It’s been over 1 year since the 2014 FIFA World Cup reached it’s end and the football governing authority has released their financial report from the concluded event and this report shows that FIFA profited billions from the worldwide football competition which is a staggering amount of money and it’s because of this kind of things that the World Cup, or more specifically, FIFA has earned such a bad reputation in the world of football.

Brazil had to spend $15 billion for the previous edition of the World Cup to take place; a large amount of this money was public money which means that it was supposed to be used to help out the citizens of the South American with new roads, infrastructure and things of this nature and this is why so many protests in relation to the World Cup taking place in Brazil were held even before the event took place and why it still continues being an issue.

Including all the rights from TV, Marketing, Licensing and Hospitality, FIFA earned revenues in the region of $4 million while their costs were less than half of their total revenues.

Some of the biggest costs that Brazil had to deal with in getting ready for this competition were in relation to the construction of the stadiums and transportation structures and FIFA didn’t contribute in any way for these staggering costs, which is why Brazil had to offload so much cash in removing 12 of their own stadiums as well as completely building new ones so that the competition could take place.

The majority of FIFA’s World Cup spending went to the participating teams and confederations as well as TV production costs and all of this racked up to around $800 million in costs for the football governing authority which is not much compared to their significantly high revenue earned from the 2014 World Cup.

Netherlands have gone through a very bad spell in the last couple of years and this was largely demonstrated by the nation’s inability to qualify for the Euro 2016 despite being one of the top in the world.

Netherlands remain one of the best ranked teams, but they have been suffering from highly inconsistent form even from the World Cup 2014. The appointment of Guus Hiddink – for a second spell in charge of the team – was expected to improve matters but the team has regressed even more. The former Chelsea boss was unable to prevent Netherlands from failing to qualify for Euro 2016 and this led to the appointment of Danny Blind recently.

Bland has a major task to revamp the team with fresh blood since the likes of Robin van Persie and Arjen Robben are unlikely to be available by the time the next World Cup kicks off. A more immediate concern will be to improve the form of the team. The manager has set his sights upon using a defensive tactics primarily in order to avoid defeat. Since there is no Euro 2016 to compete, Netherlands will only be taking part in friendly matches for almost a year. The first among those friendlies will be against Wales.

“I get the feeling that we need some more defensive stability. We could use the 5-3-2 formation that we used at the World Cup, but playing with two holding midfielders is an option as well. The main thing is that we need a strong defensive core. I cannot say yet how we will play, though.We are not able to dominate our opponents at this stage. We will be using the same formation against Wales and Germany,” said Blind. The team has not kept a clean sheet since the 2-0 win over minnows Latvia.

Russian president Vladimir Putin is one of the most powerful men in the world and he has recently come out in support of FIFA president Sepp Blatter.

The support given to Blatter is widely seen as a gratitude for giving Russia the opportunity to hold the World Cup 2018 competition. The tournament returns to Europe for the first time since 2006. However, there have been various allegations of corruption with regard to the bids for 2018 and 2022. The latter has been won by Qatar and it still remains doubtful as to whether the competition will be held in the Middle East.

Putin, though, has claimed that he does not believe in the corruption allegations that have been thrown up against Sepp Blatter. In fact, he has recommended him for the Nobel Peace Prize for the work he has done in football. Since the Swiss became the FIFA president for the first time in 1998, the game has gone from being popular in South America and Europe to becoming a truly world sport. It is now the most popular across all countries, while the game has also grown in magnitude with regard to under 20s level. It has also succeeded in incorporating and making popular the women’s game too.

“We all know the situation developing around Mr Blatter right now. I don’t want to go into details but I don’t believe a word about him being involved in corruption personally. I think people like Mr Blatter or the heads of big international sporting federations, or the Olympic Games, deserve special recognition. If there is anyone who deserves the Nobel prize, it’s those people. The way there is this fight against corruption makes me wonder if it isn’t a continuation of the bids for 2018 and 2022,” said Putin ahead of the World Cup 2018 qualification draw.

It’s well known at this point that Russia is going through an economic struggle and especially in the world of football and this is evident by the fact that there is an amount of coaches who haven’t been paid including Fabio Capello.

There have been issues involving the Russian Football Union with an increasing debt that has reached the region of $26 million and it was just too much for the RFU to handle as 235 delegates voted in favor of the dismissal of the president Nikolai Tolstykh.

The financial conflicts that Russia is experiencing is starting to affect the country on a higher scale and now reports have begun to emerge which claim that the Russian government is trying to seek ways to host the approaching 2018 World Cup in cheaper ways and one proposal that has risen is to use prisoners to help prepare the worldwide football tournament.

