Azerbaijan’s Qarabağ FK loses UEFA appeal over racist sanctions
January 29 – UEFA’s appeals body has upheld a €100,000 fine imposed last November on Qarabağ FK and rejected the club’s appeal.
Author: Paul Nicholson
UEFA calls in disease specialist to advise on fan plan for multi-city Euros
January 29 – Increasingly concerned about how to manage next summer’s delayed Euro 2020, UEFA has brought in a leading expert in communicable diseases to help with the procedure of somehow letting fans into the 12 stadiums being used for the pan-European tournament.
Greek court clears Marinakis, Sarris and 25 others of match-fixing
January 29 – A court of appeal has acquitted Olympiakos and Nottingham Forest owner Vangelis Marinakis (pictured) and 27 others of match-fixing in a case stretching back several years.
Becks gives Ronaldo a digital run for his money in China. Barca and Premier League pick up Mailman awards
January 29 – Barcelona, Cristiano Ronaldo and the Premier League are the most popular football brands in China’s digital media, but a newly launched David Beckham platform shows there is still power in the old warhorse’s name.
FIFA launches safeguarding diploma to urgently address a global issue
January 29 – FIFA has launched a global safeguarding in sport education programme with the aim of building formal safeguarding capacity across football.
Concacaf sets draw and dates for 16-team Champions League
January 29 – Hard on the heels of the AFC’s Champions league draw earlier this week, Concacaf have said they will hoid their 16-team Champions League draw February 10.
Midea expands Man City deal as well as onboarding with CFG in New York and Mumbai
January 29 – Manchester City, who returned to top of the Premier League this week, are firing on all cylinders off the pitch as well with another sponsorship announcement indicating the leverage the club’s owner City Football Group brings in terms of opening up sponsorship budgets to its club assets.
Qatar 2022 hospitality sales could hit $450m, despite pandemic
By David Owen
January 28 – Match Hospitality agents have committed to record World Cup sales targets, auguring well for the sale of official Qatar 2022 hospitality packages, which gets under way on Monday (February 1).
UEFA extends decision deadline on 12-city Euros in hope it can get fans into stadia
By Andrew Warshaw
January 28 – UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin says he remains committed to staging next summer’s delayed Euros in the current format of 12 cities despite recent surges of the coronavirus pandemic across the continent.
Getting Messi: Barca threaten to go legal with PSG over claims they will sign him
January 28 – An unsavoury row has broken out between Barcelona and Paris St Germain over the future of Lionel Messi with the Catalan giants threatening to report the Middle East-owned Ligue 1 champions to FIFA and UEFA.
AFC sets dates for expanded Women’s Asian Cup India 2022
January 28 – The premium women’s national team competition in Asia, the AFC Women’s Asian Cup to be played in India in 2022 will be held January 20 to February 6.
Omari removal from CAF elections again asks questions of Infantino’s weaponised ethics body
By Paul Nicholson
January 28 – The role of FIFA in African football politics is again coming under scrutiny after the world governing body surprisingly ruled out current interim president Constant Omari (pictured) from the Congo from standing for election for the FIFA Council. FIFA did however clear South Africa’s Patrice Motsepe and Mauritania’s Ahmed Yahya to stand for election for presidency, which confers its own seat on the FIFA Council.
Fans hate agents, prefer domestic leagues and feel it all costs too much, finds survey
January 28 – A survey of football fans has found that generally they think agents are overpaid, that leagues are too weighted towards so-called big teams, that there are too many national team matches but not too many club games, and that it costs too much to watch whether via pay TV or in stadia.
Chicago’s second pro team to take root in Chicago Fire’s old Bridgewater stadium
January 28 – Chicago’s second professional men’s team, who will begin play in the third tier NISA for the upcoming 2021-22 season, will base themselves at the SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, Illinois.
NWSL fixes dates for Challenge Cup covid-secure openers and regular season
January 28 – The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) in the US has released dates for the start of its season that will open April 9 with the NWSL Challenge Cup.