Новости за 03.12.2015

By Andrew Warshaw in Zurich
December 3 - FIFA appears on the verge of agreeing to expand the World Cup from 32 to 40 teams, but has deferred a final decision pending discussions about commercial and organisational ramifications.

By Mark Baber
December 3 - With UK television regulator Ofcom's review of the issue likely to drag on for months, Virgin Media's chief executive Tom Mockridge has stepped up the campaign for 3pm Saturday kick-offs to be televised with a blog post on the Virgin Media site and briefing for sports journalists.

By Samindra Kunti
December 3 - FIFA's ethics committee has begun an investigation into the Brazilian FA (CBF) president Marco Polo Del Nero. If guilty Del Nero can expected to be added to an increasingly long list of south American football chiefs either suspended or banned from all football-related activities.

By Paul Nicholson
December 3 – Alfredo Hawit and Juan Angel Napout, arrested this morning in dawn raids at the Baur au Lac hotel in Zurich, Switzerland, have both opposed their extradition to the US after hearings given to the Zurich cantonal police this morning.

By Andrew Warshaw in Zurich
December 3 - The timing could not have been more apt. On the day the FIFA corruption scandal escalated dramatically with a second dawn raid in six months and the arrests of two more high-profile footballing figures, so decades of protocol were wiped away with a total overhaul of the way the organisation does business.

December 3 - A report into the social impact of the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation on the local community has found that its activities contribute a social cost saving of more than £20 million.

By David Owen
December 3 – Stoke City, the Midlands-based Premier League club controlled by bet365, the online gambling company, has reported a second consecutive annual profit. The club, which has become an established top-tier outfit under first Tony Pulis and now Mark Hughes - and which joins Liverpool, Everton and Manchester City in the semi-finals of this season's Capital One Cup - posted a pre-tax profit of £5.7 million for the year to May 31, up from £3.8 million a year earlier.

By Paul Nicholson
December 3 – Lightening does strike twice at FIFA. Police for the second time this year swooped on the Baur au Lac Hotel in Zurich in dawn raids this morning arresting at least two people, according to eye witness reports.

By Andrew Warshaw
December 3 - Liberian football chief Musa Bility, barred from running for FIFA president, has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in an attempt to get the judgement overturned.

By David Owen
December 3 - The crisis engulfing FIFA looks to be taking its toll on the football governing body's finances, with reports emanating from Zurich on Wednesday night to the effect that the 2015 deficit will be worse than budgeted.