Alexander Khinshtein is a lawmaker and he has received the support of the Russian prison service that would allow the proposal of using prisoners to help with preparations involving the approaching 2018 World Cup. If everything falls through and indeed happens, it would aid in the process of keeping costs for the football tournament down as Russia usually pays its prisoners around $300 per month for labor projects.

Khinshtein told the media: “It’ll help in the sense that there will be the opportunity to acquire building materials for a lower price. And apart from that it’ll make it possible to get prisoners into work, which is very positive.”

Russia is attempting to find alternatives in preparation for the 2018 World Cup as they have a budget which is more than $12 billion but due to the recent corruption scandals and everything else that is going around in FIFA, this budget might be changed.

It seems impossible for India to make it to next World Cup as they have been placed with some very strong teams in the qualifying group.

There is only a whisker of a chance for them to be able to finish at the top position in that group.

However, they have something else to play for as well. They can aim for the no. 2 position. If they achieve that, they would get the ticket to Emirates for Asian Cup.

Nobody was expecting India to get an easy World Cup qualification draw because of their rankings and that’s why the head coach of the team, Stephen Constantine, did not look that disappointed.

Speaking to the reporters, the Englishman said, “It’s difficult, the kind of teams we have been slotted with, they are much more experienced, but, the fact that we are there in the group, we should be happy about it. Playing against strong oppositions is better than not playing against anyone.”

There have not been too many occasions in the recent past when India has faced strong international teams.

India actually does not play that much at the international level at all. The previous year, they played only a couple of games. But, now, because of them being placed in a World Cup qualifying group, they are going to get more international exposure.

It’s not certain though at which stadiums the Indians will play the home leg of the World Cup ties. Guwahati might be one of the venues that are supposed to be named. It had hosted the game against Nepal as well.

The four teams which India will be competing with for a place in the World Cup main draw are Iran, Guam, Oman and Turkmenistan.

Iran had taken part in World Cup 2014 as well.

The World Cup 2014 may have just concluded a few months ago, but qualification for the next edition in Russia is all set to begin shortly.

The first few months of qualification, especially in the Asian regions, will eliminate a number of weak teams like Bhutan and India. Both teams have failed to reach the final stages of the World Cup in the history of my game. However, there are several reasons to expect much more positives from these nations this time around. India, especially, is seen as one of the sleeping giants in the game.

Despite a massive population of more than 1 billion people, the nation has been unable to take football in the same way as it has done with cricket. Cricket continues to enjoy overwhelming popularity in the Indian subcontinent, but the recently concluded Indian Super League has provided football fans with a glimmer of hope. The inaugural season of the ISL proved a major hit with a number of foreign names like Alessandro Del Piero and Nicolas Anelka playing in this division for a few months. The football was also of high-quality and this is expected to inspire a new generation of football fans in India.

Nepal’s American coach says that India remains a top country in this region and his aim is to beat India. “India are tough opponents but our boys have played a lot of domestic matches. We had a good training before the tournament and everyone in the side is quite fit. I think we are up for the task. Our target is to get into the second round,” said Nepal coach Stefanowski. The likes of Cambodia are also hoping to reach the final stages of qualification. “I am encouraged by the result and the performance. We have a lot of work still to do. We have to remain focused on getting to the next stage,” saidCambodia coach Lee.

Dunga took charge of the Brazilian national football team after the 2014 World Cup reached it’s end and so far it seems to have a good decision as Brazil has won all of their matches with the majority of them being friendly matches against Colombia, Ecuador, Japan, Turkey and Austria, all of which Brazil came out on top with the triumph.

Even with all of these victories there have been certain doubts that have emerged in relation some managerial decisions that Dunga has made and one of them is his choice to leave Real Madrid’s Marcelo on the bench but the manager has now stated that the Brazilian defender is not efficient enough.

“The reasons are as follows … How many times did Marcelo go on the attack in the World Cup? Twenty times. How many goals did he score or create? None. How many times were our defenders caught out with balls over the top? Three or four. It’s not a question of Marcelo. Everyone in the team must be efficient.” Brazil’s Dunga told reporters as he answered questions in relation to why Marcelo isn’t a regular player for the Brazilian national football team.

Marcelo is a consistent starter for Carlo Ancelotti at Real Madrid and he has always been an influential player for the Spanish club but it seems like it’s still not enough for him to land a spot under the starting XI of Dunga who prefers utilizing other players.

