The 2013 FIFA Interactive World Cup (FIWC) has wrapped up in dramatic fashion with Bruce Grannec of France claiming a second world title after beating Mexico’s Andrei Torres Vivero 1-0 in a tense finale in Madrid on Wednesday 8 May. Grannec, who adds to his 2009 crown, will take home a cool 20,000 USD in prize money and enjoy a trip for two to the FIFA Ballon d’Or 2013, where he will rub shoulders with the biggest stars in world football.

The victory is made all the more impressive considering the 2.5 million players who participated in the FIWC 2013, making this the mostly fiercely contested gaming tournament ever.

The April edition of the FIFA World Ranking has brought movement to the top ten. Although the leading trio of Spain, Germany and Argentina remain unchanged, they are now being pursued by Croatia, who have climbed five places to fourth thanks to World Cup qualifying wins against Serbia and Wales, equalling the position achieved when they finished third at the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, while England (7th, down 3), Italy (8th, down 3) and the Netherlands (9th, down 1) have all lost ground on the leaders. Meanwhile, Ecuador (10th, up 1) have overtaken Russia (11th, down 1) and entered the top ten for the first time thanks to wins against El Salvador and Paraguay.

Back on 3 January, during a mid-season friendly between Pro Patria and AC Milan, Ghana international Kevin-Prince Boateng became the target of racist chanting from a section of the home crowd. He reacted by walking off the pitch, with the rest of his team-mates and the AC Milan coaching staff following in support. This powerful statement caught the attention of football.

Upon the invitation of the FIFA President, the AC Milan midfielder visited today the Home of FIFA in Zurich to discuss issues of discrimination within the game. On the occasion of this meeting, Boateng was invited by President Blatter, and agreed, to join the newly created FIFA Task Force against Racism and Discrimination.

Despite the many matches played, there are only a few changes in the latest edition of the FIFA Women’s World Ranking. The USA still lead the way ahead of Germany and Japan, with Brazil, France and Sweden following closely behind. The only movement in the top ten sees England move up one place to tie with Canada in seventh thanks to their Cyprus Cup win.

At the top of the table, Olympic champions the USA have managed to widen their lead over arch-rivals Germany with a 2-0 victory in the Algarve Cup final in Portugal and are now on an unbeaten run of 29 matches since their 1-0 group-stage defeat to Japan in last year’s edition of this long-running tournament.

Launched by FIFA in 2005, Football for Hope is an initiative contributing to social development around the world. Support is provided to selected programmes run by non-governmental organisations that use football as a tool in their daily work to engage children and young people.

This year, more than 150,000 children and young people are expected to benefit directly from 63 projects whose funding requests have been approved for a total amount of $1.6m USD. All 63 went through a rigorous selection process in which applicants had to demonstrate the long-term sustainability of their projects.

The February edition of the FIFA World Ranking is dominated by the Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa. By claiming their third title, Nigeria have not only ended a 19-year drought since they last won the tournament, but have also climbed 22 places to 30th – their best ranking since August 2010 – while beaten finalists Burkina Faso have moved up a massive 37 places to 55th.

Hosts South Africa (60th) have also enjoyed a significant leap of 25 places. Although former Africa Cup of Nations winners Côte d’Ivoire (12th, up 2) bowed out at the quarter-final stage, last year’s runners-up have achieved their best-ever world ranking. However, the Elephants have not made it into the top ten, where Spain (1st, unchanged) continue to reign supreme ahead of Germany (2nd, unchanged) and Argentina (3rd, unchanged). England have raced up the table into 4th place, up 2 spots courtesy their home win over Brazil.

South African Football Association (SAFA) has welcomed the eight-year sentence imposed on Phil “Mr Jones” Setshedi for match fixing. He will serve an effective three years in prison, with five years of the sentence suspended for five years. The sentence was handed down by the Bellville Commercial Crimes Court, in Cape Town yesterday, 12 February 2013.

Setshedi was convicted on 7 December 2012 of contravening section 15 of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act, Act 12 but his sentence was deferred to February this year.

FIFA can today confirm the extension of sanctions on 41 players from Korea Republic related to a domestic match-fixing investigation dating back to the summer of 2011.

All 41 players have been sanctioned with a lifetime ban from all football activity by the K-League and the Korea Football Association’s disciplinary committees. The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has extended the sanctions to have worldwide effect.

Argentina’s Lionel Messi collected a record-breaking fourth consecutive title of best player in the world when he was awarded the FIFA Ballon d’Or, while US player Abby Wambach claimed her first FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year award at the FIFA Ballon d’Or gala held at the Zurich Kongresshaus this evening.

Vicente del Bosque, the Spanish national team coach, and Sweden’s new women’s national team coach Pia Sundhage (former USA coach) were the winners of the FIFA World Coach of the Year awards for men’s and women’s football, respectively.

In the last edition of the year of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, there have been a few shuffles among the top ten but the teams remain the same. Spain still lead the table ahead of Germany and Argentina, newly followed by Italy (4th, up 1) and Colombia, who have gone up three places and are now in fifth place.

World and European champions Spain lead the final ranking of the year for the fifth time in a row, securing themselves once again the title of Team of the Year. The highest climbers of 2012, thanks to six wins, one draw and only one defeat, are Colombia, who have collected no less than 455 points since December 2011, moving up 31 places and gaining the title of Mover of the Year for the second time since 1993. It has also been a very successful year for Ecuador (13th, up 365 points since December 2011) and Mali (25th, up 337 points since December 2011).