Cricket powerhouse India have it in them to become a force in the football world as well and can go on to win coveted World Cup within 10-20 years if they nurture talent in a planned way, feels Germany's 1990 World Cup winning captain Lothar Matthaeus.

Nehru Cup and SAFF Championships triumphs, a new man at the helm of the national body after two decades and an unprecedented expulsion of the country's iconic captain Bhaichung Bhutia by his club marked an eventful year in Indian football.

Sony Corp said on Friday it has signed a deal with FIFA, the international football governing body, to record up to 25 World Cup games in 3-D - a technology that gives viewers an illusion of depth on the screen.

Thank you, Thierry Henry. If nothing else, your cheating against Ireland has shown that ordinary folks — those who are passionate about soccer and those who are not — remain, by and large, decent.

Football's world ruling body FIFA on Friday officially turned down a request from the Irish football authorities to stage a replay of their controversial World Cup playoff defeat to France.

Football players just can't be trusted to be honest and Thierry Henry proved that by choosing to play volleyball against Ireland, blatantly handling the ball for the goal that sent France to the World Cup.

Angry Ireland called on FIFA on Thursday to allow its World Cup playoff with France to be replayed, as a dispute over Thierry Henry's blatant handball threatened to become a diplomatic row.

Influential FIFA heavyweight Jack Warner has thrown his support behind Australia hosting the 2018 or 2022 World Cup, saying the country has an "excellent chance".

Diego Maradona was banned from all football for two months by FIFA on Sunday over his sexually-explicit rant in October.

FIFA is to open a disciplinary investigation into Diego Maradona after the Argentinian coach's sexually-explicit, foul-mouthed rant after his team qualified for the 2010 World Cup.

Chelsea has vowed to vigorously contest FIFA sanctions that would prevent the London club from signing any new players until January 2011.

Sports Minister M S Gill will meet FIFA chief Joseph Blatter at the world football headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland to discuss the development of the game in India.

Taking a tough stand against on-field racism, football's governing body FIFA has warned that guilty teams may even be thrown out of the 2010 World Cup to be staged in Durban.

Joseph Blatter, president of world football's governing body FIFA, has unveiled the name of the 12 venue cities for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

US President Barack Obama wrote a letter to FIFA president Sepp Blatter supporting the American bid to host the World Cup in 2018 or 2022.

World anti-doping chief John Fahey on Wednesday accused FIFA and UEFA of ignoring reality, after they rejected rules that ease out-of-competition drugs testing of individual footballers.

Tension escalated between the two most powerful bodies in football and the World Anti-Doping Agency in a dispute over out-of-competition drug testing.

Not many Indian footballers get the honour to vote for the FIFA Footballer of the Year but India captain Bhaichung Bhutia has got two such chances and on both occasions he was right on spot.

The heads of the Spanish and Portuguese football federations have agreed to make a joint bid to stage the 2018 World Cup.

World football body FIFA, which had signed up troubled Indian software giant Satyam as its information technology partner for the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, said Thursday that it was closely monitoring the developments and studying the extent of the fraud by the company.

Japan's football chief has vowed to bid for the World Cup finals in 2018 or 2022, despite Tokyo's candidacy to host the 2016 Summer Olympics, press reports said on Monday.

World football body FIFA says it has so far remained immune to the financial storm gripping the world, and vowed to help clubs that were struggling.

Lack of international matches took a toll on India's progress up the ladder as they moved just one rung to finish the year in 143rd place in the FIFA rankings issued on Wednesday.

Ballon d'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo could be in line for another major honour after being short-listed for the FIFA World Player of the Year award.

Australia's bid to host the 2018 World Cup looked better Wednesday with the government putting up $45 million dollars (Australian) to pay for campaigning.