At the age of 26, Marcelo has lifted all of the major titles in Europe as he secured the UEFA Champions League, Super Cup, La Liga and the Kings Cup all of which were claimed during his time as a player of Real Madrid but even with all of these accolades and experience that he has gained playing in one of the top clubs in the world, Dunga believes that Marcelo needs to improve and be a better overall player.

Honorable Russian President Putin has declared to spend over 660 bn rubles (15 bn USD) for the next FIFA World that is to be held in his country in 2018.

The declaration arrived amidst huge criticisms protesting Putin’s nod to host the mega event in the Balkan in the contemporary turbulent times. FIFA boss Sepp Blatter, who has been supporting the Eussian cgief on the World Cup angle all through, has recognized Putin’s recent declaration- and has further announced to be attentive for unconditional backup for the host country. He assured no heed to the groundless boycott by European nations who have been protesting Russia’s decision to host the 2018 World.

“Russia would carry on every endeavor required for the event & that too on top most qualitative level”, announced Putin whilst chairing a meet of 2018 Russia Autonomous Mom-Commercial Organization that took place on October 28. The meet was attended by major Russian ministers and the FIFA chief himself. The very organization has been entrusted with the responsibility to look after Russian preparations for 2018 FIFA World.

According to Putin’s announcements, the organizers are soon to launch up a special kind of data web portal that would verify all prep levels of the mega championship- akin to the organization which was a huge success during Sochi Olympics.

“Every useful development, practice & idea should be utilized in full in the World Cup preparation”, Putin added in. “This concerns attracting volunteers, logistics, ticket programs as well as hospitality programs catering to guests and athletes.”
The fund meant for World Cup in Russia would be primarily utilized to develop information, energy & transportation infrastructure. Maxim Sokolov, the Russian Minister of Transportation has shared that the fans would be capable of traveling in between World Cup hosting cities for free, just by showing the tickets.

New Switzerland manager Vladimir Petkovic will have to do without the services of Eren Derdiyok after the striker has suffered a serious injury just tired of the Euro 2016 qualifying campaign. The former Lazio manager was appointed as the successor for Ottmar Hitzfeld, who retired after the World Cup 2014. The announcement came several months ago and the manager formally took charge of the national team recently. However, he has been greeted with the news of Derdiyok’s injury. The striker, who plays for Turkish club Kasimpasa, is one of their important players.
Since making his debut in 2008, he has featured in 45 appearances. Even though he has scored only eight goals in this period, his overall play has been important to Switzerland’s success. The 26-year-old’s poor performances in recent months, though, meant that he was not taken to the World Cup 2014 by former manager Ottmar Hitzfeld. Still, he was hoping to get back into the national team due to a fresh start provided by Petkovic. As of now, the striker is expected to miss around seven months of action due to this anterior cruciate ligament injury.
During this period, Switzerland will be playing four Euro 2016 qualifying matches. The national team reached the last 16 of the World Cup 2014. They almost managed to knock out Argentina from the tournament. Keen to build on this performance, Switzerland will be hoping for a good start to the qualifying campaign. It will be extremely difficult, however, since they are in a group involving the likes of England and Slovenia. Up to 3 teams can qualify for the finals, which will give Petkovic a lot of confidence.
Another Switzerland star Gelson Fernandes has decided to move to France after signing for Stade Rennais. He transfers from SC Freiburg for a transfer fee of around € 1.5 million.

Jose Mourinho, the boss of Chelsea thought that Cesare Prandelli should have been retained as the coach of Italy irrespective of the failure in World Cup. A new coach has already have been assigned to be part of the Italian team and he is Paolo Maldini.

The Federation of Football in Italy had met to discuss regarding the future of Italy. Hence, Paolo Maldini who is an Azzuri coach and also been former legend of AC-Milan made the cut. But news of some other coach has also been floating in and around. The board members are in search of an experienced coach for the time being and eventually Azzuri coach might be heaped with the responsibility of coaching Italy. Also, Francesco Guidolin can also make the final cut and under whom Paolo Maldini could learn the tactics.

But the Azzuri soon quit after losing to Uruguay by 1-0.
Mourinho is confident that the former coach will once again make his entry to the Italian team. The reason for him to stress on Prandelli retaining the status of coach is that he was the person who assembled the team that had been distressed after a dismal performance in 2010 in the World Cup. More so in other tournaments and also in the Euro of 2012 and Confederations Cup the Italian football team had performed better o there should not be second thoughts regarding him and one loss in the World Cup of 2014 should not be treated as his fault.

Many other names are appearing in the Federation of Italian football to take up the responsibility of coach but who actually makes the final cut is yet to be seen. Robert Mancini, Luciano Spalleti and Max Allegri are strong contenders to take over the coaching of Italian team in the coming weeks.