyone's interests if a single international body were recognised as the final arbiter in sporting disputes? According to Matthieu Reeb, Secretary General of the Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sport, such a situation is getting closer.

The rewards have never been greater and the price of relegation never higher. But is English football’s financial model sustainable? Play the Game invited a number of experts to examine the state of professional game today.

Earlier this month, one hundred South Korean handball players and officials protested outside the Kuwaiti embassy, alleging undue political and economic influence in Asian handball after a controversial defeat to Kuwait for the men’s team. For the Koreans, it is not the first time though they have been the victims of contentious decisions in Asian handball.

South American power games are threatening the future of international handball in Greenland. Earlier this year, the Panamerican Team Handball Federation (PATHF) suddenly downgraded Greenland from full to associate membership. The International Handball Federation (IHF) says PATHF is wrong but has done little to solve the problem, and without access to international tournaments, Greenland is rapidly loosing sponsor support and fears development may be set back by 15 years.

The tiny state of San Marino has become the scene of some very strange manoeuvres in sports governance. The local Volleyball Federation is currently suspended by the FIVB because the national Olympic Committee (CONS) dismissed local board members and replaced them with others. New elections were held in August to rectify the problem but became a charade as CONS enrolled hundreds of false members for the ballot.

Athletes from India rarely win medals in international competitions but that may soon change. India’s Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has just published a draft for a new national sports policy on its website inviting everybody to contribute their views on a policy that aims to make India one of the world’s leading sporting nations within the next decade.

As Team Nigeria athletes and officials left for the Algeria 2007 All African Games on Friday, stakeholders were calling upon Nigerian President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua to restructure Nigeria's sports and make them independent of government in the area of funding, management and administration.