Even if David Ginola "gains the nominations required by Thursday's deadline" to stand against FIFA President Sepp Blatter, "his improbable bookmaker-funded campaign could be scuppered by FIFA's gambling rules." Ginola's campaign "is being organized by stunt-prone Irish bookmaker Paddy Power." FIFA "has issued an election guide that stresses that official candidates are bound by its ethics code." One regulation, designed to protect the integrity of football, states: ''Persons bound by this code shall be forbidden from taking part in, either directly or indirectly, or otherwise being associated with betting, gambling" (AP, 1/25). ... Bayern Munich has "accused senior FIFA member Theo Zwanziger of double standards after the former German football chief criticised the Bundesliga champions over last week's visit to Saudi Arabia."
Bayern "played a friendly against Al-Hilal" in Riyadh last Saturday. It coincided "with an uproar over the flogging in Saudi Arabia of activist and blogger Raif Badawi" and Zwanziger accused Bayern of being driven by "commercial ethics" (REUTERS, 1/24). ... Asian Football Confederation President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa said that the 2022 World Cup in Qatar "looks increasingly likely to be played in the winter." He said, "The period best suited for hosting the 2022 World Cup in Qatar will be in November and December because for sure it needs to be played in the winter" (XINHUA, 1/25). ... The Russian Football Union (RFS) has reportedly said that Crimean football clubs "have been expelled from Russian competitions in the wake of an according UEFA ruling." The RFS reportedly said that the clubs from Simferopol, Sevastopol and Yalta "would likely set up their own league" (AAP, 1/24). ... Asian Cup officials scrambled on Sunday to deal with a "sensational protest from Iran claiming that Iraq fielded an ineligible player during their stormy quarterfinal defeat." The Asian Football Confederation disciplinary committee was set to "consider the complaint against Alaa Abdulzehra, who is alleged to have committed a doping violation last year" (JAPAN TIMES, 1/25).