December 23 – A commercial court in A Coruña has ordered the website’ Roja Driecta’s s parent company, Puerto 80 Projects, and its director, Igor Seoane, to pay €31.6 million in damages to Grup MediaPro for illegally pirating football broadcasts, including LaLiga matches from the 2014/15 season.
December 23 – The European Club Association, the influential body representing hundreds of clubs across Europe, have dismissed the latest plans to launch a 96-team breakaway league.
December 23 – Shaji Prabhakaran, a former high-ranking official in Indian football, has accused current Indian football boss Kalyan Chaubey of ethics violations.
December 23 – Former England midfielder George Eastham, a member of the country’s 1966 World Cup-winning squad who became equally well known for blazing a trail for player freedom of movement, has died aged 88.
December 23 – The stars of tomorrow are already making waves today. A scouting report by the CIES Football Observatory and Wyscout has identified the best-performing footballers born in 2004 or later across 65 leagues worldwide.
December 23 – FIFA and Netflix have inked a deal for the exclusive rights in the US to the 2027 and 2031 Women’s World Cups, marking another significant streaming deal for a major tournament.
December 23 – Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami will be the first MLS team in action in 2025 – of course – kicking off the season on February 22 at home to New York City FC at the Chase Stadium.
December 23 – The Premier League has shaken off any talk of a pre-festive slump, proving once again that it thrives in the winter spotlight. Attendance figures this week revealed a remarkable overall stadium capacity of 98.3%, comfortably above the season’s average.
December 23 – Premier League Southampton have confirmed Croatian Ivan Jurić as their first team manager.
December 23 – Bulgaria’s Etar Veliko Tarnovo has signed a sponsorship agreement with the betting company Elitbet. The contract between the two parties is for two years.
December 20 – Saudi Arabia will compete at the 16-team Concacaf Gold Cup next summer, to be played predominantly on the West coast of the USA.
December 20 – The European Leagues organisation has insisted it was not consulted by the promoters of the proposed European Super League regarding the relaunch of the breakaway concept as the Unify League.
December 20 -A senior Swiss lawyer who for nine years has sat on various Swedish FA committees and is currently chair of its appeals committee, has resigned from the federation over its failure to protest the award of the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia.
December 20 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has drawn the groups for the 16-team AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup to be played in Thailand in March next year.
